Interesting from a historical point of view Craig but the prices quoted aren't really a bargain when you compare them to today's values eg. the lawn mower advertised for $79 would be the equivalent of paying out $942.51 in 2020. There is an interesting CPI calculator on google which you can use to compare the value of the AUD in terms of spending power between any 2 years it uses the inflation rates etc. to calculate. IMHO the flood of cheaper imported goods into Australia from places like China since the 70s has been a real disaster for our own manufacturing industry but it keeping the prices that consumers are paying down.
This period was a bit before my working life. My current car is a lot more luxurious than my first car. Cars have come become cheaper & stacked with infinitely more features.
At the end of 1990s bought a computer $7,000 with 272mb ram 2GB hard drive. Included 4 x 64mb ram cards each $600.
Wanted to buy basically the same computer about 2 years earlier but at $25,000 it was too far out of reach.
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Procrastination, mankind's greatest labour saving device!
50L custom fuel rack 6x20W 100/20mppt 4x26Ah gel 28L super insulated fridge TPMS 3 ARB compressors heatsink fan cooled 4L tank aftercooler Air/water OCD cleaning 4 stage car acoustic insulation.
In 1971 I was on a grand $19.00 a week!! My grand kids think I'm telling them porkies when I tell them. Of that $19.00 I paid $12.00 in rent.
In reality it's all relative to wages. We built our first house in 1978 for $24000.00. But things are way more 'affordable' now days. When I started work the wages went to rent and a few beers. Now wages have to pay the banks for houses, cars etc. And more importantly the credit card. The card that was used for the new tv. The new computer. The holidays. You get my drift.
When I started work we paid off everything asap so that we could save for our retirement. Now they have their 'fun' first and don't worry about how they will pay for their retirement.
Just really a bit of trivia. However, all the chinese c..p that we now get for for so little, will often last the warranty period plus one day. I reckon there is still some of the gear in my ads still going.