After visiting the British Motor Museum, I imagined exhibiting all the cars I’ve ever owned.
…it would be a pretty boring exhibit in my case; I’ve only ever owned cheap, practical, second-hand cars. But what would it cost to buy cars like I owned, today, in the same kind of condition as when I initially owned them?
Ford escort mk4 ($5000)
Ford Fiesta mk5 ($4000)
Fiat Marea 2.0 TD ($4000)
Volvo S40 1.6 ($2500)
= $15,500
NB: the UK is one of the cheapest places in the world for buying second-hand cars. These numbers are legit the rough prices from a quick search on autotrader and ebay. I suspect no-one’s exhibit will be as cheap as mine.
Total = ~$62,000
Not sure how to calculate current cost, I used JD Power but my cars were all high mileage when I got rid of them. One wasn’t in running condition, so I’m not sure how that figures into it.
FWIW, the reason that there are memes on facebook asking questions like ‘whats the first car you owned’ or ‘whats the first concert you went to’ etc is that those are security questions people use to gain access to their online accounts.
For me, I’ve been driving for about 30 years. Looking at the prices that was paid for the original cars (my first car was bought in 1995 and cost $900) all my cars combined over the last 30 years have cost about 35k for 7 cars. But those were the prices when I got them, not in today’s dollars.
Possibly because the few remaining examples of 40-50 year old cars are probably collector’s items, even if they were common as dirt when they were newer.
I still see those memes occasionally, to which I reply, “A 1984 two-door Security Question.” Amusingly, that was also the name of my first-grade teacher, even though people keep betting I can’t remember her name.
To answer the OP, I haven’t a clue. And to make any sense, the costs would have to be inflation-adjusted since I got my first car – a Volkswagen Beetle – over 50 years ago. OMG, did I just doxx myself?
But that doesn’t reflect (current) cost, because I’ve seen ridiculous prices for old muscle cars. If I still had it, is my slightly rusty Camaro worth the $2500 I paid, or the $20K I’ve seen people asking for ones in worse shape? Same with my Cuda, bought for $2300, sold for $9000 twenty years ago, probably could get $60K today. Maybe.
Reverse wise, is my 1992 Grand Cherokee worth the 35K they cost new, or about the $600 Carvana would offer today (and they’d be paying too much, what a POS vehicle that was!)?
I paid a total of $3000 for my first and still-current car. Looking at Edmund’s, it looks like that’s near the high end of what that same model and year costs today.
It’s still in mostly pretty good shape, and serves my needs.
I toyed with this on Chat GPT. I read the OP as the current cost of an equivalent car you owned, not current blue book. It took a while to get the point across, but GPT eventually came up with some answers:
1999 Land Rover Discovery - current equivalent $80,000
1968 Mustang Grande - $51,000
1939 Packard Roadster used - $135,000
1939 Lincoln V12 used - $50,000
1939 La Salle 4 door used -$100,000
It struggled with cars that lack equivalents:
1932 Cadillac Roadster -$400,000
1932 Auburn Victoria Brougham - $100,000
Yeah I was trying to say the cost of making an exhibit of your cars today.
I was mostly trying to avoid adding up the original prices. It’s the classic cars that of course have the highest price tags now.
Aside: one of the surprises for me was how massive the old stagecoach-style vehicles of the early 20th century were. I guess I’d just assumed that the model-t was representative of all old-timey vehicles.
(I lived and worked in London for my first 33 years. As a mediaeval city, it was not car-friendly. So traffic was intense, parking practically non-existent and there was good public transport (underground, bus + trains.) Therefore I didn’t even learn to drive.
I now live in the countryside - and the local taxi firm have me as their best client!
I did a count and in the last 41 years, my husband and I have bought around 30 vehicles, some new, some used. Not my fault - he’s a car guy with no self-control.
Anyway, I couldn’t begin to guess how much they cost us and I won’t try, lest I weep. As a point of reference, my current vehicle is a 2012 Sonata that just passed 220k miles. He has a 2024 Santa Fe. (My last 2 rides had 106k and 235k, he gets nervous if the odometer nears 60k.)
So let’s just say the total is probably the GNP of a small country.
