The Corvette was a sporty, really cool car that wasn’t priced so high that the average Joe couldn’t aspire to it. From Eric Peters at ericpetersautos.com:
A 2023 Corvette costs almost twice as much – in real terms – as a 1969 Corvette cost. The latter listed for $4,781 when it was new – a sum equivalent to just over $37,000 in today’s hyperinflated (that is, devalued) currency. The former stickers for $64,200 – not counting the also-hyperinflated costs of insurance, taxes and tags.
This is why the 2023 Corvette is an exotic car while the ’69 was America’s sports car. By which was meant Americans could afford the car. Today, only rich Americans can afford a Corvette, of which there are fewer.
Back in ’69, 38,762 Americans bought a new Corvette. In 2022, 34,510 did. It sounds almost the same but it’s actually quite different, because in 1969 there were only about 200 million Americans whereas today there are at least 330 million – not counting the uncounted millions of “immigrants” who’ve entered the country since the Biden Thing opened the border.
Proportionately, then, something on the order of 60,000 Americans should have bought have bought a new Corvette last year.
They didn’t – because they couldn’t.
This is a trend that will continue as Americans become less able to spend $60,000-plus on a car – or anything, for that matter. It’s a shame to see what had been a car Americans could aspire to transition into a car that’s more Ferrari than Corvette. Indeed it’s hard to tell the two apart – whereas back in ’69, it wasn’t.
The Corvette used to look like nothing else – and most Americans thought it looked pretty sensational. Even if you didn’t, there was no mistaking the silhouette – or the iconic four round tail-lights. It was a car like the original Beetle in that everyone knew one when they saw one, even if all they saw was a glimpse of one.
STRAIGHT LINE LOGIC 