Yep. those days are gone. During the 1950s up to 1960, new cars cost about $1 per pound. Of course, wages were lower then than today.

And back in the 50s and 60s they advertised an AM radio and a heater as "extras". :-) Now we have multi-speaker audio systems tuned to the car, standard climate control, power everything, exhaust coming out of the car cleaner than the air that goes in, ...

Then there were mechanical ignitions that needed frequent adjustment. Tires that lasted 15,000 miles if you were lucky.

There were some great cars from back then, the Cobra among them. I like to think that cars had a lot more personality then rather than the general level of competence/sameness almost all of them achieve now. But there are some good reasons why cars cost so much more per pound nowadays.

Before ca 1957, auto system voltage was 6 VDC. This was a pain in the patoot for starting on a cold winter morning. A 6V starter motor needs twice the current of a 12 V one to do the same job.

Automotive generators of that era could produce voltage output of either polarity. An unknown generator needed to be 'flashed' before installing to set the residual polarity of its pole pieces. One had to use caution since a few cars used opposite polarity.

The output of the generator was regulated by a 'voltage' relay usually mounted on the firewall. The cut-in and cut-out points were adjusted by bending the tangs that held the return spring. A surprise was in store if one were messing around under the hood with the cover removed from this relay. If you happened to brush the armature and push it down far enough to touch the contacts - watch out! This action connects the generator directly to the battery and it is not turning to produce and counter EMF. It also energizes the relay's electromagnet. The generator acts as a motor and tries to turn the engine. There is an overload of current and if not interrupted in time, something goes up in smoke. It takes too long to disconnect the battery cable. The cure is to grab the armature of the regulator relay and pull it off its pole if you can. This opens the contact and breaks the current path provided the relay contact was able to break the circuit. If the relay contact is yet serviceable, the relay may still be usable. However, its calibration may have been changed if any parts were distorted. After such an event, the output should be measured and adjustment made as needed.

Auto radios used vacuum tubes with a B+ voltage of 90 volts or more. A DC to DC converter was needed on the radio chassis. This was accomplished with a 'vibrator", type of vibrating relay that mechanically chopped the current to the input of a transformer to create an elevated AC output. The AC output was rectified and filtered to supply the required chassis voltage. You could hear the hum of this little vibrator when energizing the radio, and it was a source of income for radio repairmen. It had a limited life and was easy to replace (if you knew what to do).

The real old antiques like in the 20's had 12 volt systems, I had a couple. Seemed all switched to 6 volt around 1930 about. Not sure exactly when. All my cars from 30's up had 6 volt till mid 50's. Why did they switch down from 12v to 6v?

The Model A Fords used 6 volts. My dad had a 1927 Model A and I had a 1929 Model A. Both were 6 volts. During 1953 and 1954, I worked at a filling station as a "grease monkey" and performed most of the business' service. All the cars I services had 6 volts. I wasn't aware that at earlier times. some autos may have had 12 volt systems. Maybe the move down to 6v from 12v was precipitated by headlight filaments. A 6v lamp filament is thicker and more robust than a 12v filament. Maybe that was the driver.

I do recall that in the late '50s, auto manufactures were ready to move up to 12v volts but the change was delayed by a year or more due to headlamp problems. The 12v headlamp had short life due to filament breakage from road shocks. The change-over was delayed until a center support was added to the filament. This had to be designed, techniques for manufacture developed, and life testing performed before these were released for use in autos.

Well I began to
doubt my memory so looked up Dodge 12 volt or some such term. Found a
Dodge forum. Seems Dodge switched to 6 volt in late 1920’s tho it
didn’t say why. Also Dodge used a positive ground supposedly to
keep the horn contacts from corroding. It seems a couple posters had
horn problems with a negative ground.

Dodge also had the
“silent starter” which was a starter when you stepped on the
start button but a 3-brush generator after the car motor was running.
Perhaps that influenced the use of 12v. Maybe they went to 6v when/if
that starter/generator concept was discontinued. Just a guess. My
1933 Pontiac had the 3 brush generator but was a 6v system with a
separate starter.