Colt 1911 Nostalgia

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Hunter Customs

New member
Today I was going through some of my old stuff looking for some of my old reloading manuals.
Doing so I came accross a yearly Guns Illustrated book dated 1970, so I started thumbing through it.

The Colt 1911A1 blue Government model in 45acp caliber was priced at $115.50, in nickle finish it was $133.00.

The Colt 1911A1 in 38 Super was priced the same as the Government model and was listed in both finishes.

The Colt Commander was listed in blue only with a choice of three calibers 9mm, 38 super, or the 45 acp.

This brought back a lot of memories, as 1970 was the year I built my first custom 1911 and it was on a 1911A1 blue Government model Colt.

The Gold Cup for that year was listed as having Colts royal blue finish only and came in two calibers 38 special or 45 acp.

Ah, those were good days.

Best Regards
Bob Hunter
www.huntercustoms.com
 
N

nate45

New member
$115.50 in 1970 had the same buying power as $691.38 in 2012 and $133.00 in 1970 had the same buying power as $796.14 in 2012. Looks in addition to monetary inflation, they raised the price too. :(
 
J

JimDandy

New member
They had to raise the price. After seeing what Glocks were selling for, they knew the superior engineering of John Moses Browning had to be worth more :D
 
T

Tactical Jackalope

New member
Wow...If I could go back in time with my bank account now, I'd come back with 10 1911's.

I asked my pop about this. He said that he bought a stainless High-Power for about that much.
 
D

dgludwig

New member
I paid $205.07 for a brand new Series 70 Colt Gold Cup in 1974 but it seemed like a lot of money at the time. I still have the pistol and regularly compete with it in Bullseye matches.
On 8-6-69, I paid $115.50 for a nib Colt Government that I no longer have anymore. Of course, as nate45 explained, money now isn't the same as money then. :(
 
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B

Brian48

New member
I paid $629.50+31.48 tax for my Colt Gold Cup Enhanced .45ACP (1 Sep '94, brand new). It was supposedly a decent price for the time, but it still felt like a fortune to me as I was paying my way through college as well. When I see the going rate for a the same gun these days, I'm floored. I can actually sell this old gun at a profit, which is something I can't say for some of my others.

Incidentally, my Colt Delta Elite 10mm cost me $395.00+19.75 tax a few months earlier (1 Mar '94), but that was a used gun. Still have both today :)
 
C

Coltman 77

New member
IIRC, I paid $250.00 for a brand new Colt MK IV Series 70 in 1977. Great pistol, I carried it for years as a young pharmaceutical salesman in the low country of SC and parts of Ga.

It made me feel safe in some of the rural areas/motels I travelled. :)
 
M

Mello2u

New member
If we could find some advertisements from the back of gun magazines from pre-68 GCA, we could see that back then you could buy 1911s for $25 (if I remember correctly) in NRA very good condition delivered to your door by mail.

I was too young to know I could do that back then.

I tried searching for images of such ads on the internet but could not find any!
 
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