Cars that we thought were expensive ...
At some point, probably in the seventies, the classic car dealer Rob de la Rive Box sent a simple, self-made brochure to some of his customers and business partners. Fortunately, this was not lost and last Saturday I came across a copy from back then.
The listing contained three parts:
- "Cars I offered six years ago that you may have thought were expensive"
- "Cars that I offered two years ago and that you may have found expensive"
- "Cars I am currently offering for sale that you may think are expensive. If not, please contact me at ...."
However, it's not the idea of the listing that makes us nostalgic, but the prices being asked. A Ferrari 212 Export for USD 1400, a Siata Daina for USD 500, a Ferrari 250 GTO for USD 7000 or a Porsche 356 for USD 800 - yes, they did exist. And the dollar was worth more back then, but not that much more. In 1975, a dollar cost around 2.65 francs or 0.4833 British pounds.
And yes, the "current" prices (probably around 1975) were more expensive, but not across the board and at a level that only elicits a frown from us today.
Rob de la Rive Box has also published a delightful booklet about his transactions ("Darf es ein Ferrari sein?") , which we have written about before.
A high-resolution version of the above image is of course stored in the Zwischengas archive .
