Can't say much about 1959 since I was not interested in making a
purchase then.
In 1968 it was all but impossible to find a new Land Rover of any
style for sale in the US. That was the year that they stopped
importing 109s and diesels, although I have heard that a very few of
each did reach our shores through "legitimate" channels.
In 1969 there was a waiting list at each of the very few US
dealerships and the used LR market seemed to be non-existent. In
July of 1969, after a three month wait, I paid $3749. That was the
number on the check, so that includes tax, license, dealer prep,
undercoating, power windows, skyliner retractable roof...oh wait. No
it was just the legal fees and the Series IIa 88 "Deluxe
Station-wagon" with the bonnet mounted spare. At the time I was
making around $7.5K as a computer jockey.
In January of 1996 I bought a D90 SW and the check was for very close
to 10x the price of the '69. My income was better than 10x but my
position had changed significantly. I'd say that the same position I
held in 1969 would have paid about 5x or 6x more in 1996 than in
'69, So it's fair to suspect that there is some disparity in the
current costs.
For another consideration though, in '69 the thought of marketing
Land Rovers as collectibles would have been sillier than imagining
that a has-been movie actor would be president someday. I certainly
had no expectations that my Land Rover would appreciate.
Somewhere in my files I have a Car&Driver road test of a 109 4-door
from about 1964. As I recall it was somewhere about $3,500 with
pretty much all the good stuff you could reasonably expect. The 88s
were quite a bit cheaper, a fair bit under $3K.
For comparison purposes, consider a Porsche 365 in '64 was very
nearly $4K, an Austin Healey 3000 was around $3200, a TR-4A or MGB
was around $2700 and as Peter pointed out a Beetle was firmly priced
at $1800.
Given the above: in the 60s Land Rover was sort of in the middle of
the market price-wise and was a status symbol only in very limited
social circles. Certainly not as they are now, priced at the very
high end with serious status collecting rides.
G. Mugele
*** "Thanks to the Interstate highway system, it is possible to
travel coast to coast without seeing anything." -- Charles Kuralt
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