1961 Dodge Seneca, where is it?

waterguy

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While getting my Polara brochures organized (more of a collection than I thought) I stumbled across a bill of sale for a 1961 Dodge Seneca, at this time the car would have been 5 years old. A 2 dr for a whopping $375. It would be awesome to see this car now!
 
That would be priceless to whoever owns that car currently. Maybe post to a forward look forum or something?
 
I owned one back in the late 70's baby blue slant six. 2dr. Sedan great car, has for a long time. But had to let it go to buy a 60 DeSoto.
 
I would even liked to seen what it looked like when this bill of sale was made.
 
Great find! I think it's also an interesting commentary about the desirability of Forwardlook cars in the later 1960's through the 1980's.

This Dodge should have sold new for around $2300-$2400. Only being worth $375 5 years later is barely holding 15% of it's value. It could also be assumed that, being sold by a dealership, $375 was the premium/highest market price.

Imagine if a car today lost 85% of it's value in 5 years. A 2010 KIA in #4 fair condition will still hold about 30% of it's MSRP value.

I think about this everytime I see a post from someone complaining that an old car was allowed to sit outside and rust. I'm always amazed that any survived at all!
 
According to the inflation calculator $375 back then was like $2,789 by todays standards. So it was still a lot of money back then considering minimum wage was $1.40 per hour before taxes.
 
According to the inflation calculator $375 back then was like $2,789 by todays standards. So it was still a lot of money back then considering minimum wage was $1.40 per hour before taxes.
I agree $2789 isn't exactly pocket change today. But, what 2010 or 2011 car can I buy today for less than $3K that's in Fair to Good condition? And, what should I feel about protecting it for prosperity?

Another interesting comparison -

If $375 in 1966 = $2,789 in 2016 and the respective minimum wages are $1.40 per hour and $7.25 per hour, then...

In 1966, a minimum wage employee has to work 267.85 hours to earn that value.
In 2016, a minimum wage employee has to work 384.69 hours to earn that value.
That's 117 hours of extra work today for the same value as 1966.
Or, minimum wage today should be $10.40 to match inflation since 1966.
 
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