inflation question

2cycle

Petty Officer 1st Class
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Mar 12, 2004
Messages
234
Just curious, with outboards being sold at seemingly exorbitant prices today, how much did a Merc Inline 1500 list for in, say, 1975? I'm not quite old enough to remember, but am curious. Any replies are appreciated.
 

JB

Honorary Moderator Emeritus
Joined
Mar 25, 2001
Messages
45,907
Re: inflation question

Bottom line is that outboards cost less in hours (wages) than they did in the 70s. Also, they are a LOT more sophisticated.
 

roscoe

Supreme Mariner
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Oct 30, 2002
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21,753
Re: inflation question

Depends on your hourly wage, JB.<br />And if your wages have gone up over the years.<br />Lots of folks aren't able to say yes to that question.<br />Technologies are advancing faster than the economy can absorb or retrain the displaced workers they create, and get them into an equally well paying job.
 

2cycle

Petty Officer 1st Class
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Mar 12, 2004
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234
Re: inflation question

JB,<br /><br />Is the payoff for greater sophistication seen in better fuel economy (in terms of 2 strokes) and reliability? Or is a carbed 2 stroke, aside from changed HP ratings, still basically the same animal as 20-30 years ago? For example, I have a 76 Evinrude 70 HP that at first glance does not look a whole lot different from later versions of the engine (great engine by the way IMO). Aside from the advent of oil injection, what would be significant differences in a 76 and 96 model if both were in "as new" condition?
 

Winger Ed.

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Mar 24, 2004
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649
Re: inflation question

Its all relative.<br /><br />What does a Mustang cost today? 20,000 thousand or so? And average entry level wages are about $7 a hour or there-a-bouts.<br /><br />In 1970 a Mustang cost around $5 grand. and entry level wages were about $1.25 a hour.<br /><br />Put a pencil to it..... Today you get a better car for less hours of working the same job as you did in years past.<br /><br />Its the same if you're buying a Harley, a boat, a car, a state of the art Mercury engine, a gallon of gas, or a loaf of bread.<br /><br />Today you get more machine for less hours of work at the same job than the guy who bought the same item 30 years ao.<br /><br />..<br /><br />Think about it.<br /><br />A guy that makes $3,000 a month looks at a $26,000 boat the same way a guy guy did in 1970 who was looking at a $6,ooo boat with a stack 6 115 on it and he was making $800 a month doing a average work-a-day job.<br /><br />When I was a kid, gas cost about 35 cents a gallon. I made $1.35/hr. One hour of washing dishes got me about 4 gallons of gas.<br /><br />A kid today washing dishes or sweeping floors can expect to earn about $6.50-7. an hour. (minimum wage is irrelevant)<br /><br />That buys him about 4 gallons of gas more or less up until last month, but everything will adjust I'm sure. And he's putting it into something other than a big block V-8, and that gets better than 8mpg like I did. So his gas money actually goes farther than mine did.<br /><br /><br />The point is, things are the same price, or perhaps cheaper now than they ever were in relation to how much money the average person makes at a given point in their life---- but our 'stuff' nowdays is better.
 

2cycle

Petty Officer 1st Class
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Mar 12, 2004
Messages
234
Re: inflation question

Thanks everyone for the reples. It definitely provides perspective.
 

swist

Senior Chief Petty Officer
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Jul 1, 2004
Messages
678
Re: inflation question

I'm not quite an old geezer, but getting there! Looking back, outboards have always been higher priced than you would think, but that's because we look at them side my side with other internal combustion engines we buy (lawn mowers, cars, etc). And unfortunately they just don't sell in enough volume, compared to those other things, to bring the price down. Car engine assembly lines are hugely automated these days - you just can't justify that tooling expense for an o/b - so there's a lot more people labor involved. <br /><br />Inboard or I/Os are a little more reasonable because the basic block comes off an automotive or truck assembly line. But there's so much marinization involved that even those are very expensive compared to what you could replace your (comparably powered) car engine for.
 

Ronald1

Seaman
Joined
Jun 2, 2004
Messages
68
Re: inflation question

Back to the original question.... Does anyone have examples of what small, medium, and large outboards cost 20, 30, or 40 years ago?
 
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