Ford’s clearly excited about their upcoming small pickup truck, the Maverick, and I’ll be honest— I am, too. A big part of what I find exciting is that it’s cheap, at least by modern car standards, starting at under $20,000. I’m sick of everything being so expensive. Ford seems to understand this sentiment as well, since they sent us a press release reminding us that, adjusted for inflation, the Maverick is actually cheaper than a Model T. That’s amazing! And, even better, it’s even sort of true!
Yes, it absolutely is true if you look at the price of the first Ford Model T that came out in 1908, which had a price of $850, which would be about $25,223 in today’s money. That’s a solid five grand more than the Maverick, so great job getting those prices down over the past century or so, Ford!
Plus, I think the Maverick’s infotainment system is way better than the 1908 Model T’s which, if I recall, didn’t even offer an option for CarPlay.
Things do fall apart a bit if we look at the progression of the Model T, though, which got dramatically cheaper over time, going down to a low of $260 for a Runabout model in 1925. Even adjusted for inflation, the price of that car is staggeringly cheap, coming to $4,056 in today’s money.
All of this got me wondering how the Maverick stacks up against some of the legendary cheap-ass cars built over the past century, so I whipped up a quick chart showing the cars’ price at the time they were new, and their prices adjusted for inflation:
Man, those were some cheap cars. The Maverick’s price is actually pretty good, especially considering what you’re getting; compared to, say a ‘95 Geo Metro, you’re getting a car that gets about as good gas mileage, but is significantly bigger, more practical, and vastly safer, for about $6,000 more, which, in context, is pretty damn good.
This chart also really reminded me of what a stellar achievement the Tata Nano was, even if it did turn out to be something of a failure. It was a real engineering triumph, that thing.
I also just realized that, if we just count the Model Ts as one entry, I’ve driven every car on this chart except for the Maverick! And I’m pretty sure I was quite fond of them all.
Man, I have garbage tastes.