I wasn’t around to witness gas at $0.25 a gallon, nor the $0.05 candy bar, but I wish that cars were more affordable. Todays particular case: The 2009 Dodge Challenger.

Dodge recently released the pricing on the new Challenger: $37,995. The price for a 1970 Challenger with a Hemi : $6,100 (About $32,000 in 2006 money). Now, depending upon your prospective, $6,000 may not sound like a lot, but the fact of the matter is that six thousand dollars is a 16.7% increase. Now here is the kicker; Dodge will only be making 5000 of these in their first year of production. Because of this, and the rabid consumerism in America, there will inevitably be dealers charging a premium ON TOP of the MSRP. Some have even been so bold as to create an ebay auction to dictate how much OVER the MSRP you’re willing to pay. The auction has closed already with the winning “buy it now” option being 50% of the cars base price!!!

In reality, this car really wasn’t made for 24 year olds who want to go fast. It was made for the baby boomers who dominate the wealth in America. For the boy-racer, there is the Mazdaspeed 3.

Heck, at least these people paying too much might have a collectible on their hands. Unlike those iPhone suckers early adopters that got the shaft with their near instantaneous devaluation of their toy. Most of which will probably end up in the trash in two years time.