This is one of my biggest externality talking points. That $1400 VCR was made in the USA, could be serviced in the USA, and was built to last a number of years. The $40 VCR that presided over the sunset of the video cassette recorder was made in Puna, couldn't be serviced by anyone, and was built to almost but not quite live out its 90 day warranty. Yeah - it's great that more Americans could buy more VCRs but they also have to buy more VCRs, which in the end benefits the shipping companies and the overseas manufacturers. 'cuz the inequality where the workers live is off the chain and the VCRs, while they're improving it a little, aren't causing as much global wealth increase as they're causing local wealth decrease. Cars reflect a super-accelerated increase in standards but they also reflect a massive globalization and dilution of local markets. We might be getting a better deal... but a Yaris right now is a Cadillac in 1967. Shit be spendy. Adjusted for inflation a '66 mustang convertible was like $14k.
Yeah and your '66 Mustang might have died on the way home from the lot! Quality in manufacturing (planned obsolescence aside) is so many light-years beyond what it was even 30 years ago that it's hard to compare. A Yaris may cost what a Cadillac did in '67, but the Yaris is going to last 200k miles without blinking, and with the most minimal care possible. Value is difficult to judge, because we all want different things, but I think cars are objectively better value now than then (subjectively speaking, of course).
To be fair, the Beetle is priced for those same hippies that now have more cash. Here are some cheap cars in 2016: Nissan Versa: $11,990; 66' adjusted: $1,617 Mitsubishi Mirage: $12,995; 66' adjusted: $1,752 At $1,352 the entry Beetle was indeed about $10k adjusted in 66'. But the car that bears the name is not targeting the same market now. Even so, if you got the squareback with a sunroof, your 66' Wolfsburg Beetle set you back the equivalent of $14,658. The price of cars is up some, but I don't think the affordability has changed too much. Especially when you consider that the quality of today's cars leads to a used car market with more cars that have life in them. Chevy Spark: $12,660; 66' adjusted: $1,707