# Gas Price Memory



## Smitty37 (Feb 24, 2016)

I was thinking today and it crossed my mind that as late as the 1970s gas pumps couldn't register over a dollar a gallon.  The small local grocery with a gas pump had to start selling half-gallons.   It was also interesting that the State would not allow him to display the sales tax per gallon that was paid on top of the state and federal gasoline excise taxes.

Remember those days?  

I actually remember the first time I paid over 50 cents a gallon.  It was on a trip and we had to fill up in western NY state and paid $.579 a gallon.  We thought we were being skinned.


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## JimB (Feb 24, 2016)

I don't remember how much gas was when I started driving but I do remember full service when they pumped the gas and checked your oil even when I was just getting $2 in gas because that was all the money I had on me.


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## SAWDUST 101 (Feb 24, 2016)

I  remember getting white gas for 25 cents a gallon from a tank in back of the station and it had to be pumped by hand. They couldn't give away lead free back then and only us kids who couldn't afford regular got it. That was in the early 50's.

Don


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## bobjackson (Feb 24, 2016)

I remember gas at .25 a gallon, and cigarettes at .23 a pack. You would put .25 into the cig machine and get a pack with 2 pennies taped to the pack.


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## mredburn (Feb 24, 2016)

It was 25 where I lived when I started driving, I remember when it jumped to .48 cents and I couldnt believe how expensive it was.


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## Smitty37 (Feb 24, 2016)

In 1961-1967 where I lived in Dutchess County NY there were some local brands sold at small stores "CLAY" was one of them.  We paid $.265 for Clay Regular When I would go visit my family in Pennsylvania we would fill up down there (Lackawanna County 15 miles south of Scranton) for $.239 or $.249.  We were upset when we moved to the Southern Tier of NY between Binghamton and Elmira and had to pay $.329.

The small companies like Clay were actually buying their gas from one of the major companies and the law required the major to price the gas to Clay such that Clay could price it under their own stations.  This was when most gas stations were owned by the major companies.  Esso, Atlantic, Sinclair,
American, Phillips, Texaco etc. And where ever you went, they would pump the gas, check the oil, wash the windshield and check the air in your tires if you asked.  I had a 20 gallon Tank on my car and would always fill up for less than $5.00.


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## flyitfast (Feb 24, 2016)

In San Antonio during the mid-60's gas was .21 a gallon and then once a month around the military paydays it would drop to .16 for a few days.  What a gas war!!
Gordon


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## Akula (Feb 24, 2016)

I remember putting $2.00 worth in my motorcycle and riding all week in the early 80's.

When I got off active duty in the 90's, gas prices were 97 cents a gallon here.  Last week using my Kroger card discount, we paid 97 cents a gallon.  Sure been down a road in prices.  When we bought a van and cost to fill it up was $27.00.  At peak prices it cost us to fill the same van, $65.00.

Cheap gas prices are good for Families budgets but very tough on many many other things.  Especially around here in Houston.  Cheap oil=loss of so many jobs.


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## Smitty37 (Feb 24, 2016)

Akula said:


> I remember putting $2.00 worth in my motorcycle and riding all week in the early 80's.
> 
> When I got off active duty in the 90's, gas prices were 97 cents a gallon here.  Last week using my Kroger card discount, we paid 97 cents a gallon.  Sure been down a road in prices.  When we bought a van and cost to fill it up was $27.00.  At peak prices it cost us to fill the same van, $65.00.
> 
> Cheap gas prices are good for Families budgets but very tough on many many other things.  Especially around here in Houston.  Cheap oil=loss of so many jobs.


I never really lived in a low tax state.  But since I moved to DE in 1999 I have paid as low as $.87.  I also had a WaWa gas card that gave $.10 gallon off if I paid with the card....they did that for about a year right here in Milford about 2005 or 2006.  Now they give a nickel off.


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## Edgar (Feb 24, 2016)

We owned a small country store back when the price first went over $1.00 per gallon. Our pumps could only go up to 99.9 cents, so we had to set the pumps at the half-gallon price. 

In spite of the fact that everyone knew that gas was over $1.00 per gallon and we had signs on both sides of each pump explaining the situation, we still had some people complain when we charged them 2x the amount shown on the pump.


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## Smitty37 (Feb 24, 2016)

edohmann said:


> We owned a small country store back when the price first went over $1.00 per gallon. Our pumps could only go up to 99.9 cents, so we had to set the pumps at the half-gallon price.
> 
> In spite of the fact that everyone knew that gas was over $1.00 per gallon and we had signs on both sides of each pump explaining the situation, we still had some people complain when we charged them 2x the amount shown on the pump.


Yep, So did George Bardon who owned the local gas station.  Eventually he had to get a new pump, which he had to pay for himself.


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## MTViper (Feb 24, 2016)

I worked in my cousin's service station (privately owned) in west Texas 66-69.  Our regular price was usually $0.19 for regular and $0.29 for ethyl.  Occasionally we'd have a gas war.  Lowest I ever pumped it for during a gas war was $0.11 a gallon.  When the price went over $1, my cousin closed the station rather than replace the pumps.  He was ready to retire anyway.  

There was a Texaco station next door that charged $0.33 and I swore no one would ever pay that much for gas.  One day a lawyer driving a great American land yacht, came in and asked for $10 worth of ethyl.  I told him his tank wouldn't hold it.  He musta been empty cause it did.

Love the thought of $0.19 cent gasoline, but don't care much for the $0.75/hour I was making at that time.
Steve


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## Mr Vic (Feb 24, 2016)

Can't remember what I paid a gallon. I grew up in Southern California in the 60's and 70's.What I do remember was spending hours waiting in line for gas. What a royal Pain... I actually filled up at Safeway this weekend for $1.43 a gallon...


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## tbroye (Feb 24, 2016)

I filled my Toyota Prerunner up the other day for $1,77 a gallon including all the taxes that are tacked on her in California can't remember when it was that cheap been a while


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## RichSubers (Feb 25, 2016)

Worked at the Shell station down the street in 1970. Gas was .329 and we checked your oil, cleaned the windshield & headlights, checked the tires and gave you S&H green stamps.  Also you got a free gift such as a glass or steak knife. If we forgot we would be fired, We still live in south Jersey and don't have to pump our on gas!!


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## SDB777 (Feb 25, 2016)

Folks would throw a 'fit' if they knew how much tax was on a gallon of gas....it's pretty bad when the guber is making more then the company.


First gallon: $0.21 in Maine for my snowmobile


Last gallon: $1.179(and I used $0.50 off from Kroger food card thing)



Scott (heard tell the guber wants to punish us by another $10 barrel) B


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## TellicoTurning (Feb 25, 2016)

Smitty37 said:


> I was thinking today and it crossed my mind that as late as the 1970s gas pumps couldn't register over a dollar a gallon.  The small local grocery with a gas pump had to start selling half-gallons.   It was also interesting that the State would not allow him to display the sales tax per gallon that was paid on top of the state and federal gasoline excise taxes.
> 
> Remember those days?
> 
> I actually remember the first time I paid over 50 cents a gallon.  It was on a trip and we had to fill up in western NY state and paid $.579 a gallon.  We thought we were being skinned.




