The Swiss market brochure for 1967 Chevrolets was interesting to me beyond just the standard disc brakes and Rally wheels. Given my amateur interest in economics, I was intrigued by the prices given. 16,250 SFr for a Corvair 500? 24,000 SFr for an Impala? Just what do those prices mean? But not just in a conversion to the dollar at the time, but in purchasing power, the most important measurement of all, as it determines the affordability (or not) of a car.
So I decided to dig up a few stats and make a chart. Here’s what it means:
Column B is the price given in the brochure for the respective models. It’s important to note that these cars came standard with a number of options, tailored for the Swiss market, where as we’ll see these cars were all expensive luxury cars. That means standard automatic (most models), HD suspension, disc brakes, and a few other options, depending on the model (power windows on Impala and Caprice). The Impala and Caprice came with the 275 hp 327 V8.
Column C is a straight conversion to US dollars at the 1967 exchange rate (4.332 SFr = $1). That results in dollar prices, which are obviously considerably higher than what corresponding models cost in the US (Column E). That was of course common for exported cars, and includes duties/tariffs, as well as the cost of shipping, etc.
Jumping ahead to Column E, as a point of comparison, are the US base prices plus a round 20% to reflect an approximate value of the options that were standard on the Swiss versions. I did not go look up option lists from 1967; it’s a rough adjustment, and even if it’s off some, it still makes the point: these cars were some 42% (Corvair 500) to 74% (Caprice) higher than US prices.
But that does not reflect what it cost the Swiss to buy these cars in 1967. To understand their cost in purchasing power, I found that the median wage in Switzerland in 1967 was $208/month, at the exchange rate. Column D shows how many months of income it would take to buy any of these cars; from 18.0 months for the Corvair 500 to 39.5 months for the Corvette.
Column F shows the same for US buyers, how many months of average monthly income in 1967 ($500) it would take to buy the same cars. That ranged from 5.3 months (Corvair) to 10.6 (Corvette). This is of course the key and huge difference. The combination of the very strong dollar and the lower standard of living in the ’60s in Europe (which rose very rapidly in the ’70s and ’80s) means that the Corvair cost roughly as much as a Mercedes 220 for the typical Swiss buyer. They were both six cylinder cars with something over 2 liters displacement.
Meanwhile in the US, a 1967 Mercedes 230 cost $4380, or almost exactly twice the base price of a Corvair.
And it means that in Switzerland in 1967, a Caprice or Impala sedan cost roughly about the same (in purchasing power) as the most expensive Mercedes sedan at the time, the 300SEL (not counting the limited production 600).
All this is to point out that American cars in Europe were expensive, prestigious cars up to about 1970 or so. All that began to crumble as a consequence of the rapidly falling dollar starting in 1970, the fact that the Europeans were now building many top quality executive-luxury class cars in addition to Mercedes, and very rapidly rising incomes/purchasing power. And there was also the general perception that the quality of American cars had been deteriorating for some time, especially against the better European cars.
The image and reputation of American cars changed from about that time, at different rates in different countries. Some countries that had no domestic car industry, like Switzerland and the Netherlands, continued to hold American cars in fairly high regard, although they became increasingly more affordable so they were no longer as prestigious as before. In Germany, with its strong car industry and a decided tendency towards automotive chauvinism, American cars lost favor sooner and faster. There continued to be a certain small slice of the market that liked American cars, and sales sometimes rose to considerable levels in times of a low dollar, but the last time that was anything approaching significant was probably in the ’90s or so, when a number of Chrysler/Jeep products were built in Austria for the European market. But those days are long gone, and only a very few models that have a unique appeal like the Mustang sell in anything more thin minuscule numbers, typically through private importers.
Months/car is always a good measure. From 1930 to 1960, the pattern was consistent. The most basic car wasa half year. The typical family sedan was one year. Luxury started at 1.5 years and went up from there. GM set the pattern, with Chevy at six months, Olds at one year, and the least Caddy at 18 months. Ford didn’t get it. Fords were five months, and Lincolns started at five years.
One of the metrics of value I’ve heard lately is “how much to buy a decent men’s suit,” then compare those metrics over a period of time, adjusting for inflation of course.
Months/car is a good metric as well.
Prices in Switzerland on February 15, 1967 in Swiss Francs
(Source Catalogue of the Swiss “Automobil Revue” 1967)
Cadillac Sedan de Ville 42900
Checker A-12 Marathon Sedan between 21000 and 28200
[I don’t know how many were sold]
Lincoln Continental Sedan 46400
Pontiac Le Mans Sedan 24100
Mercedes-Benz 250S 22900
Mercedes-Benz 250SE 24900
Mercedes-Benz 300SE 31500
Mercedes-Benz 300SEL 40100
Mercedes-Benz 600 74000
For comparison prices in Germany in DM:
Mercedes-Benz 250S 15800
Mercedes-Benz 250SE 17350
Mercedes-Benz 300SE 22100
Mercedes-Benz 300SEL 28600
Mercedes-Benz 600 56500
(according auto motor und sport April 1967)
Lincoln Continental Sedan 34800
Prices for General Motors cars from the USA unfortunately only on request
(according auto motor und sport March 1967)
Thanks for the additional info. That makes the comparable to the MB300SE, not 300SEL. And the Malibu about the same as the MB250S.
