Caterham Seven CSR 260 - new

[BrunnyS1]

Just did some research on the buying power of the GBP.

 

The car may have been only £1157, but the pound has lost about 96% of it's buying power since 1958. That means this car should cost about £30,000 nowadays or $47,000. That is a lot of money for such a slow car ;-)

 

I think 96 % seems high but in any event....

that was the assembled price of the car and included nearly 400 pounds in taxes, the big deal wth a kit was to avoid these taxes, hence , look at the cost of the parts from Lotus and the engine,box and axle and a truer, much lower price appears.

With regard to the performance, and putting aside the top end, there was not much to touch it back then.

 

This is a pretty nifty calculator and appears to be quite accurate :

 

http://www.moneysorter.co.uk/calculator_inflation.html

Edited November 10, 2010 by BrunnyS1

[slomove]

The "slow car" was just a joke....

 

But the GBP did lose value dramatically in the 80's and 90's. I found this calculator using actual statistical data tables:

 

=CPI&use[]=NOMINALEARN&year_early=1958&pound71=1157&shilling71=0&pence71=0&amount=1157&year_source=1958&year_result=1970]1958 - 1970"

and

=CPI&use[]=NOMINALEARN&year_late=1971&typeamount=1750&amount=1750&year_source=1971&year_result=2010]1971-2008"

 

It gives actually different answers for retail prices and wages. I suspect a specialty sports car would fall somewhere in between.

 

I looked that up only for fun and out of curiosity, not to make any point. But it is still interesting that the low prices of yesteryear that we sometime look at with some nostalgia actually were not that low for the folks back then. Part of that is probably that the labor productivity and level of automation was much lower back then. Independent of the Dollar or GBP number it took more skilled labor to build a much less sophisticated product than we get nowadays.

 

file:///C:/Users/GERT%7E1.BUR/AppData/Local/Temp/moz-screenshot.png

[BrunnyS1]

I was a parrot once.

But I'm alright now.

But I'm alright now.

But I'm alright now

But I'm alright now.

Ha.

[escondidoron]

This is an interesting thread. I've wondered several times previously about the cost of my Seven in today's currency.

 

I've got the history for my '62 Seven dating back to its sale from Lotus in December of 1961. The sales price was £495. The specification was a Ford 105E (997cc) 4-speed, weather equipment. Since then it has been upgraded to a Super Seven. I.e. Ford 109E (1340cc). Using the calculators referenced in the posts above, the 2008 (the latest year that the calculators can accomodate) value of the original purchase price is:

 

 

£8,250.00 using the retail price index

£18,600.00 using average earnings

 

If the car had been purchased originally as a Super Seven the published price for the kit was £599. This results in the following 2008 adjusted pricing:

 

 

£9,990.00 using the retail price index

£22,400.00 using average earnings

 

These Lotus ex-works prices represent a complete kit w/ all parts required to complete a road worthy street licensed vehicle.

 

I just checked the Caterham website for the present (2010) pricing for the Classic: £13,300 (the model closest in specification to my car when originally purchased). The cost of weather gear is additional.

 

I also ran some numbers based on income levels for my profession from then and now (data I don't care to publish) and found the relative cost as a percentage of income for the Seven then to be very favorable.

 

In summary, the Seven kit at £495 was a smokin' deal back in the day!

 

This makes me think, as Mr. Peabody used to say, "Sherman, set the WABAC Machine for England, 1961!"

Edited November 11, 2010 by escondidoron

[slomove]

I was a parrot once.

But I'm alright now.

But I'm alright now.

But I'm alright now

But I'm alright now.

Ha.

 

Darn it. I was fighting with editing the links and did not notice the duplicates.

Let me see if I can at least remove them.