Smitty,
Back in the '63 or '64 when I was still in the navy, I made a trip home to Texas and had to go through a town called Mountain Air, NM... gas was $.48 a gallon....down on the flat land it was still in the low to mid $.30's per gallon ....  on subsequent trips from Calif to Texas, I made sure I gassed up at the bottom of the mountain or else had enough to get over and down the other side.

Also remember before I got out of high school, there was a "gas war" in Waco, TX... one station had gas at $.14 per gallon... a guy showed up from Kansas in a tanker truck and said "fill it up"... he pumped the station dry and made a few $$ back in Kansas.


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## tomtedesco (Feb 25, 2016)

OK, if we are telling stories.  I was 15 and worked at a Sunoco station on weekends and after school.  Made 1.00 an hour doing oil changes, wash jobs, and pumping gas.  Gas was normally 25-28 cents a gallon but during "gas wars" I saw it at 18 cents.  For this price I cleaned all your windows, checked air and oil, and gave S&H green stamps.


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## triw51 (Feb 25, 2016)

Back when I was a kid living in Phoenix gas was regularly $.35 a gallon and we would get full service _AND _you got glasses if you purchased more than 8 gallons.  My mom collected those glasses (frosted with pictures of cactus) and there is still one or two in what she left.  We would have gas wars and the price would drop by a penny till the stations got a new load of gas then prices shot back up.  Cheapest I paid for gas was $.199.  This brings back memories.


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## JimB (Feb 25, 2016)

I also remember the gas shortage. Was that the late 70’s or maybe 1980? Lines at the gas stations and they would run dry. I was lucky as I worked for a private car service that also owned a gas station. I was in college and had no problem getting gas. I also took my father's car to get him gas.


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## rd_ab_penman (Feb 25, 2016)

Cost me $4.50 to fill my 57 Plymouth when gas was $0.25 per gallon.

Les


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## stonepecker (Feb 25, 2016)

I remember my Dad complaining at 26.9 cents per gallon.  The station had just raise it $0.02 that morniing and was closed when we pulled into town that night.  The station owner thought he was pulling a fastone on Dad when he said "If you take over 30 gallons, I will give it to you at last nights price."
Filled the compressor.....15 gallons
Filled the truck ............ 25 gallons.     The truck had 2 - 15 gallon saddle tanks.  Some of the first ones ever on that style of pickup.


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## Crashmph (Feb 25, 2016)

When I was stationed in Jersey in the late 90's, I paid 57¢/gal one weekend. I think I got gas three times that weekend, I kept stopping by to top off.


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## chartle (Feb 25, 2016)

Cheapest I recall is .39, maybe .37, at Working Man's Friend an independent. I guess mid 70's.  I also remember stories saying that gas would never go over .99 since it would cost too much to replace all the pumps.

But then stations around here would put a sticker in front of the mechanical wheels that listed the price. I think some would recalculate the price after you pumped or do other manipulations to get the price to $1.05. 

I think in Canada they had already switched to liters vs Imperial Gallons (5 quarts?) before gas hit 1 dollar a gallon so they had some wiggle room since they were then selling by the liter.


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## Curly (Feb 25, 2016)

*Closer to 4.8 US quarts.*

When the switch to litres took place I was ticked off. Not because of the unit change but because the oil boys took the opportunity to slide in an increase of a couple cents a litre with the change. Basically a 10 cent increase per gallon when a normal increase would have been 1 or 2 cents per gallon.


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## chartle (Feb 25, 2016)

Curly said:


> When the switch to litres took place I was ticked off. Not because of the unit change but because the oil boys took the opportunity to slide in an increase of a couple cents a litre with the change. Basically a 10 cent increase per gallon when a normal increase would have been 1 or 2 cents per gallon.



When was this? As a family growing up we vacationed a few times on the Canadian side of the falls, maybe 71 to 79 or so. Though I didn't drive, I was the navigator/mileage calculator and I recall what I thought was weird selling gas in 5 quart increments. I first thought it was 25% more.


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## Smitty37 (Feb 25, 2016)

RichSubers said:


> Worked at the Shell station down the street in 1970. Gas was .329 and we checked your oil, cleaned the windshield & headlights, checked the tires and gave you S&H green stamps.  Also you got a free gift such as a glass or steak knife. If we forgot we would be fired, We still live in south Jersey and don't have to pump our on gas!!


Am I wrong that there is a state law against pumping your own gas in Jersey?  I was in South Jersey and Central Jersey quite often for a lot of years and can't remember ever pumping my own gas.  Ironic thing though is the gas in New Jersey is usually cheaper here in Delaware, where I have never been to a place where we didn't pump ourselves.


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## Smitty37 (Feb 25, 2016)

Where I grew up in the Pocono Mountains of PA I don't ever remember gas wars.  But they had them about 35 miles away in NJ.  I remember a friend loading 6 55 gallon Drums in the back of a pickup driving to Jersey and filling them up bringing them back.  He had a hand pump that could be fitted in to a 55 gallon Drum so he had enough gas to last him about 6 months or more.


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## chartle (Feb 25, 2016)

Smitty37 said:


> Am I wrong that there is a state law against pumping your own gas in Jersey?  I was in South Jersey and Central Jersey quite often for a lot of years and can't remember ever pumping my own gas.  Ironic thing though is the gas in New Jersey is usually cheaper here in Delaware, where I have never been to a place where we didn't pump ourselves.



yes there is also at least one other state where you can't pump your own gas.


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## Curly (Feb 25, 2016)

chartle said:


> When was this? As a family growing up we vacationed a few times on the Canadian side of the falls, maybe 71 to 79 or so. Though I didn't drive, I was the navigator/mileage calculator and I recall what I thought was weird selling gas in 5 quart increments. I first thought it was 25% more.



Gas changed from Imperial gallons to litres in 1979. Imperial gallon is bigger than the US gallon and you can google the conversions to get an idea of the difference between each system. I don't know why your gallon is smaller but as you know, size doesn't matter.  It was probably back in Colonial times when supplies from England were sold in smaller containers to maximize profits. Whale oil companies then and petroleum oil companies now. We always get ripped off by an oil company some where.  Next will be the bio-oil boys coming up with a Coconut measure.


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## Curly (Feb 25, 2016)

chartle said:


> yes there is also at least one other state where you can't pump your own gas.



Oregon.


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## avbill (Feb 25, 2016)

I remember 19 cent a gallon  Wish it  were todays   price


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## chartle (Feb 25, 2016)

Curly said:


> Gas changed from Imperial gallons to litres in 1979. Imperial gallon is bigger than the US gallon and you can google the conversions to get an idea of the difference between each system. I don't know why your gallon is smaller but as you know, size doesn't matter.  It was probably back in Colonial times when supplies from England were sold in smaller containers to maximize profits. Whale oil companies then and petroleum oil companies now. We always get ripped off by an oil company some where.  Next will be the bio-oil boys coming up with a Coconut measure.



Why is the imperial gallon bigger than its American counterpart?



> the two systems are quite similar, but there are differences. The US customary system is based on English systems of the 18th century, while the Imperial system was defined in 1824, after American independence.


