People of this era spent a lot too! In the 70s and 80s not only was there a bicycle boom, but a sailboat boom too!
The working class had money and they spent it.
I don't think we'll ever see that level of luxury consumption by the working class ever again. We've all seen the graphs of how wealth decoupled away from the working class after Regan and how poor a share of wealth millennials have compared to their parents.
60s and 70s were the golden era of light aircraft as well. Lots of working class people flew airplanes as a hobby. (A significant multiple vs today anyway.)
Regulatory changes were a big part of that. IIRC, manufacturers were ruled to be liable for accidents, and they all pretty much stopped making planes. So now planes are rare, very-old Cessnas cost what several cars do instead of what a single car does, and development is so stagnant that leaded avgas is still a thing.
The working class had money and they spent it.
I don't think we'll ever see that level of luxury consumption by the working class ever again. We've all seen the graphs of how wealth decoupled away from the working class after Regan and how poor a share of wealth millennials have compared to their parents.