OT - Gas Prices in memory

[El Chivo]

Ok, with all this hysteria about gas prices, what can you remember gas costing in the past?

I can remember 24 cents, and I wasn't all that young at the time. As a kid I didn't pay attention to that stuff. When I was in college gas was running about .60 per gallon.

I visited California during the big fuel crisis, and saw some signs for gas at .75, I thought that was awfully high.

So what's the lowest gasoline price you can remember?

[gon2shoot]

I remember when I first started driving (leagally) in N.M..
The stations were having gas wars -remember them?- and gas was 6.9 cents for a while. I think normal price was around 12 cents.

I was cutting firewood for spending money then, $20 a cord delivered
My old 57 pu didn't get very good milage.

[Rusty]

I remember going through Roanoke, Va in about 1964. They were having a gas war and the price was 16.9 for regular.

[WCF3030]

Less then 10 years ago in "99" gas was .77 per gallon.

[Longfin]

Yeah, you are right WCF3030, you don't have to go too far back for "better" prices. As stated, most of us never paid any attention to gas prices until it came out of our own pockets; I remember 23.9 gas on a trip to Crystal River, FL with some buddies. A small town was having a gas war. Regular price was around .30 a gallon. I remember thinking if gas went over $1.00 a gallon the whole world would just go to h-e-double L. Now I'm thinking, "if gas goes over $5.00 a gallon, the whole world will go to".... well, you know. This situation has certainly changed how we do some things around here, like trying not to run into town too often. My boat, Longfin, holds 109 gallons and I'm having a hard time taking her out knowing what it will cost to refill. Course the gas will go bad if I don't use it.

[Ysabel Kid]

We I was a youngster back in the early 70's we used to drive from Indy to Pittsburgh to see my extended family. We'd take I-70 - basically a straight shot across Ohio. I remember seeing a gas sign for $.26, and only remember it because it was the tallest sign I had ever seen. I think this was right around 1970 or so.

When I first moved down south gasoline prices were falling. Around 1998 or so they were dropping like a rock. Two gas stations opened up right on the border between NC and SC off I-77 near where I live, and the started a gas price war to attract customers. In 1999 they were at $.54 a gallon for about three months!

I can remember my niece complaining about filling her car around then. She had just got her license. I snorted at her that she didn't know how lucky she was. She demanded that I explain, so I told her when I started driving, back in the late 1970's after the oil embargo, gas was $1.56/gallon. I made $2.25/hour, and my car - a beater but sweat Mustang Mach 1 (I had bought for $600!) got a whopping 7 mpg on a good day. I swear the needle moved every time I touched the accelerator! (then again, being 16 with that car, I may have been known to hit that long peddle a might harder than it needed to be hit! ).

Then I compared it to her present situation. She was paying $.65/gallon, making $7.50/hour, and her car got 40 mpg. As I told her, "do the math!".

Ahhh... the good old days...

[TedH]

The cheapest I can remember buying gas was 67 cents. That would bave been around 1985. It's $3.79 here now.

[AJMD429]

I remember around 25 cents a gallon in the early to mid sixties as a non-gas-war price. Then of course we were living on $2,500 in annuan income, and a new car was about $2,500 if I recall.

Overall I think most of the change in "gas" prices is the change in value of the dollar, and the additional taxes added over the past few decades. The cost of a barrel of oil in terms of GOLD has remained fairly constant throughout this time, or in terms of almost any other good or service. The office visit my father performed for $3.00 in 1960 now would be priced about $140 (and the quality of care is often not as good!).

Remember - many people in the first half of the 20th century couldn't afford gasoline, either, let alone automobiles; we have it relatively easy. My grandfather probably owned no more than four guns in his life, but I owned four before I graduated high school.

[Hobie]

Less then 10 years ago in "99" gas was .77 per gallon.

That was truly cheap gas. In 1981, when I got back from Korea, gas was $1.56 (they were paying $4 a gallon on the economy in Korea) and it truly hurt me at the time. I was so glad to see the price drop. However, it didn't really change my behavior, I just budgeted for it (didn't shoot as much). We've passed that price now (even accounting for the CPI).

I remember taking my gas tank off the motorcycle to skip the line at the station during 1973. There wasn't gas to be had.

[Noah Zark]

I recall $0.19 per gallon in the late '50s when I'd sit in the back seat of my parents' 58 Plymouth Belvedere and watch the numbers on the pumps tally up the sale, or watch the plastic balls swirl around in the sight glass on the side of the pump.

Throughout the 60s and into the 70s it was in the 20s to maybe $0.31 per gal for hi-test.

