Gas Price Memory

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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.
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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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.
 
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.
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..
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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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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.
 
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 ÂŁ1 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 ÂŁ1.50 / lt not too long ago....:eek:



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 = ÂŁ1.00:wink:
 
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.
 
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 ÂŁ1 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 ÂŁ1.50 / lt not too long ago....:eek:



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 = ÂŁ1.00:wink:

I thought those little British cars were pedal cars, I didn't know they ran on gasoline.... :eek::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh:
 
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:
 
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 ÂŁ1 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 ÂŁ1.50 / lt not too long ago....:eek:



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 = ÂŁ1.00:wink:
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)
 
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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!!! :)
 
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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. :smile:
 
....... If you take into account for inflation you are probably paying the same amount for gas now as back in the sixties.. :smile:



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:confused:

I know you call petrol, gas, but I mean gas...as in gas:biggrin:
 
skiprat asked, "How many litres in a USA gallon? $1.40 = ÂŁ1.00 ", 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 ÂŁ.22
At the moment I'm paying $.849Can a litre or $.62US or ÂŁ.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:
 
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.
 
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.


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



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:confused:

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

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.
 
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.
 
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:
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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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 ÂŁ1 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 ÂŁ1.50 / lt not too long ago....:eek:



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 = ÂŁ1.00:wink:
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.
"
 
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....... If you take into account for inflation you are probably paying the same amount for gas now as back in the sixties.. :smile:



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:confused:

I know you call petrol, gas, but I mean gas...as in gas:biggrin:
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.
 
John, I think he was referring to you and Smitty.......the rest of us are still kids by comparison...:tongue:
 
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:
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.
 
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.
 
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:
 
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.
 
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.
I don't know where you live but gas here in Milford DE right now is still hovering around its lows for this cycle.
 
: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.
 
: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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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.:smile: Oh I did walk behind the horse and plow breaking up clods.
 
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