Chicago Auto Show: Costs of cars skyrocket faster than inflation

Do you really want to pay $65,000 for a decent car that only lasts about five years? Or buy an electric vehicle that is unreliable and costs even more? The Auto Show isn't as fun as it used to be.

- Memories of the Chicago Auto Show and a time when cars were affordable. The cost of cars compared to everything else has increased dramatically. Do you really want to spend $60,000 for a car that lasts only about five years?

By Ray Hanania

Free/Slice of Life/Monday Feb 12, 2024

I remember my dad buying a new car in the 1960s for about $1,400. It wasn't a Mercedes, but just a normal car with the basic bells and whistles like air conditioning, power steering, power brakes, a good radio and a great interior.

Dad's income at the time was about $6,000 a year, so the cost of the car was only about 25 percent of his annual salary. Our home cost about $12,000, at the time, so the cost of the car was only about 10 percent.

I wish that were the reality today.

I went to the Chicago Auto Show at McCormick Place thinking maybe I can find a good deal on a new car to replace the $52,000 Nissan Murano I purchased 8 years ago but left there shaking my head.

To replace the Murano, the sticker prices were right around $60,000 with the "Sports package." You could buy cars cheaper with the "Fred Flintstone" package, which is a "yabba dabba doo" nothing. Fred and Wilma would have left before they entered.

That means to purchase that car in 1960 terms, your income would have to be $240,000 a year, and your home should be valued at $600,000.

My Brother John and I at the Chicago Auto Show around 1959/60

Factor in the rising taxes that slam consumers and homeowners today -- thanks in a large part recently to Cook County assessor Fritz "No Tax Is Too High" Kaegi -- and the fact that the cost of consumer goods are fast outpacing salaries for the average worker, honestly, I don't know how anyone can afford a decent car.

Auto Show costs were skyrise prices. You want a mediocre pulled pork or rib sandwich, they cost $12.25 each. A Polish sausage sandwich, Chicago's finest, was also $12.25. Bottled water cost five dollars and a small bag of chips were an astonishing $3.25, or about 25 cents a chip. The entrance cost was only $17, so that wasn't too bad.

Parking wasn't too bad, either; only $25. But we had to walk from the north Lake Side parking lot which was about 2,500 steps to get to the auto showroom.

The big focus at the Auto Show besides the unaffordable costs, were the large number of EV or all electrical vehicles. They are the rage. I was turned off to them, though, when I saw that EV owners were stranded and could not charge their cars because of the arctic cold weather than hit Chicago in January.

Some of the cars are so expensive than the sales people tell you how we can purchase one for like $45,000, with nothing on it except the steering wheel, four wheels and radio on cameras, which is not what I want.

The 2024 Chicago Auto Show was very depressing. Everything is so expensive.

In contrast, I have great memories of the Auto Show from 1959/60. Cars were fun back then, and more affordable. I think they were even more reliable, too.

The real focus also was on American-made cars. The ingenuity of the American people. It was on being an American.

We had much to be proud about to be American back them, especially the American workers.

It was a simpler life back then, driven by family values, family and friends, and a genuine patriotism. Today, it’s all about the money. Patriotism is a shallow bumper sticker. And we spend more time worrying about ourselves than we do our country.