Spot on!
Prior to circa 1970, US cars were prestigious. If you made it in life, you drove a Buick or big Chrysler. In those days, our Royal Family drove US-FoMoCo products.
After circa 1970, they became relatively affordable, thanks to the exchange rates (Mack did also quite well in the seventies, but at least it still was a high-quality product). Yet the seventies was also the decade, that US cars got a sleazy/bad boys-image. Generic terms: pooierbak (pooier = pimp) and hoerensloep (whores barge). Note that the same applied to an older and not-so-shiny Benz W116 or big Opel.
And our Royal Family changed to Euro-FoMoCo products: Ford Granada Mk1 and Mk2, Ghia trim level. Dark blue metallic. After the first oil crisis, gas guzzlers were not done (waste!), that also played a role.
Thanks for that background — that got me curious about the Dutch Royal family’s vehicles, so I went looking for some photos of motorcades from the 1950s & ’60s. I came across this video that I thought the CC community might enjoy of Queen Juliana visiting Belgium in 1960 — the Queen and her entourage are riding in brand-new Ford Starliner convertibles (motorcade scene starts at about 0:45 in the video):
That’s a good one, Eric!
More Royal Family classic Americana throughout this grand collection:
https://www.flickr.com/groups/1841352@N20/pool/
Thanks! That’s a great collection, and as a license plate collector, I definitely appreciate the “AA” plates.
My favorite car in that bunch is the 1972 LTD convertible — since there’s many pictures of that car there, I’m guessing I’m not the only one who likes it.
I’m surprised that the very-low-number AA-10 plate is on a rather ordinary-looking VW Crafter van. There’s got to be a story behind that one.
The Crafter is a taxi/mini-bus, to transport royal guests. Certainly cheaper than a bunch of Phaetons…
The idea of buying an American car shows a rebellious instability that should be curbed by society. Prestige is not something that should be publicly flaunted. A gentleman earning a living wage should always remember that others cannot afford the luxuries available to them. Our people should drive respectable native brands, if they must drive at all. Flash is trash. Chrome is empty visual emotions. Consequently, purchasing an American car makes a prestigious statement to your neighbors about your place within society that should not be welcomed by any clear-thinking gentleman.
Owning an automobile manufactured in America is wasteful and harmful to the environment. Americans don’t care about our limited resources and have a permissive government permitting auto manufacturers there to produce products that place profits over societal responsibilities. Importing a vehicle across the Atlantic is a waste of energy and could kill marine life. American cars are needlessly large, over-powered and poorly assembled, often by unions that are in conflict with the profit-seeking and powerful owners who dominate America.
There has already been too much diverted attention to some American vehicles, such as the Mustang, the Corvette and the larger American sedans. We have seen some of our native industries changing the names of their products to reflect the sexual nature, dangerous speeds and rebellious acts these American automobiles generate within our regulated societies. Studies have shown that these individualistic tendencies will undermine the work we have done since the War and possibly create a striving and inequality that stirs passions and longings the cannot be met by most of our citizens. Tempting the common man with American goods they cannot afford is a dangerous game to play. We must be aware of the fact that desiring American materialism may foment a societal crisis.
Chevrolet may sound like a nice sounding Continental brand, but beware! American cars should be curtailed by invading our markets and we should level as much of the society costs they inflict upon our nations in taxes to offset the damage they cause. We must do all that we can to stop American brands from corrupting our societies!
Except for cigarettes, Levis, David Hasselhoff, and Coca-Cola.
Congrats on that! Great note
I chuckle when I see ads for American cars with the prices in the U.S. The same car almost always costs more here, dollar for dollar, after conversion, here in Canada. It seems like the ratio is always price times 1.2 or higher. It is what it is, not complaining.
I don’t know if Uruguayan economics were similar to Swiss ones at the time (it’s quite likely, as they were ascending and we were descending).
Anyway, a new Camaro around here, now, starts at around 100K (American).
Also, any American car was quite luxurious, with Impalas and Caprices frequently sporting A/C, P/S, automatic, and power windows. I never undesrtood why, but power brakes were much less comon. I once found a ’72 Chevelle with almost no exterior chrome, no power brakes, and all the interior and power goodies.
Same story in Israel. In fact any street scene from anytime between the 20s all through to the early 70s would not have been complete without a few (or more than a few) American or Canadian made cars. Benzes only started to be imported into the country in the late 50s after an obvious absence from the mid 30s and were bought by doctors and the like (mostly with German routes, WWII or not). They fell apart quickly if not properly maintained. Citroen DSs were for weirdos and Jag had only sporadically imported cars into Israel. And American cars were unburstable.
But then the 70s came…
I wonder why GM chose to offer the Corvair 500 in Switzerland, unless it was just to get a customer in the showroom by having a low price and then selling them something nicer. I had a 67 500 sedan and it was a sad thing, with almost no chrome, cheapo vinyl bench seats, rubber floor mat, etc. The turquoise paint and tan interior didn’t help either. At least I only paid $50 for it.