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## Smitty37 (Feb 25, 2016)

As near as I can tell there has always been a difference between the Imperial Gallon and the US Gallon.  Although both were in use in England at the same time one used for measuring wine and the other used for measuring ale.  I think there might have been a third gallon used for collecting duties on imports.  Contrary to what Curly seems to think weights and measures are not typically determined by oil companies to their benefit but by governments to their benefit.  I can't say for sure but I would almost be willing that the switch from Imperial Gallons to Liters in Canada resulted the the government collecting more taxes.


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## PenPal (Feb 25, 2016)

I remember clearly my Dad describing how all petrol in Australia was sold in what we call kerosene tins when he owned an old Indian Motor Bike before he was married and after.

So many early homes were lined outside with these opened out tins. Built and also lined with bark.

My Dad was born in 1906 I was 1934 our families on both sides were immigrants in the 1840,s to Sth Australia from the UK and Europe.

Visiting the US in 1974 The great who ha was max speed 50 mph and petrol 40cents a gallon.

Peter.


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## jeff (Feb 25, 2016)

Smitty37 said:


> In 1961-1967 where I lived in Dutchess County NY there were some local brands sold at small stores "CLAY" was one of them.  We paid $.265 for Clay Regular When I would go visit my family in Pennsylvania we would fill up down there (Lackawanna County 15 miles south of Scranton) for $.239 or $.249.  We were upset when we moved to the Southern Tier of NY between Binghamton and Elmira and had to pay $.329.
> 
> The small companies like Clay were actually buying their gas from one of the major companies and the law required the major to price the gas to Clay such that Clay could price it under their own stations.  This was when most gas stations were owned by the major companies.  Esso, Atlantic, Sinclair,
> American, Phillips, Texaco etc. And where ever you went, they would pump the gas, check the oil, wash the windshield and check the air in your tires if you asked.  I had a 20 gallon Tank on my car and would always fill up for less than $5.00.



It's funny that we lived in the same county at the same time. Except I was 8 years old. :biggrin: Several of my neighbors worked at the Pok IBM plant too. 

There was a Clay station in Hyde Park, later it became Gulf. It was at the end of our street and my dad used to send me up there with 50 cents for a gallon of "white gas" for the mower. The gas was 39 cents, and the corner store next door had ice cream sandwiches for 11 cents. After getting a little more than a gallon once or twice, leaving me short for the ice cream, I got smart and carried a couple extra pennies.


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## sbwertz (Feb 25, 2016)

I filled up for $1.33 this week...tank was half empty and I filled it for $8.  I didn't think I would ever see gas this cheap again in my lifetime!

In 1979, we were driving a 33' class A motorhome back to MA.  It was during that trip that gas first went over $1 a gallon...I was outraged!  Then we got to PA and they were rationing...you could buy 10 gallons every other day, depending on the last number on your license plate...odd or even.  That barge got about 8 miles to the gallon!  I figured it would take us about a week to get across PA so we just turned around and went home.


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## OKLAHOMAN (Feb 25, 2016)

I was 16 the year was 1957 and I worked at a Super Test Service Station in Tampa, pumping gas, cleaning windshields, checking oil and tire pressure and on occasion checking transmission fluid. Regular was $.19.9 and ethyl was 21.9, I worked from 4PM after school to 9PM and 9AM on Saturday to 5 PM for $15  a week around .50 an hour plus tips, yes we were allowed to take tips. 
If anyone lived in Tampa around that time Super Test was a regional chain and even had an amusement park on the corner of Dale Mabry and Columbus Dr. which as teens we hung out at. At the stations you would have a choice of Green stamps or Amusement park tickets.
Man we thought when regular went up to.25 a gallon we were being robbed.


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## sbwertz (Feb 25, 2016)

Speaking of pennies...remember real penny candy?  Whenever my mom bought something, my brother and I got any pennies she got in change.  Then we could go to the local little store and spend it on penny candy.


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## RichSubers (Feb 25, 2016)

It is a law in New Jersey that you can not pump your own gas because it is a fire hazard. But, you can pump diesel yourself.


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## Smitty37 (Feb 25, 2016)

jeff said:


> Smitty37 said:
> 
> 
> > In 1961-1967 where I lived in Dutchess County NY there were some local brands sold at small stores "CLAY" was one of them.  We paid $.265 for Clay Regular When I would go visit my family in Pennsylvania we would fill up down there (Lackawanna County 15 miles south of Scranton) for $.239 or $.249.  We were upset when we moved to the Southern Tier of NY between Binghamton and Elmira and had to pay $.329.
> ...


White gas was more expensive then costing more than normal High test we used to fill up with American now and then to clean out the valves.  BTW the Clay station was probably using Gulf Gas...The Clay who owned the gas stations also raised and raced Standardbred Horses. I worked with quite a few guys and gals from Hyde Park in my Poughkeepsie years.


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## chartle (Feb 25, 2016)

RichSubers said:


> It is a law in New Jersey that you can not pump your own gas because it is a fire hazard. But, you can pump diesel yourself.



Well diesel is less flamable but ive tried reading on why and as I recall it has something to do with New Jersey politics.


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## Smitty37 (Feb 25, 2016)

chartle said:


> RichSubers said:
> 
> 
> > It is a law in New Jersey that you can not pump your own gas because it is a fire hazard. But, you can pump diesel yourself.
> ...


Everything in New Jersey has something to do with New Jersey politics.  Fire while pumping gas is typically started by static electricity, it normally happens in cold months to people who set the pump on automatic shut of get back in their car then get out when the pump shuts off when the get out of the car they create static electricity that discharges when they touch the pump handle.  It happens more often to women then men because women get back in the car more often.  Diesel fuel, just by it's ignition characteristics will not ignite by that static electricity particularly when it is cold..


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## MTViper (Feb 25, 2016)

When I lived in Montana (1990-2000), most of the time there was a law that prohibited gas wars and selling gas below cost.  There was a minimum markup required by law and everyone had to match it.  Whenever one station in town got a new shipment of gas that was higher than the last one, every station in town had to go up on their price or the state came in and fined them.


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## Smitty37 (Feb 26, 2016)

I had heard about that situation but had never actually heard of any place where it happened.  It sounds like the whole state was being served by a single refinery and all of the gas regardless of brand name was coming from the same place.


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## Smitty37 (Feb 26, 2016)

There was a Supreme Court ruling sometime ago that prohibited the Oil Companies from setting prices at stations they did not own but franchised. It resulted in most of the oil companies getting out of the business of owning stations themselves.


