I just need to walk into my garage for that comparison. One of the bikes I ride often is over 40 years old.

Interesting display idea, though, but one might think the dealer could pick a more modern bike for the "now" example. Steel frame, threaded quill stem, and SS/FG don't exactly scream "40 years of progress"!

Not that there's anything wrong with the way that new display bike is set up; it's just that you could've built a pretty similar bike 40 years ago. Carbon fiber, threadless stem, brifters, indexed shifting (electronic, even)... those are things that have changed in the past four decades.