[richardtheforth]

Hi All,
The cost of the hobby (especially prices of cars) relative to the past is often a hot topic here, so I thought it would be interesting to see, at least since the 80s when I was into Scalextric the first time, how current prices compare. I found an inflation calculator on 'thisismoney.co.uk' which (amongst other things) works out the total inflation since a particular year:

historic inflation calculator

Here's a few examples I worked out using it:

1960 - 2011 = 1,611% ...or £10 in 1960 = £171.10 today
1970 - 2011 = 1,111% ...or £10 in 1970 = £121.10 today
1980 - 2011 = 273% ...or £10 in 1980 = £37.30 today
1990 - 2011 = 83% ...or £10 in 1990 = £18.30 today
2000 - 2011 = 28% ...or £10 in 2000 = £12.80 today

Below are scans of a few old Scalextric price lists that came with catalogues.
I've put the number you need to multiply the prices by with the year of the price list if you want to compare with todays prices.

1988 prices x 2.07

-------------------------------------

1989 prices x 1.97

-------------------------------------

1996 prices x 1.41

-------------------------------------

2004 prices x 1.17

-------------------------------------

2006 prices x 1.11

-------------------------------------

2008 prices x 1.04

Hope this is interesting, or at least gives you an excuse to avoid mowing the lawn/washing the car for a little while.
Cheers
Richard

 

[Dopamine]

Interesting, Richard.

Watching the last stage of the Tour de France was all the excuse I needed to avoid doing anything.

The oldest price list I have is from 1964. £1 then was equivalent to £15.39 today.

 

[conti_rowland]

QUOTE (Dopamine @ 24 Jul 2011, 18:13) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

This is indeed quite interesting. Actually I think it shows that since the '60's the cars have stayed almost exactly the same kind of price as they are today. They are lower you are saying....?

Maybe but if you take your old cars off the shelf and take them apart and study them you'll find they are much simpler with far less detail than todays product like it or not. So i'd say like for like they are pretty similar. The cheap cars have an equivalent in the scaley robust starter cars i suppose.

What is interesting about that is that what in the '60's must have been a pretty luxury toy was not actually more expensive than what is now considered a very much 'every household' item.

Rather than a comment about slot car prices then it says more about the fact that Europe's (and many other parts of the world of course) population have become considerably richer in the meantime.

Andi