I got it sorted, and did something a little different. Is there a benefit to doing it one way over the other? Here's my code:

$lookfor=<STDIN>;
chop($lookfor);

if ($lookfor =~ /year/i){
   for $list_ref1 ( sort { $a->[0] cmp $b->[0] } @inventory ) {
    print "\t [ @$list_ref1 ],\n";
    } 
}

if ($lookfor =~ /make/i){
  for $list_ref1 ( sort { $a->[1] cmp $b->[1] } @inventory ) {
    print "\t [ @$list_ref1 ],\n";
    }
}
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