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## plantman (Feb 26, 2016)

When I grew up we lived next to a mom and pop store that was the front of their house. They had candy in glass jars and a glass topped gas pump out in front. When I was in the store, which was most of the time, and the ladies came in and wanted gas, Herman would let me go out and put it in the car for them. You had to hand pump the amount of gas you wanted into the marked glass top, put the hose into the gas filler, and let gravity do the rest. The oil sat in metal trays alongside the pump, and stayed outside day and night without ever missing a can. If someone needed oil in the middle of the night, they left money in the little tray on top of the display. Those were the good old days !! Now you can't even leave your car to go inside to pay for gas without someone trying to drive off with it!!   When I was 16 and had my car, Friday nights I would find myself and 2 or 3 other guys each chipping in .25 cents to buy enough gas to last me all week. Friday night was car night downtown and we would drive up and down main street for hours, than head off to the local dance so we could actually put our arms around some real live girls. Oh those slow dances !!! At 18 gas was around 25 cents per gallon and it would take $4 to fill the tank, and 10 cent tap beers at the teen bars. You could load the car, including the trunk, on buck night and go to the Drive In Movie (look it up you younger members) and watch a double feature plus cartoons. Another 25 cents would get you a large popcorn and soda. Now a single feature, no cartoon, a small popcorn and small soda will cost you $20 for two. That's two people not two popcorns and sodas. Just a few memories of days gone past.    Jim  S


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## Smitty37 (Feb 26, 2016)

plantman said:


> When I grew up we lived next to a mom and pop store that was the front of their house. They had candy in glass jars and a glass topped gas pump out in front. When I was in the store, which was most of the time, and the ladies came in and wanted gas, Herman would let me go out and put it in the car for them. You had to hand pump the amount of gas you wanted into the marked glass top, put the hose into the gas filler, and let gravity do the rest. The oil sat in metal trays alongside the pump, and stayed outside day and night without ever missing a can. If someone needed oil in the middle of the night, they left money in the little tray on top of the display. Those were the good old days !! Now you can't even leave your car to go inside to pay for gas without someone trying to drive off with it!!   When I was 16 and had my car, Friday nights I would find myself and 2 or 3 other guys each chipping in .25 cents to buy enough gas to last me all week. Friday night was car night downtown and we would drive up and down main street for hours, than head off to the local dance so we could actually put our arms around some real live girls. Oh those slow dances !!! At 18 gas was around 25 cents per gallon and it would take $4 to fill the tank, and 10 cent tap beers at the teen bars. *You could load the car, including the trunk, on buck night and go to the Drive In Movie *(look it up you younger members) and watch a double feature plus cartoons. Another 25 cents would get you a large popcorn and soda. Now a single feature, no cartoon, a small popcorn and small soda will cost you $20 for two. That's two people not two popcorns and sodas. Just a few memories of days gone past.    Jim  S


I remember that well -- where I grew up it was Wednesday night one of the older guys had a 1938 Dodge and we would fill that up with kids we'd get 8 in the back seat 5 in the front including the driver and off we'd go. 

When my wife and were first married in 1962 the Drive In was our favorite "date" we much preferred that to going to a theater in town where parking was not all that close to the theater.

I recall Drive In Movies until sometime in the late 1970s where we lived.  We'd load our six kids into the back seats (we had a 9 passenger station wagon at the time) and the whole family would go, no baby-sitter needed. 

They even had a play ground where the kids could go while we were waiting for 'dusk' and the start of the movie.  The hot dogs were the worst hot dogs I have ever had - the skin was so tough you almost need a chain saw to get through it.


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## skiprat (Feb 26, 2016)

I just love it when you oldies whine about the cost of petrol....:biggrin:
I reckon you, with the exception of middle east countries, the USA has always had the cheapest fuel in the world.
We pay about £1 per litre for diesel and petrol, if from a supermarket. Add 10 -15% if on  motorway. gas is set at half the price of petrol.but not many cars  have gas conversions.
It was around £1.50 / lt not too long ago....



I suspect that your cost now is actually the cheapest you have ever had it, in real terms, unless you are still using that 8.4litre land yacht from the fifties. :biggrin:

Oh.......and as I'm only in my mid twenties......I can't remember those really good old days....:biggrin:

How many litres in a USA gallon? $1.40 = £1.00:wink:


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## TellicoTurning (Feb 26, 2016)

plantman said:


> When I grew up we lived next to a mom and pop store that was the front of their house. They had candy in glass jars and a glass topped gas pump out in front. When I was in the store, which was most of the time, and the ladies came in and wanted gas, Herman would let me go out and put it in the car for them. You had to hand pump the amount of gas you wanted into the marked glass top, put the hose into the gas filler, and let gravity do the rest. The oil sat in metal trays alongside the pump, and stayed outside day and night without ever missing a can. If someone needed oil in the middle of the night, they left money in the little tray on top of the display. Those were the good old days !! Now you can't even leave your car to go inside to pay for gas without someone trying to drive off with it!!   When I was 16 and had my car, Friday nights I would find myself and 2 or 3 other guys each chipping in .25 cents to buy enough gas to last me all week. Friday night was car night downtown and we would drive up and down main street for hours, than head off to the local dance so we could actually put our arms around some real live girls. Oh those slow dances !!! At 18 gas was around 25 cents per gallon and it would take $4 to fill the tank, and 10 cent tap beers at the teen bars. You could load the car, including the trunk, on buck night and go to the Drive In Movie (look it up you younger members) and watch a double feature plus cartoons. Another 25 cents would get you a large popcorn and soda. Now a single feature, no cartoon, a small popcorn and small soda will cost you $20 for two. That's two people not two popcorns and sodas. Just a few memories of days gone past.    Jim  S



My last year of high school and the summer after, I worked for a small theater chain... we had 4 theaters in 4 different small Texas towns - 5 if you counted the 16mm that the owner started with in still another little town... during school I worked in the one in my home town and ran the concession... we sold popcorn in small bags at $.10 per bag, cokes were a nickle in 6 or 8 ounce cups, candy was 5 and 10 cents depending on the size of the bar, we had a jar of pickles the size of a small child's arm that was $.10 and chili dogs were $.15.   Movie tickets were $0.25 for adults and $0.13 for children under 12.... later went up to $0.35 and $0.15.

Dianne and I haven't been to a movie theater to see a movie since Avatar came out... my son is a truck drive and buys movies to watch on his off time on the road... most trips home he'll bring from half dozen to dozen and half movies home... I have a floor to ceiling book case on one wall in my study that is filled with movies... plus a stack on the floor I can't fit in the shelf... last count there was near or just over 1,000 movies.  With a 42" flat screen(a gift from the two boys), no need for us to go out to see a movie any more.


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## TellicoTurning (Feb 26, 2016)

skiprat said:


> I just love it when you oldies whine about the cost of petrol....:biggrin:
> I reckon you, with the exception of middle east countries, the USA has always had the cheapest fuel in the world.
> We pay about £1 per litre for diesel and petrol, if from a supermarket. Add 10 -15% if on  motorway. gas is set at half the price of petrol.but not many cars  have gas conversions.
> It was around £1.50 / lt not too long ago....
> ...



I thought those little British cars were pedal cars, I didn't know they ran on gasoline.... :laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh:


----------



## skiprat (Feb 26, 2016)

Ha ha Chuck, 
Did you you know that most Europeans can't understand how you guys manage to get so few horsepower from your engines...:biggrin:
I reckon it would take a supercharged V8 Corvette to beat a Morris Minor .....:laugh:

And our cars can go around corners too...:biggrin:


----------



## Smitty37 (Feb 26, 2016)

skiprat said:


> I just love it when you oldies whine about the cost of petrol....:biggrin:
> I reckon you, with the exception of middle east countries, the USA has always had the cheapest fuel in the world.
> We pay about £1 per litre for diesel and petrol, if from a supermarket. Add 10 -15% if on  motorway. gas is set at half the price of petrol.but not many cars  have gas conversions.
> It was around £1.50 / lt not too long ago....
> ...


