Fascinating commercial from 1960s shows exactly what you could buy with $3,000

Do you ever wish you could go full Back to the Future, hop in a DeLorean, and whisk yourself to some bygone era?

Imagine living your life in peace without the looming threat of World War III, worries that artificial intelligence will overthrow the human race, or that a comet from outer space is secretly an alien mothership.

While we'll admit that things have come on leaps and bounds in terms of technology in the past decade alone, we're still a long way from those futures depicted in the likes of Blade Runner.

Still, it's amazing to look back at what George Orwell thought 1984 would look like when he published Nineteen Eighty-Four in 1949, or what Arthur C. Clarke imagined 2001 would resemble when 2001: A Space Odyssey was released in 1968.

Although some people claim to have mastered time travel decades ago, and one guy maintains he's living in 2027, the concept of nipping back to your favorite decade is out of reach...for now.

Now, one viral video showing what things used to be worth will have you wishing you could scrape together your savings and buy your own luxury lifestyle from the 1960s.

Things have come a long way since the '60s (Harold M. Lambert / Contributor / Getty)

Sure, the 60s had to deal with the Cuban Missile Crisis, JFK's assassination, and the Vietnam War, but it was also the decade when man first set foot on the Moon, we got MLK Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, and we celebrated 'flower power' alongside Beatlemania.

We might not have had the internet or social media (probably not a bad thing), but in a viral Reddit thread, people are gawping at what $3,000 could get you back then.

This infamous Volkswagen advert from 1967 was called "Keeping Up with the Kremplers". Introducing the fictionalized Mr. Jones and Mr. Krempler, both were each given $3,000 and did very different things with it.

The joke is that Jones bought a generic $3,000 car, while Krempler bought a snazzy VW Beetle, a new refrigerator, a range, a washer, a dryer, a record player, and two brand-new television sets with his $3,000.

It’s important to remember the commercial was also released during a time of inflation and a mini-recession due to the Vietnam War, showing just how far your money could stretch.

Considering the average house price in the USA was $410,000 in 2025, the average new car price was $50,000, and the price of a dozen eggs peaked at $8.17, it definitely feels like you got more bang for your buck back then.

Someone in the thread tried to crunch the numbers, and although they admitted they didn't spend too long looking at deals, that same package (swapping the Beetle for a VW Jetta) came to around $30,000 – which lines up with what it would be when accounting for modern inflation.

Elsewhere, one person said: "When the American dream was obtainable on a realistic salary."

Another joked: "I got avocado toast and a Netflix subscription for $3000."

Others noted that cars are far more advanced in 2026 than they were in 1967, with complaints that vehicles didn't last anywhere near as long and didn't have basics that we take for granted, like airbags, ABS, and emissions controls.

Rounding off in poignant style, one person reminded us: “I'm glad the comments are calling this sh*t out. America wasn't better back then for 70% of us - how many women owned their own homes back then? How many Black people had high salaries?

"This MAGA nostalgia is designed to demoralize and ensure people don't strive to better their actual situations. 3k back then was 30k today. You can still get all those things for 30k and they are better."