Where does the saying "A dollar three eighty come from"?

Try asking the crew at TakeOurWord.com:
http://www.takeourword.com/askUs.html

The price of inflation ...

When I was at university, which was the second half of the 20th
Century (despite my kids' denial of same), the expression was

    "A buck two eighty"

In those ummmmm ... 20+ years, inflation has taken it up $1.10USD.

Serenata

Like Serenata, I remember hearing the phrase as "a buck two eighty"
back in my college days. Then, as now, it meant "an indeterminate
amount of money."

But that was a jillion years ago, and eleventy-seven things have
changed since then. ;-)

I've searched and searched but cannot find the history or origin.  It
is slang/an idiom, dialect, etc.

There are many variations but the meaning is always the same:  The
price for anything.

- a buck three eighty 
- a buck one eighty
- a dollar one-eighty

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Amerispeak - Expressions of our American Ancestors - The colorful
slang of Americans of the 18th, 19th, and early 20th Century
http://www.rootsweb.com/~genepool/amerispeak/money.htm

Money and Numbers

THEY SAID: It costs a dollar two ninety-eight. 

WE SAY: I don't know how much it costs.
 
-------------------------------------------------- 
 
THEY SAID: Oh, about a dollar buck two eighty! 

WE SAY: What do you think it's worth?