You're trying to have your cake and eat it too.
First you say they are paying the same price, then you say that they are paying a higher percentage of their income.
Assuming, arguendo, that real incomes have dropped over the past 40 years, then these people are paying more for the car than they did in 1964. You can say that the price of the car has tracked inflation, but if people are paying a bigger percentage of their income, then they are, in no uncertain terms, paying MORE for a car than they did in 1964.
Assuming, arguendo, that real incomes have dropped over the past 40 years, perhaps we might expect the price of the car to rise faster than inflation if real incomes also rose during the same period.
The long and the short of it is that people are willing to pay a higher percentage of their income to purchase a car now than in 1964 because they get more value. The car is worth more than, say, 5% of your income--it's worth, say, 10% of your income. Why? Because YOU GET MORE! That's the end. Period. No ifs, ands, or buts.
I'm through with this. Besides, it's a moot point. Free trade is here to stay, it ain't going anywhere. For the economic luddities on this thread, better start getting used to it or getting the compound stocked up.
Just because you can less afford something today than 40 years ago does not mean that the price has risen. As I proved in reference to inflation rates across time, the price of the car has not changed at all. The car price is the constant in this equation. Disposable income is the variable and it is spent on a lot more than cars. Consumer electronics, for example, have gone way in the opposite direction, dropping in price across time to the point where it is no longer possible to earn a living as a TV repairman. Despite their technological overwhelming superiority they are vastly cheaper across time. A 1980 high end console 21 inch TV cost $800 then. Multiply that times 3 and you have what a 52 inch widescreen would cost now. So it is ridiculous to insist that the car of today HAS to be more expensive than the car of 40 years ago to pretend that disposable income has not dropped.