[rickomatic]

My first car was a 1965 Oldsmobile 442. I paid $1100.00 for it used in 1971. There is a clone of that car at a dealership nearby. It has 69,000 original miles on it.
It is currently priced at $26,000.00

[Olog-hai]

FWIW, the BLS inflation calculator figures $1,100 in 1971 dollars to be equal to $6,460.18 in 2014 dollars.

[Vermont Lt]

If you were to have owned that the whole time it would have been a horrible investment.

[Boogieman]

Sure, but you paid $1,100 in 1971 dollars, and they are selling it for $26,000 in 2014 dollars, so inflation is responsible for some of that increase.

Now, the “official” inflation estimates say the car should only be about $6,700 in today’s dollars, but similar new cars sell for at least $20k nowadays, so I think the “official” inflation numbers are extremely dubious.