The NYT Offers Budgeting Advice For Would-Be Car Owners... In 1907
We were poking around the NYT archives when we stumbled across this gem, car maintenance budgeting advice for people interested in owning a car ... in 1907. Some of the advice remains the same. Other parts, like how much to pay your driver and how much to budget for repainting the car once a year — not so much.
The article, titled "Whys And Wherefores Of Income Needed To Maintain An Automobile Properly," begins with some advice that remains true more than 100 years later:
"No one should own an automobile, some one has said, unless he is able to lay aside an endowment fund sufficiently large to provide for every emergency that may be required in its annual maintenance."
It turns out, however, that maintaining a car used to be quite a bit more expensive than it is now.
"A rough estimate, and one which works out very well in practice, is that the annual cost is about one-half the retail price of the car," says the Times.
They also advise paying your chauffeur at least $100 a month, and not to be cheap about it because you really want to have a driver who is also a fully qualified mechanic. Charles M. Schwab apparently paid his driver $250 a month. Do you really want to be a cheapskate, Mr. New Car Owner?
The article also contains some lovely advice about speeding:
"Judgment in driving is the secret of the life of a car," said a tourist whose expense bill for the last three or four years reveals a very small amount for repairs. "The ratio of expense mounts up in proportion to the speed. If the man who has a car that can go forty miles an hour will be content to keep it within an average to twenty-five to thirty miles an hour, which is fast enough to automobile enjoyment, his car will last longer and his expense bill will be much less at the end of a year than will be the case if he is anxious to go the limit at every conceivable opportunity. Excess speed means harder wear upon the tires, upon the bearings, the transmission, the brakes and all operating parts. Incidentally, the reasonable driver will not be in danger of being held up the local constables and fined from $50 to $100 for over speeding."
So keep it under 40, kids.
Whys And Wherefores Of Income Needed To Maintain An Automobile Properly [NYT]
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Comments:
@temporaryerror: To jump on that, it appears with inflation that Charles Schwab paid his chauffeur around $68,500 a year. Pretty good money to be a personal driver/mechanic.
Inflation source: [www.westegg.com]
@temporaryerror: The man just bent me over for an $87.00 speeding ticket this week. I'm glad to see that the cost of fines has not risen with inflation... ;-)
It's hard to see, but it looks from the article like they budgeted 80 gallons of oil per year (not gas -- oil). Is that right? If so, that's crazy -- can you imagine using that much oil today?
On the other hand, I had a 1983 Ford Escort once...from the way that thing leaked oil, I could swear the engine was made from recycled collanders...
"...allowing 800 gallons for the 8,000 miles annual driving..."
10mpg? Except for the age, that model T would qualify for cash for clunkers. Gotta get those old Ford flatheads off the road somehow.
Painting every year? Ask some owners of mid-80's to early 90's GM and Chrysler products about that.
@TheOtherBob: We have some tractors from that era that use oil-bath air cleaners. The incoming air for the engine blows across the oil, which collects the hayseeds and junk you don't want in your engine. The manual calls for changing the cleaner oil at some ridiculously frequent interval (like every 5 hours or something). Perhaps cars of that area were similar?
Also, without modern long-life additives for oil (anti-wear, anti-shear etc) the engine lubricating oil probably needed to be replaced more often to be effective.
Wow...$60 (that's $1319.22 adjusted for inflation) each for a tire that's expected to last 3-4000 miles. Of course the expectation is that the average driver will only go 3-4000 miles a year.
And here I am complaining about having to spend $500 on four tires guaranteed for 60,000 miles. Kinda puts things in perspective.
It's expensive to be an early adopter. I plan to laugh at the cost of an iPhone in its early years when I finally get one, which will likely be in 2109.
@Corydon: I know! I paid only something like $120 per tire for my last set, and they're really decent tires. It sometimes suprises me how little we have to pay for a lot of commodities these days (but we end up paying a ton more for taxes, housing and services to make up for it).