 Well then let me assure you petrol was expensive in UK as long ago as 1967 when I was last there. Mostly because of an enormous tax.  Here, gas has always been cheap compared to most of Europe because we do have substantial local supplies and the tax on it while quite high is nothing compared to Europe and UK.  Driving conditions are different here 1000 km road trips are very common (UK is smaller than Texas)


----------



## skiprat (Feb 26, 2016)

Smitty, UK could be smaller than Ohio but we still travel a lot. I do an average of 50 thousand miles per year. :biggrin:

The point I was trying to make ( in jest ) was that you guys don't appreciate how lucky you are.....so quit whining.....:wink::biggrin:



Oh....and I was only six when you were here!!!


----------



## jttheclockman (Feb 26, 2016)

It really does not matter what gas prices are. It is a necessity right now so everyone will pay whatever the cost and the powers to be know this. I did not think we would ever see gas under $2 a gallon ever again and now it looks like it stabilized. If you take into account for inflation you are probably paying the same amount for gas now as back in the sixties. When I started driving .19/9 was the price. The gas I always used was AAmaco white lead gas. But also back then working on your own car was so easy. Now you need a degree in madness. Alternative fuels are right around the block. Just a matter of time when we can break the ties of the big oil giants. We all see how the price of oil just dictates the stock market. It is a crime of greed. Better get out of here before this thread gets banned.


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## skiprat (Feb 26, 2016)

jttheclockman said:


> ....... If you take into account for inflation you are probably paying the same amount for gas now as back in the sixties..





Exactly !!!  Add to the fact that more modern cars are about three times more efficient, then you are better off now....by far!!:biggrin:

Do you guys have cars that are modded to run on gas? LPG

I know you call petrol, gas, but I mean gas...as in gas:biggrin:


----------



## Curly (Feb 26, 2016)

skiprat asked, "How many litres in a USA gallon? $1.40 = £1.00 ", probably tongue in cheek as he can find the conversion as easily as I. :wink:

3.785 litres to US gallon 
$1.18? divided by 3.875 equals $.31US a litre or £.22 
At the moment I'm paying $.849Can a litre or $.62US or £.447 For what its worth it was a $1.40Can a litre in Vancouver last summer. So I'm happy at $.849 but was happier last week when it was $.649.:wink:
So skiprat wins the gas price whine prize paws down. :biggrin:


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## 76winger (Feb 26, 2016)

Smitty37 said:


> I was thinking today and it crossed my mind that as late as the 1970s gas pumps couldn't register over a dollar a gallon.  The small local grocery with a gas pump had to start selling half-gallons.   It was also interesting that the State would not allow him to display the sales tax per gallon that was paid on top of the state and federal gasoline excise taxes.
> 
> Remember those days?
> 
> I actually remember the first time I paid over 50 cents a gallon.  It was on a trip and we had to fill up in western NY state and paid $.579 a gallon.  We thought we were being skinned.



I remember working at a Shell gas station in 1972, and if memory serves me correctly, the price was 26 cents a gallon.


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## jttheclockman (Feb 26, 2016)

76winger said:


> Smitty37 said:
> 
> 
> > I was thinking today and it crossed my mind that as late as the 1970s gas pumps couldn't register over a dollar a gallon.  The small local grocery with a gas pump had to start selling half-gallons.   It was also interesting that the State would not allow him to display the sales tax per gallon that was paid on top of the state and federal gasoline excise taxes.
> ...




Speaking of Shell Oil. I worked there in the summer 1972 doing labor work and one of my jobs was loading the trucks that go to the gas stations with supplies and one was the NFL glasses that they gave out with tank fill ups. Broke more of those glasses than you could shake a stick at. :biggrin:

Wanted to get a permanent electrician job there but being my Father worked there they had a policy that no father and son policy can work at the same plant.


----------



## TellicoTurning (Feb 26, 2016)

skiprat said:


> Ha ha Chuck,
> Did you you know that most Europeans can't understand how you guys manage to get so few horsepower from your engines...:biggrin:
> I reckon it would take a supercharged V8 Corvette to beat a Morris Minor .....:laugh:
> 
> And our cars can go around corners too...:biggrin:



WAAAAAAY back in my youth, I had one of those supercharged V8 Corvettes... it had a 327 engine with a Holly AFB car sitting on top and I think a race cam... idling sounded like it was about to die, but once you got on it, I did 125 miles per hour down the I405 between Los Angeles and San Diego... the front end was rising because of the front design, I still had accelerator left and was still accelerating when I chickened out... never ran it that fast again... if I kept my foot out of the carb, I could get 16-18 miles per gallon out of it... most of the bigger cars in America today get about 23-25 mpg and they tout that as "great" gas mileage.  I have a '96 Toyota Avalon with a V6 and 290,000 + miles on it... on the open road I can get near 30 mpg some days... around where I live, rarely get up to speeds that require that mileage... most of the roads around where I live now are safer at about 45 mph.  

I've watched the little Morris cars run around Knoxville... I like them, but just not sure I want to make car payments again.


----------



## TellicoTurning (Feb 26, 2016)

skiprat said:


> jttheclockman said:
> 
> 
> > ....... If you take into account for inflation you are probably paying the same amount for gas now as back in the sixties..
> ...



I saw a TV special about a guy in the UK that had his car running on Methane... he generated his own using the waste from his pigs.


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## oneleggimp (Feb 26, 2016)

Smitty37 said:


> I was thinking today and it crossed my mind that as late as the 1970s gas pumps couldn't register over a dollar a gallon.  The small local grocery with a gas pump had to start selling half-gallons.   It was also interesting that the State would not allow him to display the sales tax per gallon that was paid on top of the state and federal gasoline excise taxes.
> 
> Remember those days?
> 
> I actually remember the first time I paid over 50 cents a gallon.  It was on a trip and we had to fill up in western NY state and paid $.579 a gallon.  We thought we were being skinned.


I remember those days very well.  I can remember gas at 25.9 cents per gallon when I was a teenager.


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## oneleggimp (Feb 26, 2016)

*Penny Candy*

There was a  "Sweet Shop" about three blocks from my house.  The block had a Bakery, a Cleaners, a Drug Store, A (Mom and pop) Market, and most importantly from my standpoint the sweet shop.  Had a wide variety of penny candy: Squirrels, Red and Black Licorice, wax "bottles" with sugar water inside, and other penny candies.  He also had kites and kite string in kite flying season (spring), balsa gliders, and Duncan Yo-Yos including the very desirable "diamond" model with cut glass "diamonds imbeded in the sides of the yo-yo.  It was an easy ride up on my bike. Often my mother would send me to the grocery store for a pound of ground beef (ground fresh at the meat counter while you watched and then wrapped in butcher paper), or a loaf of bread or a quart of milk if we ran out. (we had a milk delivery at home from a ""milk man" who put the milk in the milk chute in the side of the house but sometimes ran out). and I always got a nickel to spend at Price's Sweet Shop.  Of course kites, gliders and yo-yo s cost more.
Good memories.
:biggrin:


sbwertz said:


> Speaking of pennies...remember real penny candy?  Whenever my mom bought something, my brother and I got any pennies she got in change.  Then we could go to the local little store and spend it on penny candy.


