I thought car parts was overpriced

Couple of things.

One:

Apple didn't steal the GUI from Xerox, they were invited to Xerox because Xerox knew they had something cool but didn't know what to do with it. Also Xerox was compensated for the visit to PARC with pre IPO Apple stock. In other words Xerox was well compensated for their inspiration.

Two:
This is a piece of computing history. We may look at it and laugh in the same way that we might look back at a completely stock model T. Actually this is more significant than a model T because the Model T was similar to the Apple II. Both the Apple II and the model T were mass market products that sold in the millions while the Apple I was only sold for a short time and sold in very small numbers.

The Apple I was designed for hobbyists, it came with no keyboard, monitor, or even and enclosure. It was essentially a kit. This would be similar to the first examples of Harley Davidson Motorcycles as examples were largely hand built.

Three:

Price- someone mentioned a set of sockets on by Ronnie Socks. This is similar to an original Shelby Mustang. These early examples of home brew computers were something that were often built by very small factories where a good deal of the manufacturing was done by hand. The Apple I was almost entirely designed or was entirely designed by Steve Wozniak. Thus, while the Woz didn't personally build this computer he directly designed it.

Regards,

Joe Dokes