I was talking about real income between then and now.
My point is that the entire issue of which car is better is meaningless. It is the purchase price that matters. And that has not changed while the ability of the average American to pay it has.
In very broad terms, I can agree with that.
1964 was pre- Great Society welfare, pre- Vietnam, pre- OSHA, EPA, pre- OPEC Arab Oil Embargo, pre- hyperinflation, stagflation and misery index, pre- Cold War Star Wars deficit spending, pre- S&L crisis and bailout, pre- Y2K frenzy and dotbomb bubble... etc. etc.
I don't know whether or not the stats properly reflect all that or not...
After the congresscritters got their heinies spanked with the "misery index" they changed the calculation of CPI to help cover their butts.
But "low purchase price" alone isn't a very good measure...
Overall, it's merely perpetuating a false illusion of wealth that's being propped up by creation of unfathomably massive debt.
We're being suckered by the old "buy now, pay later" sales pitch.
The political shills are pretending that "later" will never come.