The 500 was assembled in Switzerland, and with locally sourced upholstery and door side panels and such. It was of higher quality than the American 500. It came standard with the 4 speed and a few other options. It was not a stripper.
Much the same thing happened here in Australia. Local assembly plants used to upgrade trim using local materials, when the car had to compete on pricing as a prestige model.
Holden assembled the standard ‘full-size’ Chevrolets here through 1968. Only four door sedans at first, and later four door hardtops as well, so no sporty bodies or wagons, no V8s or automatics until 1960, and never the big blocks. Although we had 210/Biscayne/Bel Air trim, ie not top of the range, leather trim was a given through the fifties, as the price point they were sold at demanded it. That mattered more to the buyer in that segment than having more shiny stuff slathered on the outside. Much the same for Pontiacs too.
I’m not sure when that changed, but I don’t recall Uncle Ted’s ’66 Bel Air having leather.
That picture of the Impala looked like it had strange hubcaps, but then I realized someone had superimposed ‘rally’ wheels, but they were ‘flipped’…I fixed them for you 🙂
Ha! Nice work! Yes, that botched job was a topic of discussion here a couple of days earlier:
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/qotd/whats-wrong-with-this-picture-and-whats-very-right-with-the-other-ones-they-do-things-a-bit-differently-in-switzerland/
When I was touring mainland Europe in the late 60s I was surprised that Belgium and Switzerland had far more American cars that the UK. Obviously France and Italy didn’t, because of punitive taxes on engine size. And in the 60s of course we knew that ALL American cars were automatic, with power brakes/steering/windows etc. and two-tone paint. America was the promised land that we saw regularly on TV and everything was luxury!
It’s funny how the reason for the absence of American cars in France or Italy is down to tax, but their absence in the UK or Germany is down to… Down to what exactly?
American cars were not that rare in Europe until they started being too big for city use in the late 60s. They were expensive not matter where – in Switzerland or in France or in Germany – and folks who could afford them could also afford whatever tax they came with.
But if the newest Buick won’t fit in your garage, then perhaps you’d consider a Jaguar or a Benz that will.
Well, in the 60s footballers weren’t rich, few pop singers were rich. Most folk who could afford a high end luxury car in Britain or Germany were fairly old and very conservative.
As far as the UK was concerned, there was also the minor detail that very few American cars were obtainable with the steering wheel on the correct side – unless they had one of those conversions with a bicycle chain behind the dashboard…
I seem to remember a story on CC involving a Vauxhall bigwig taking some Detroit execs for a high speed drive on English country roads to impress on them that bigger isn’t always better. The point about garages is a good one.
Many British garages are big enough for an Impala, but not if you weigh more than 150lbs and want to be able to get in and out of it. I know few people in Britain who actually park their car in the garage, using it instead as a garden shed, partly due to European cars getting so much fatter.
The late great Celtic captain Billy McNeill was commonly thought to be nicknamed Caesar, but the story goes that the squad had gone to the cinema together, and Cesar Romero’s character in the flick had a fancy car. McNeill was the only member of the squad with a car, and the others began teasingly to refer to him as “Cesar”. This is a team which won the equivalent of the Champions League in 1967.
I have this sinking feeling that we’re talking past each other, Uncle.
My point was that US cars were relatively common in Europe before they became too big. Not sure what footballers and pop singers have to do with that. they certainly didn’t buy Lincolns or Corvettes once they made loadsamoney in the go-go 80s/90s. They’re not a significant demographic anyway.
Doctors, dentists, lawyers, bankers, CEOs — those were the folks who bought American cars back in the 50s. By the 70s, these people were not in the market for those any longer, because full-size American cars were just impossible to park (and fix) and were technically pretty retrograde, compared to big European cars.
Full-size Buicks and Cadillacs from the seventies may be too big indeed, but not everything offered was a full-sizer (in US terms).
19,850 Dutch guilders for this Olds Cutlass Supreme “mid-sizer”. Around 10,000 less than a comparable Euro-car (was there any?), according to the ad. On top of that, more luxury, better comfort, better performance and a few other advantages (again, according to the ad).
Yet despite price and size, doctors, dentists, lawyers, bankers, CEOs were not the clientele any longer.
Meanwhile, in Australia, the land Mark Twain described as having a history so strange it pushes all other points of interest into second and third place, American cars were also most pricey items. GM Holden assembled Canadian Chevliac kits until the late ’60’s, and they sat at the top of the local range.
Indeed, they were the cars of high governmental transport. Fancy the US President being delivered to office in a Chevy Belair!
As a Twainian, Oz-weird footnote, our well-monied Prime Minister drove his expensive but basic-for-America “Pontiac Laurentian” to his death in the summer of ’67. He parked it and went swimming where ordinary mortals were not allowed to go, and disappeared, forever.
Israel right up to the 1980s had lots of American cars. The Box Caprice was highly desired, lots of Delta 88s as well. Dodge was popular until the K car arrived and smaller Chevys until the arrival of the Citation. European Fords were super polular but aside from the Fairmont, I don’t recall many American ones, AMC was non existant.