"Radios are so expensive these days"

I hate to admit it but they were way more fun for me back then, They were a tool and a toy. Now they are just a tool for me

 

Yes! they have become expensive today. This is partially due to most 10, 11 and base station radios are imported from China, or Japan. You are paying for the radio, and mostly the shipping cost. You can still find decent priced radios out there. Cobra, Uniden, and a few other imported radios.

 

I think you’re reading Volvos post backwards. Back in the 70s the average pay was probably around two dollars per hour. I used to wish I could buy a single side band radio really bad as a teenager, but they were about as much money as I paid for my first car.

Today the radios that come from China, are a lot cheaper if you consider inflation. But unfortunately, the quality of the radio isn’t as good as what they used to be either.

 

It makes sense they’re cheaper now. Most electronics have only gotten cheaper. How much did the first generation of microwaves cost? Car AM radios? Exactly. However, I rarely buy new radios. Look on facebook and Craigslist. Chances are somebody is selling a barely used un-modified cobra for less than 50 bucks.

 

Radios today are way-cheaper than what they were 40-50 years ago when you consider inflation...I remember the first CB I ever bought I payed almost $100 for at Radio Shack and it only had 6 channels...It came with two crystals (channel 19 and 9) and you had to pick which other channels you wanted and buy the crystals for those channels...Next radio was a Pace 23 channel radio which was around the same price tag, and it only had ON-OFF knob with squelch, PA, and maybe a NB switch...Back then I was making less than $2 a hour so I had to save several months just to get a radio that was something along the lines of today's Cobra 19 III... But on the bright-side..."Antenna's were cheap!"...Now it's the other way around....go figure.

 

My dad spent about $900 on a vcr around 1980. This thing was huge! It had a corded remote that only had stop/record switch for when you were recording from tv broadcast. The last blue ray player I bought a few years back was like $90, and it was near top of the line.

 

Electronics.
Even without adjusting for inflation, a 60-70+ inch TV cost less today than a 26 inch console did when I was a kid.
26 inches was considered a decent size. Then my grandparents got 32 inch set in the 90's that seemed massive at the time.
Of course, there were big projector screen consoles that were the price of a car, but I didn't live in that neighborhood.

 

Our money system has steadily devalued over my life time.

My first encounter with a 100 dollar bill, a silver certificate in life at home resulted in 4 soldiers filling our Fury III trunk with enough food to keep us kids and adults going pretty much once a month at the comissary. to understand the size of the Fury III's trunk two facts, first it was banned in certain racing because it's so big and second the size alone MIGHT... just MIGHT fit many of today's cars in it. The volume was about 6 or so carts full of food that worked out to a ton if not more.

Our Freightliner Century did take 5 carts once a month. which was about roughly 800 pounds when you consider the use of plastic for water bottle instead of glass back then.

If we ate like that today it would pretty much consume my entire monthly check. Partly because the pricing for food items in CPI has gone up so much YOY since the 60's

When I started my check was a good 30,000 annual net. Which would have been just outstanding in today's money. I would have paid off my new car purchase in three months or so, school in another month. Then what? Oh yes let's have a house and land in a couple of years that would appreciate to 300,000 on up depending on which county you are in today.

Hobby items from China once most of our Production shifted over there were very similar to 1000+ in today's pricing but without any computer stuff in them until late 80's Now you can get a completely computer equipped item for about that much. However the prices have doubled retail because of the chinese yuan exchange rate. If you wanted a product that was retail produced for say 300 dollars in 2001, you bought it for half that on Ebay rather than 600 retail produced today with minor differences in computer technology and virtually the same tooling.

The hobby shop has probably had about 60 dollars in sales from me personally in the last 2 years. By comparison my auto shop has taken in 1700 in cash work just this year alone. The other vehicle took in about twice that and counting. Mainly crappy goodyear tires which we will never buy again.

The Uniden PC76xl? I paid about 130 or so for it back in 2001, it was literally a Video Poker winnings on 4 aces off a 5 dollar bet so Im not certain exactly what the price was in Calhoun LA off I-20. I do remember that the CB Shop was of pretty good quality in retail. The radio was exactly what served me and no more or less. I still have it to this day.

The price? Probably 60 dollars asking on Ebay. I would not sell mine for anything. But I might pick up another just like it for parts to carry the old one through the rest of my life.

 

That the legit price tag from '77?