----------



## oneleggimp (Feb 26, 2016)

skiprat said:


> I just love it when you oldies whine about the cost of petrol....:biggrin:
> I reckon you, with the exception of middle east countries, the USA has always had the cheapest fuel in the world.
> We pay about £1 per litre for diesel and petrol, if from a supermarket. Add 10 -15% if on  motorway. gas is set at half the price of petrol.but not many cars  have gas conversions.
> It was around £1.50 / lt not too long ago....
> ...


Nothing like a "snot nosed kid".  LOL     I can remember the real cheap gas. Yes at 72 I AM an "Oldie".  And not all cars were really "gas burners".  Some cars with manual transmissions had "Overdrive" which gave you an "extra gear" and had pretty good gas mileage - especially if you didn't try to beat everyone away from a light.
"


----------



## Smitty37 (Feb 26, 2016)

skiprat said:


> jttheclockman said:
> 
> 
> > ....... If you take into account for inflation you are probably paying the same amount for gas now as back in the sixties..
> ...


Natural or propane...short answer is yes, mostly they are some fleet vehicles.  Not a lot of personal and at least in this area no place to fill up.


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## tomtedesco (Feb 27, 2016)

With all the replies it looks like I am not the only old fa*t on this site.


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## jttheclockman (Feb 27, 2016)

tomtedesco said:


> With all the replies it looks like I am not the only old fa*t on this site.




Who is he calling old???:biggrin: How old is old???


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## skiprat (Feb 27, 2016)

John, I think he was referring to you and Smitty.......the rest of us are still kids by comparison...:tongue:


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## jttheclockman (Feb 27, 2016)

skiprat said:


> John, I think he was referring to you and Smitty.......the rest of us are still kids by comparison...:tongue:



I can see Smitty. He was around when they were using horse and buggies. I just read about it in books. :biggrin:


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## Smitty37 (Feb 27, 2016)

jttheclockman said:


> skiprat said:
> 
> 
> > John, I think he was referring to you and Smitty.......the rest of us are still kids by comparison...:tongue:
> ...


He invented horse and buggy.:biggrin: Actually just plagued with a good memory and from an area that was not on the cutting edge of new technology.


----------



## skiprat (Feb 27, 2016)

Don't sell your era short Smitty.....what about the discovery of fire and the amazing wheel.....you guys did good!! :biggrin:


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## Smitty37 (Feb 27, 2016)

skiprat said:


> Don't sell your era short Smitty.....what about the discovery of fire and the amazing wheel.....you guys did good!! :biggrin:


Skip I need to tell you this, almost everything you use was invented or the technology which led to it was invented before 1950. Almost everything since then has been improvements or modifications.


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## vakmere (Feb 29, 2016)

I remember being upset when gas went from 23.9 to 24.9 cents. I miss Green Stamps to.


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## Monty (Feb 29, 2016)

Just filled up with regular this morning and paid 0.379/gal.
(But that was after using my Kroger+ card and getting $1.05/gal discount.) :biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:


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## stonepecker (Feb 29, 2016)

Locally gas is back up to $2/gallon


I hate the roller coaster ride.  Wish I could change my prices as fast as the gas companies do.  Gas and housing on the road are the two biggest expences I have.  Now one or two cents doesn't make that much of a difference.  But less then a month ago it was 70 CENTS CHEAPER.

And people wonder why I scream about gas at times.


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## Smitty37 (Feb 29, 2016)

stonepecker said:


> Locally gas is back up to $2/gallon
> 
> 
> I hate the roller coaster ride.  Wish I could change my prices as fast as the gas companies do.  Gas and housing on the road are the two biggest expences I have.  Now one or two cents doesn't make that much of a difference.  But less then a month ago it was 70 CENTS CHEAPER.
> ...


I don't know where you live but gas here in Milford DE right now is still hovering around its lows for this cycle.


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## Jgrden (Feb 29, 2016)

:bananen_smilies035:No one can beat Smitty for the lowest price remembered. I remember .19/gal. in Buffalo, New York. C'mon Smitty, let's hear it.


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## Smitty37 (Feb 29, 2016)

Jgrden said:


> :bananen_smilies035:No one can beat Smitty for the lowest price remembered. I remember .19/gal. in Buffalo, New York. C'mon Smitty, let's hear it.


We didn't have a car most of the time while I was growing up and I didn't have a driver's license until 1961 so I didn't pay a lot of attention to gas prices.  I do know that many people could drive for a week on a dollars worth but I think 23.9 cents a gallon is the lowest I ever paid (that was in PA) and I know it was cheaper than that in some states.  The lowest I recall in NY where I lived at the time was about a penny more than that and I usually paid 26 to 29 cents a gallon.  Sorry----I do not remember the lowest prices. 

I don't remember what the wartime gasoline price was - I'm sure it was pretty low but there were price controls and rationing in effect.  I think kerosene was about a dime a gallon - we had kerosene lanterns used during power outages and as outdoor lights to keep bugs at bay.

With 20 cents off from Redner's I paid $1.33 last week. It's about $1.60 around here now - my wife got gas Saturday at a WaWa in Maryland for $1.43.


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## jttheclockman (Feb 29, 2016)

He remembers when it was a bucket of oats. who is he kidding:biggrin: One HP


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## Smitty37 (Feb 29, 2016)

jttheclockman said:


> He remembers when it was a bucket of oats. who is he kidding:biggrin: One HP


You can laugh but I can remember when the only tractor in town was a Famall A (came out in 1939) and everybody plowed their gardens with a horse.  My dad was an expert behind a horse or team of horses both in the garden and in the lumber woods.  So I do know about 'oaters'.  I also raised and bred standardbred horses for a few years until I got so many kids I couldn't afford it anymore. Oh I did walk behind the horse and plow breaking up clods.


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## jttheclockman (Feb 29, 2016)

Well Smitty not many of you 80 and older members here so we will have to take your word for it.


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## Smitty37 (Feb 29, 2016)

jttheclockman said:


> Well Smitty not many of you 80 and older members here so we will have to take your word for it.


 I'm not 80 and older....I am only 78


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## jttheclockman (Mar 1, 2016)

Smitty37 said:


> jttheclockman said:
> 
> 
> > Well Smitty not many of you 80 and older members here so we will have to take your word for it.
> ...



Stand corrected.:biggrin:


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## lwalper (Mar 1, 2016)

At the u-pump-it -- 19<sup>9</sup> in central FL in 1968-69. Typically about 23<sup>9</sup> at most stations. American "white gas" a little higher. We used that in the camp stoves and lanterns so you didn't get the lead deposits on the burner jets.


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## magier412 (Mar 1, 2016)

Funny thing is that as much as we all might think that the "good old days" of sub-$0.50/gallon gas would be great - that also came with sub-$1000/month paychecks.  

I think that Skip is right, we are probably paying a bit less proportionally than back then - however, we are still WAY behind in terms of spending power now vs. then.  

These days, only 5% of the population make more than $85K per year or more...and, depending on which major metropolitan area you live in, even that isn't enough to support a family anymore.  

What happened to the time when a one-income family to afford to live comfortably in the US?  The middle class is an endangered species I'm afraid...the standard of living has not kept up with inflation...

