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By Ray Hanania

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I remember my dad buying a new car in the 1960s for about $1,400. It wasn’t a Mercedes, but just a normal car with the basic bells and whistles like air conditioning, power steering, power brakes, a good radio and a great interior.

Dad’s income at the time was about $6,000 a year, so the cost of the car was only about 25% of his annual salary. Our home cost about $12,000 at the time, so the cost of the car was only about 10%.

I wish that were the reality today.

Ray Hanania

I went to the Chicago Auto Show at McCormick Place thinking maybe I can find a good deal on a new car to replace the $52,000 Nissan Murano I purchased eight years ago. But I left there shaking my head.

To replace the Murano, the sticker prices were right around $60,000 with the sports package. You could buy cars cheaper with the “Fred Flintstone” package, which is a “Yabba dabba doo” nothing. Fred and Wilma would have left before they entered.

That means to purchase that car in 1960 terms, your income would have to be $240,000 a year and your home should be valued at $600,000.

Factor in the rising taxes that slam consumers and homeowners today — thanks in large part recently to Cook County Assessor Fritz “No Tax is Too High” Kaegi — and the fact that the cost of consumer goods are fast outpacing salaries for the average worker; and honestly, I don’t know how anyone can afford a decent car.

Auto Show costs were sky high. You want a mediocre pulled pork or rib sandwich, they cost $12.25 each. A Polish sausage sandwich, Chicago’s finest, was also $12.25. Bottled water cost $5 and a small bag of chips were an astonishing $3.25, or about 25 cents a chip. The entrance cost was only $17, so that wasn’t too bad.

Parking wasn’t too bad, either; only $25. But we had to walk from the north lakeside parking lot, which was about 2,500 steps to get to the auto showroom.

The big focus at the Auto Show, besides the unaffordable costs, were the large number of EV (all-electric) vehicles. They are the rage. I was turned off to them, though, when I saw that EV owners were stranded and could not charge their cars because of the arctic cold weather than hit Chicago in January.

Some of the cars are so expensive as salespeople tell you how we can purchase one for like $45,000, with nothing on it except the steering wheel, four wheels and radio on cameras, which is not what I want.

The 2024 Chicago Auto Show was very depressing. Everything is so expensive.

In contrast, I have great memories of the Auto Show from 1959. Cars were fun back then, and more affordable. I think they were even more reliable, too.

Orland Park’s disrespectful mayor

About 75 residents of Orland Park went to the village board meeting on Feb. 5 to urge the village board, in a very civil and respectful way, to approve a resolution calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

What they got was a one-sided lecture and disrespect from Orland Park’s far right-wing mayor, Keith Pekau.

Five residents from the community addressed the board in a very civil manner. There were no protests or civil unrest. But Pekau, who is one of the region’s most intolerable elected officials, went on a rant conveying a one-sided narrative that distorted the conflict’s history.

A smart politician would have listened to the residents and respected them. But that’s not what Pekau did. He confronted them and began a long, prep-prepared printed one-sided narrative that was offensive, actually.

When some of the 75 residents muttered their disdain, and criticized his insensitive remarks, Pekau went on an angry rage, stopped his speech and emptied the Village Hall.

Pekau returned when everyone was removed about 35 minutes later and continued his one-sided political narrative on the horrible conflict raging between Palestinians and Israelis, telling them, “You can certainly go and fight, go to another country and support that country,” Pekau lectured.

The real issue for Orland Park isn’t the war in Gaza. It is a local public official intolerant of anyone who disagrees with his xenophobia. Pekau didn’t have to agree with them, but telling them to “go to another country” is the epitome of disrespect.

Ray Hanania is a former Chicago City Hall reporter and award-winning columnist. Visit hanania.com for more opinion.

Ray Hanania (right) with his older brother, John, at the 1959 Chicago Auto Show. –Photo courtesy of Ray Hanania