I was leafing through a copy of the Guinness Book of World Records, the 1974 edition -- the one I should have been in, having broken the old record for writing the world's longest letter, a record that stood for 30 years, and it turned out someone else had exactly the same idea and wrote another 20,000 words more than I did, but I'm not bitter no sir not me -- and got to the automotive section. How things have changed.
The most expensive production car in the world was the seven-seat Rolls-Royce Phanton VI with coachwork by Park Ward. This car would have set you back the equivalent of $38,900. That was the winner at press time, though, since the book mentioned that the 1974 Ferrari Boxer was expected to hit $48,000.
Porsche had the record for the fastest production car, the Type 917, which hit 238 mph in 1971. It would have held the money record had it been exported -- the book reports that it would have been as much as $92,000.
Of course, all things are relative: working as a receptionist in 1974, my mother took home about $62 a week. I still remember her paying for a large load of groceries with a $50 bill, which required that the cashier get authorization from the store manager, and write down the serial number before she could accept a note that large.
