General Motors Chairman Alfred P. Sloan created the idea of the "Ladder of Success" during the 1920s, in which a GM shopper's first car was a proletariat-grade Chevrolet, followed by moves upward through the increasingly prestigious Pontiac, Oldsmobile, and Buick brands as his income increased. Finally, a new Cadillac stood ready at the very top of the ladder.
The Ladder of Success began to fall apart during the late 1960s, however, as GM divisions began creating luxed-up versions of their cars that often cost more than the related cars of higher-ranking GM divisions. This magazine advertisement for the 1973 Chevrolet Caprice is a good example of that trend.
The Caprice was the king of the full-size Chevrolets in 1973, and a car buyer could easily spend more on a Caprice than on its Pontiac or Oldsmobile platform siblings. MSRP on the '73 Caprice hardtop coupe was $4082 (about $24,142 in 2023 dollars), while the Pontiac Catalina hardtop coupe started at $3869 and the Olds Delta 88 hardtop coupe was $4047. Hell, add a few options and you could get a Caprice price tag up past that of the swanky $4125 Buick LeSabre hardtop coupe.