In 1973 I was a few months out of 2111 school at APG in MD when the Yom Kippur War in September brought about a rapid escalation to the $0.70 per gallon range. I wasn't buying gas, but my fellow Marines that had vehicles were grumbling about lines at the pumps, even/odd day rationing, and the high prices.

Noah

[Old Time Hunter]

The first time I filled up my '63 1/2 Ford (406 c.i./405 H.P. 4 speed) the day I received my 'real' license (not a learner's permit), the Freeway station had "ethyl" at .169 per gallon! Regular was .149! For less than $4, I filled the entire 22 gallon tank and got an extra quart of 30 wt. oil, still have the receipt! At the time I was going to High School and working at a Standard station making $1.35 per hour where I did tune-ups, wheel alignments, and such, but the owner of the station always priced his gas a couple of cents higher than everyone else, because there wasn't any money in it (he only had two pumps). The minimum wage at the time was $.65 per hour, if I can remember correctly. The base Army salary was $35 per month (one of my co-workers got drafted). Within two years, the minumum wage was up to $1.15 per hour and the base salary esculated to $67 per month in the Army, but gas had only risen to $ .199 for "ethyl" at the Freeway station. By then I had a '65 Mustang "K" series fastback with a 289 HiPo (271hp) & 4sp in which I had added a after market high rise with a 750 cfm Holley, Hedmann headers, and a 306 duration cam with .550" lift. That sucker turned low 12's at the strip (with 7" slicks) and I drove it all week on the street @ 'bout 6 miles per gallon.

[JimT]

In the late 50's gas was normally around 16 cents ... it would get down in the 11 cent range when the stations had "gas wars".

In the 60's it was normally 19 cents. I could put 4 gallons in my car and buy a pack of cigarettes with a buck.

In 1967 in Japan gas was 10 cents at the PX on base ... $1.25 a liter in public.

[Jayhawker]

I remember during the gas wars the price would drop down to 19 cents. Normally it would be around a quarter. Like others have said, it was a lot harder to scrape together a dollar back then as well. Cruising the boulevard as a teen then was often dependent upon how much spare change we could pool together, on the other hand, it was also great fun to go for a Sunday drive to nowhere in particular. Although my kids are much older now, I can't imagine doing that to amuse myself anymore, at least, not with the entire family.

[DixieBoy]

I graduated high school in Orlando in 1971. My pals and I were surfers, and we'd pool our quarters and head over to Cocoa Beach, about 50 miles east. At that time gas wars were going on, and two guys with service stations (remember when they still called them that?) on opposite sides of Hwy. 50 were going at it. Gas went down to 21 cents a gallon. The norm back then was around 25 or 26 cents. Of course, that all changed.

I also remember a Volkswagen dealership on our ride out to the beach, on Hwy. 50, had a huge billboard over his place. It showed the VW bug, and the words "Still $1995" on it.

If I had a time machine I'd go back and buy a pile of those things and stick them in a garage, for sale in the inflated future. Of course, I we all had time machines I reckon that we'd be buying an awful lot of Colt SAA's and Winchester '73's, among other goodies. - DixieBoy

[donw]

i remember $0.09 cents per gallon when i was stationed at ft hood texas.

[jnyork]

In the '50s normally around 18 cents or so , I was stationed at Biggs AFB in El Paso in 1959 and they got into a price war there, such things being fairly common in those days. It got down to 6 cents people just went nuts, bringing anything that would hold liquid including dishpans, washtubs and buckets. Fire marshall finally cracked down on that and closed a couple of stations to "encourage" the rest of them to quit pumping into open containers.

EDIT: after I posted this, I wondered how many of our members dont have the slightest idea what is a "dishpan" or a "washtub" . It's a geezer thing!

[airedaleman]

EDIT: after I posted this, I wondered how many of our members dont have the slightest idea what is a "dishpan" or a "washtub" . It's a geezer thing! [/quote]

Geezeritis runs rampant through this thread! I turned 69 today (had I known I was going to live this long, I would have...etc.). At any rate, when I got my own car ( a '47 Mercury convertible) in the summer of 1956, gas was typically about .18 a gallon in the metropolitan New York area. A couple of years later I bought a very hot '55 Chevy from my best friend. It would perform best only on "Golden Esso Extra" which was about 104 octane and cost the princely sum of 34.9 a gallon. That was reserved for Friday and Saturday nights. Got engaged, got sensible, and bought a new 1960 Volvo PV544. It had an appr. 11 gallon tank,
and two bucks would fill it up any day of the week. ( I paid list price for the Volvo, $2,330, in November of '59. The following January Volvo dropped the price to $2,167! Bought lots of 1881, 1889, 1893 & 93, 1894 &
94 - and one 1895TD - Marlins in the early 60's for less than a hundred bucks - but that's another story...

