Gas Price Memory

[Smitty37]

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.

 

[JimB]

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.

 

[SAWDUST 101]

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

 

[bobjackson]

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.

 

[mredburn]

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.

 

[Smitty37]

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.

 

[flyitfast]

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

 

[Akula]

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.

 

[Smitty37]

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.

 

[Edgar]

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.

 

[Smitty37]

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.

 

[MTViper]

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

 

[Mr Vic]

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...

 

[tbroye]

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

 

[RichSubers]

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!!

 

[SDB777]

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

 

[TellicoTurning]

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.

 

[tomtedesco]

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.

 

[triw51]

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.

 

[JimB]

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.

 

[rd_ab_penman]

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

Les

 

[stonepecker]

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.

 

[Crashmph]

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.

 

[chartle]

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.

 

[Curly]

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.

 

[chartle]

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.

 

[Smitty37]

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.

 

[Smitty37]

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.

 

[chartle]

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.

 

[Curly]

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.

 

[Curly]

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

Oregon.

 

[avbill]

I remember 19 cent a gallon Wish it were todays price

 

[chartle]

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.

 

[Smitty37]

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.

 

[PenPal]

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.

 

[jeff]

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.

 

[sbwertz]

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.

 

[OKLAHOMAN]

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.

 

[sbwertz]

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.

 

[RichSubers]

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.