A “mere” $37 in 1964 could buy a decent enough used car. He probably had to save up a bit for it.
$37 in 1964 = $369.30 today’s dollars....................
https://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl?cost1=37&year1=196401&year2=202401
My first car in 1965 was a ‘51 Buick that my Dad found in the paper, was $95.