I get some photos of ar travel "back in the day" at times on FB. It looks luxurious of course, and folks pine for it, even in Coach it looks great. They never talk about ticket prices back then.
So, cars today are expensive IN PART because "we" want what they offer. The most basic car sold today new is pretty fancy, I think it's a Nissan Versa. Imiagine a very vasic "People's Car" someone builds with very spare equipment, just the basics, I doubt anyone would buy it.