@Ayarkay: You mean the cost of an iPhone that's about the same as other smartphones?
I was watching something circa 2001 and people still had pagers. Now that is a relic.
@pecan 3.14159265: it's funny to watch the old law and orders for that reason alone...det logan used to have a beeper or pager. and they'd return phone calls ON PAY PHONES.
@temporaryerror: Not to mention, in those days "speeding" meant going at a blazing 25 miles per hour.
@pecan 3.14159265: But then, In a few years, ALL smartphones will be cheaper (hopefully).
I remember entry level cellphones in India cost like 15K INR ($300). By the time I got mine, they were like 2000 INR ($40). A little while later, you could get them for $30. Basically, 10x cheaper.
Same thing with computers. I see old ads for 'state of the art' 16MB hard drives for 1000 bucks on the internetz all the times.
@sponica: The funniest thing is when the entire plot of an episode is based on miscommunication after not being able to call someone, and you know that would have all been entirely irrelevant if they had a cell phone with them. Now we have to make the protagonist lose his or her cell phone in order to place them in the same situation.
I think this advice also applies to my need to own a $3.65 million HondaJet: I shall need at least $80 million dollars in net assets to justify the expense of maintaining and fueling the aircraft and paying my chauffers pilots.
Just gotta start by getting a job, paying off some student loans and I'll be there in no time.
@MostlyHarmless: It depends. If carrier exclusivity goes out of fashion, they may get more expensive.
However, smartphone features will of course trickle down to the low end, which will remain cheap. So, in that sense, yes, smartphones may get cheaper. But a geniusphone will still be pricey.
3,000 to 4,000 was the average life of a tire back then? Woah Imagine replacing all your tires every time you got an oil change!
@Corydon: I'm pretty sure the tires of that era were generally natural rubber instead of vulcanized rubber. That's why they wouldn't last very long.
Henry Ford's Model T, widely regarded as bringing the automobile to the common man didn't come out until a year after this article was published.
@temporaryerror: The Model T didn't come out until 1908. This article would not have applied to that vehicle, as the Model T was for the working class, not for people who had chauffeurs.
So how did the constabulary know that one was speeding? Timing the distance between two fixed points on a pocket watch? Estimating? Looking for people in front of the pack?
@pecan 3.14159265: Like Romeo and Juliet.
"Just FYI, Romeo, I took some fake poison ... see you tonight!"
@Triterion: 3,000-4,000 miles is actually not far off for modern sports bikes. Admittedly for different reasons :-)
@jacques:
Yes.
Timing the vehicle between two fixed points on a pocket watch.
Works very well.
Still works today......
Yes, Sir, Mr Policeman, I was able to drive from Chicago to St. Louis (approximately 300 miles) in only 3 hours.
Your going to give me a ticket for doing 95mph? Thankyou.
The stated prices for tires and costs for maintenance, adjusted for inflation, really drive home how much technology has improved our lives by making goods more reliable and allowing services to be delivered more efficiently. Well done, team.
@Ayarkay:
Wow. You don't own a smartphone because of the cost?
I think those of us who fully understand the value of them will be laughing at you more than you'll be laughing in 2019.
Seriously. Waiting until 2019 to own a smartphone? Are you still using VHS and black & white TVs too?
@jacques: Timing the distance between two points is still used today. In fact I believe it's the prefered method in the UK. Except instead of a fixed distance, they measure the distance as well. Basically you measure the time the target car takes to drive between two landmarks, and you measure the distance as you drive between the same two landmarks, and voila, average speed. Usually they'll do it using the in-car video system as well, so very hard to argue.
The one and only speeding ticket I've ever had was using this system.
This is a great article to read in your Old Timey Newsman Voice.
Wow! $50-$100 for speeding 100 years ago? I'm not too good with inflation figures, but according to wikipedia, the cost of a model T around that time was $850, so the high side of the speeding fine was close to 1/8 the cost of the car. That's like an average speeding ticket today being $2000...