And now, I'm going to go think of something less depressing...sigh.

Edit:  Found this:  Inflation Adjusted Gasoline Prices

Interesting reading, but for those that just want the down and dirty, I attached a pdf of the nominal prices adjusted for inflation.


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## oneleggimp (Mar 1, 2016)

magier412 said:


> Funny thing is that as much as we all might think that the "good old days" of sub-$0.50/gallon gas would be great - that also came with sub-$1000/month paychecks.
> 
> I think that Skip is right, we are probably paying a bit less proportionally than back then - however, we are still WAY behind in terms of spending power now vs. then.
> 
> ...


And one of those costs was an automobile.  BIG BIG Difference now.  In 1966 I bought a Brand New Ford Fairlane 500 with V-8, Automatic Transmission, Power Steering and Brakes, White Side Wall Tires - $2,000.00 out the door  - including license, tax and title.  That was a full-size car.


----------



## Smitty37 (Mar 1, 2016)

oneleggimp said:


> magier412 said:
> 
> 
> > Funny thing is that as much as we all might think that the "good old days" of sub-$0.50/gallon gas would be great - that also came with sub-$1000/month paychecks.
> ...


You caught a real bargain -- in '67 I priced the same car at over $2800 ended up with a Chevy at $2900...no trade and all cash, no financing.


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## Smitty37 (Mar 1, 2016)

Talking about cars - I paid cash with no trade and no financing for the first used ('57 Chevy Bel Aire 2-door Hard Top) and the first 3 new vehicles '62 Chevy Impala 2 door hard top, '67 Chevy Impala 2 door hard top and '69 Chevy C10 half ton pick-up) I bought. All of those vehicles got about 17/18 mpg highway and about 15 mpg local driving. 

Didn't finance until I bought a BIG 10 passenger Ford Country Squire w/429 cid V-8 etc.  Got about 14 mpg highway down hill with a tail wind and 11 in town but for a big car it could get out of its own way.


----------



## TellicoTurning (Mar 1, 2016)

Smitty37 said:


> jttheclockman said:
> 
> 
> > He remembers when it was a bucket of oats. who is he kidding:biggrin: One HP
> ...



Smitty,
I'm only a few years younger than you, but I remember my dad working the farm with a team of mules... we were sharecroppers most of my early years and didn't even own our own mules... Dad would take a team of young raw unbroke mules from a neighbor and break them to the plow... 

I was a teenager when we got our first tractor - an old Farmall that Dad bought... he spent almost as much time keeping it running as he did working it.... shortly after that he and Mom separated and we left the farm for good.... good thing too, farmers work too d**n hard for my way of thinking.... when cotton came in, the whole fam damily put on cotton sacks and pulled cotton until the crop was in... Dad drug an 18 yard sack(18 yards of canvas and 4 or 5 feet wide, doubled and sewn along the sides... made about a 9 yard long sack that he drug, working mostly on his knees because cotton wasn't that tall and he was-- out in west Texas the rows could be almost a mile long), Mom's was about a 12 yarder and I think mine was somewhat smaller, maybe a 5 or 6 yard....  My older sister got out of the job 'cause she was babysitting my brother and my younger sister made an attempt, but more play than actual work.  She was burned as a toddler and we kind of protected her from too much outside work because of the scars on her legs.


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## TellicoTurning (Mar 1, 2016)

Smitty37 said:


> Talking about cars - I paid cash with no trade and no financing for the first used ('57 Chevy Bel Aire 2-door Hard Top) and the first 3 new vehicles '62 Chevy Impala 2 door hard top, '67 Chevy Impala 2 door hard top and '69 Chevy C10 half ton pick-up) I bought. All of those vehicles got about 17/18 mpg highway and about 15 mpg local driving.
> 
> Didn't finance until I bought a BIG 10 passenger Ford Country Squire w/429 cid V-8 etc.  Got about 14 mpg highway down hill with a tail wind and 11 in town but for a big car it could get out of its own way.



Loved the '57 Chevies.... My first car was a '59 Impala 2 door coupe with an Okie rake on it... (the rear was dropped 2 inches)...and a Herscht conversion kit that took the automatic off the column and set 3 on the floor... I could just barely reach 2nd gear when shifting....

 I got off the bus in Chandler, AZ when I was in the navy and headed back to San Francisco.  My mom was there with her husband working at the local airforce base... I think I paid about $800 for it.  It had a 348 Cu.in engine and once rolling(it was very slow off the line)  ran pretty good, until about 85 or so... then the rear end started to lift from the tail fin wings... Driving around in San Francisco on those hills, I bet I rolled back into more cars than I care to count trying to get it up the hills.


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## Chasper (Mar 1, 2016)

I remember .199 per gallon during a gas war, but by the time I worked in a Sinclair Station it was .299 and up.  I washed cars and pumped gas for $5 a day for a 10 hour Saturday, $4.71 after deducting .29 for social security.  
A miserable old miser came in and told me to put in 5.  I put in $5 and he told the owner he wanted 5 gallons,not $5, he refused to pay for $5 worth of gas.  The owner deducted $3.20 out of my pay that day because I put in more gas that he asked for.


----------



## Smitty37 (Mar 1, 2016)

TellicoTurning said:


> Smitty37 said:
> 
> 
> > Talking about cars - I paid cash with no trade and no financing for the first used ('57 Chevy Bel Aire 2-door Hard Top) and the first 3 new vehicles '62 Chevy Impala 2 door hard top, '67 Chevy Impala 2 door hard top and '69 Chevy C10 half ton pick-up) I bought. All of those vehicles got about 17/18 mpg highway and about 15 mpg local driving.
> ...


 I never drove a 348 myself but a friend of mine had a 1958 Chevy Impala (first year for both the model and the engine) with 3 duces and it darn sure wasn't slow off the line. The hotest '59 Chevy I remember was the El Camino pickup truck.  I almost bought a '59 while in the Navy, but couldn't figure out how to get it home (I didn't have a drivers license and had to pick it up in NYC) and nobody in my family at the time could have handled the city driving.


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## Smitty37 (Mar 1, 2016)

Chasper said:


> I remember .199 per gallon during a gas war, but by the time I worked in a Sinclair Station it was .299 and up.  I washed cars and pumped gas for $5 a day for a 10 hour Saturday, $4.71 after deducting .29 for social security.
> A miserable old miser came in and told me to put in 5.  I put in $5 and he told the owner he wanted 5 gallons,not $5, he refused to pay for $5 worth of gas.  The owner deducted $3.20 out of my pay that day because I put in more gas that he asked for.


 Where I grew up and wherever I bought gas myself it was always stated how much to pump  in $$.  If someone wanted gallons they said it very clearly when they ordered. I knew 1 older guy who always bought 10 gallons.  He bought gas once a week and didn't use quite 10 gallons so every 6 weeks or so he'd skip a week and go out and drink on the gas money. I suppose 10 gallons cost him about $2.00 to $2.50 and that would buy a lot of 5 cent beers.


----------



## Smitty37 (Mar 1, 2016)

We had three gas pumps right in town and 2 of them were single pumps outside stores and the owners pumped the gas themselves.  The only real service station was owned by a family friend but his brother is three months older than I am so he had the job of helping around the station - he didn't particularly want it but his dad had died and he didn't have much choice.  So I never did have a job pumping gas.


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## oneleggimp (Mar 1, 2016)

oneleggimp said:


> And one of those costs was an automobile.  BIG BIG Difference now.  In 1966 I bought a Brand New Ford Fairlane 500 with V-8, Automatic Transmission, Power Steering and Brakes, White Side Wall Tires - $2,000.00 out the door  - including license, tax and title.  That was a full-size car.


Forgot that it also had AM/FM radio with built-in 8-track player.  Yes Smitty, I did get a good deal.  Bought it at an employee car sale. (I worked for Ford but wasn't high enough to have the "A" plan. -  Had to make the best deal I could with the dealer.).  Was under pressure to buy it.  I started at Ford out of college and had a Dodge Lancer. I was on Salary and was told that I couldn't drive a "Foreign Car" (i.e. a non-Ford product) to work after my 90 day probationary period was up -which is was.


----------



## jttheclockman (Mar 1, 2016)

Someone say gas wars. I remember both gas wars. One good and one no so good.


----------



## TellicoTurning (Mar 1, 2016)

Smitty37 said:


> TellicoTurning said:
> 
> 
> > Smitty37 said:
> ...



I had plenty of power once rolling, but I think they didn't change out the rear end when they did the Herscht conversion... or maybe I just didn't know how to drive it... I'd only been driving about a year when I got it... I didn't get my driver's license until after my 18th birthday... 
I did drive for my boss the summer before I went in the navy... he owned a small chain of movie houses and I drove him to and from Dallas to pick up films, candies and such... he was legally blind and couldn't drive.  Sometimes we drove in is wife's car, a '56 Chevy Bellair with factory air... he kept it so cold that I froze half the time... rest of the time I drove the company truck, a '56 Chevy panel wagon.. a station wagon without windows on the sides.. we ran 850 x 15 tires on the rear end with overload springs... the butt end sat about 6 inches up in the air... most of that summer my cruising speed with him was about 95... riding in the passenger seat was dead time for him and he was constantly telling me to get on down the road. 
I wound up laying that vehicle on it's side and sliding it down the road a ways... There was a flat dog leg curve on the road between Buffalo and Donie, Texas and as I was coming into the curve early one morning (at about 90 or so) I just touched the brakes to slow for the curve, fish tailed and slapped a culvert post out of the ground, laid it over on the passenger side and slid for a ways.... luckily the back end was empty, if I'd had film cans back there they can weight from 30 to 60 lbs each, depending on how many reels in them, might have gotten clobbered in the back of the head.


----------



## TellicoTurning (Mar 1, 2016)

oneleggimp said:


> oneleggimp said:
> 
> 
> > And one of those costs was an automobile.  BIG BIG Difference now.  In 1966 I bought a Brand New Ford Fairlane 500 with V-8, Automatic Transmission, Power Steering and Brakes, White Side Wall Tires - $2,000.00 out the door  - including license, tax and title.  That was a full-size car.
> ...



My first wife worked for Chrysler Credit when we first married... she always got flack for not driving a Chrysler product... I drove a Corvette when we first met and married, he first husband left her with a Ford Cortina.  I didn't like Chrysler products and wasn't about to buy one at that time.   In 7 years of marriage, we changed cars about 7 times and none of them were Chrysler products. :biggrin:


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## cwolfs69 (Mar 1, 2016)

i remember in the 60's i could never get more than $5 in my 57 chev. i worked at an Esso station and a Norwalk station while in high school. They were all *Full Service*, no such thing as self serve. When they would have a "gas war" the prices would go as low as $0.15/gal at times. When it did start coming in you got $0.02 off for serving yourself.


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## Smitty37 (Mar 1, 2016)

TellicoTurning said:


> oneleggimp said:
> 
> 
> > oneleggimp said:
> ...


They were pretty popular for a time when Richard Petty was putting manners on everyone at NASCAR with them.


----------



## oneleggimp (Mar 3, 2016)

Gas Prices

This is priceless!

All these examples do NOT imply that gasoline is cheap; it just illustrates how outrageous some prices are.
You might be really shocked by the last one (at least, I was)!!!

Think a gallon of gas is expensive?

This makes one think, and also puts things into perspective.

Diet Snapple, 16 oz , $1.29... $10.32 per gallon!

Starbuck's Reg. Coffee 16 oz, $2.10... $16.80 per gallon!

Lipton Ice Tea, 16 oz , $1.19... $9.52 per gallon!

Gatorade, 20 oz , $1.59... $10.17 per gallon!

Ocean Spray, 16 oz , $1.25... $10.00 per gallon!

Brake Fluid, 12 oz , $3.15... $33.60 per gallon! 

Vick's Nyquil, 6 oz , $8.35... $178.13 per gallon!

Pepto Bismol, 4 oz, $3.85... $123.20 per gallon!

Whiteout, 7 oz , $1.39... $25.42 per gallon!

Scope, 1.5 oz , $0.99... $84.48 per gallon!

And this is the REAL KICKER.

Evian water, 9 oz , $1.49... $21.19 per gallon!
$21.19 for a gallon of WATER!!
and the buyers don't even know the source!!
(Evian spelled backwards is Naive.)

Ever wonder why computer printers are so cheap? So they can hook you for the ink. Someone calculated the cost of the ink at (you won't believe it but it's true):    $5,200 a gallon.
$5200 A GALLON!!!

So, the next time you're at the pump, be glad your car doesn't run on water, Scope, Whiteout, Pepto Bismol, Nyquil, or, God forbid, printer ink!!!!!


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## Smitty37 (Mar 4, 2016)

Water is the one that gets me --- they can get that out of the tap at home for less then a penny a gallon.  They can even put a filter on the spigot and still get it almost free.  Yet bottles of water jump off the shelves and at least two of my kids have water coolers in their houses, even though they have filters for the ice makers and cold water supply in their refrigerator.


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## sbwertz (Mar 4, 2016)

vakmere said:


> I remember being upset when gas went from 23.9 to 24.9 cents. I miss Green Stamps to.



Green Stamps!  You won't believe how much trouble a couple of us got into one halloween for moving the "We give S&H Green Stamps" sign from in front of the gas station to in front of the local funeral home!


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## Smitty37 (Mar 4, 2016)

sbwertz said:


> vakmere said:
> 
> 
> > I remember being upset when gas went from 23.9 to 24.9 cents. I miss Green Stamps to.
> ...


  Kinda makes me think of the time at Great Lakes Naval Training Center that a bunch of us stole a sign that was and arrow with COMMISSIONED OFFICERS MESS printed on it and stuck it on the wall in our barracks pointing at the door to the head.  A Marine Warrant Officer came in the barracks one night (because we had placed a FOR SALE sign if front of the barracks). and upon seeing that sign one could say he was not amused.


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## kenlicciardello (Mar 5, 2016)

I remember as a kid in the mid 60's going to get gas with my Dad in San Diego.  He got really upset when the close gas station was 21.9 per gallon.  HIGHWAY ROBBERY he called it.  Drove another 2 miles to Fed Mart and it was 19.9 and all was well with the world again.


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