Speaking of who remembers, any of you folks remember the the Junk Man with a horse and wagon. There were alway cow bells strung between poles behind the driver's seat, and you could him coming several blocks away!

[adirondakjack]

I remember 29.9 as a normal price as a kid in the mid '60s. I sold gas in '74for .39.9, and remember folks beyatchin' when it went to .45.9 that year.

By '75 or '6, I paid 79 cents in CA, and rode a bicycle to work half the time. As a married E-3 my check was about $250, twice a month, and I couldn't aford enough gas for every day.

By '79, I first saw $1 gas, in the Adirondacks. That was a shocker, driving a '64 Mercury that weighed 4400 lbs and got 11 mpg if I took it easy.

As mentioned, the 80s got rough. Might have been '82, I filled a taxi cab with a 350 chevy with $1.48/gallon gas, and a local fare at the time was only $1.25!!! We worked 70 hours a week to take home $200 gross!!!

[Sixgun]

Man! Where is Terry Murbach when you need him? I bet he remembers when there was no gas.--------Sixgun

[Old Ironsights]

Gas has only just recently actually gone above where it was in the 80s in inflation adjusted dollars:

http://inflationdata.com/Inflation/Infl ... lation.asp

Back in 1980 - 81 we were shocked as gas prices rose above $1.00 for the first time. This was especially shocking because in 1976 gas was $0.60 per gallon. But by 1981 the average price for the entire year was $1.35.

Obviously if that was the average some people were paying much more. Adjusting this for inflation we get an average inflation adjusted price for a gallon of gasoline in 1981 of $3.17 in March 2008 dollars.

According to the US Energy Information Administration the average price of a gallon of gasoline in March 2008 cost $3.21 ... although I know in many places like California people would have been glad to find gasoline for $3.21 a gallon.

I spent several weeks driving around California in March and often saw gas closer to $4.00 a gallon.

But the same would have been the case back in 1980-81. We are not dealing with peak prices but average prices. And not only average prices over the whole year but also over the whole country, so there is quite a bit of variation.

The chart at the right shows the Average annual Gas prices in nominal terms (what you actually pay) and in inflation adjusted terms (red line).

Back in 2006 the news media began talking about "all time high gasoline prices" but at that time our chart showed that in "inflation adjusted terms" we weren't there yet.

But recent spikes have brought it up above the average levels of 1980 - 81.

Unfortunately, way back in 1918 when Gasoline was a luxury item and people still rode horses as their means of transportation... gasoline in inflation adjusted terms was about $3.50 a gallon.

So average prices are not quite above "all time" records except in places like California. But it won't be long and I will be able to officially declare "Average Annual Gasoline Prices in Inflation Adjusted Terms are at an All Time High".

But current prices are higher than the average annual price in 1980 putting us in position to have higher average prices than 1980.

Remember the stress those high prices put on the economy. We need to be cautious because the economy could be in danger from high energy prices.

[Old Ironsights]

Man! Where is Terry Murbach when you need him? I bet he remembers when there was no gas.--------Sixgun

Gas was effectively $3.50/gal in 1918...

[Hobie]

"Geezeritis"! Got that straight!!!

[Rustolium]

I can't recall an exact price, but I remember less than a dollar right around the time I started driving at the end of the last century. It's at $3.89 here

[coachise]

I can recall .19/gal when I started driving. less than $4 to fill my '64 Nova. Cigs were .25/pack. But, I didn't smoke.

[FWiedner]

I remember paying less than a quarter a gallon when I was a kid.

I used to walk up the the Standard on the corner with my gallon gas can which was shared between the lawn mower and my go-cart, and I always got change back from my quarter.

I think it jumped to around 30 or 35 cents a gallon by the time I started to drive.

I remember one time when I was in the service (about 10 years later) and planning to go on leave. I was calculating gas usage at 15mpg and 1.50 a gallon average from CA to PA to TX and back to CA, and planning on having money left over because I set the average so high.

Now, another 25 years after that, it's at 3.90 a gallon.

[phlatnose]

I arrived in CA 1986. Gas was 69cent/gallon. (Oh yes it was). I could work for 1 hour and fill up twice. 10 gallon tank.
Try doing that today.

[Peter M. Eick]

I remember 29 cents a gallon in the late 60's because my dad was complaining about it going to 30 cents.

The lowest I can remember recently is 79 cents a gallon back in 98 in Arkansas when we were on vacation. I took a picture of the pump to remember that day. I said to myself either I would lose my job over this price or we will never see it again.

10 years later, I did not lose my job and gas is $4 a gallon. Sometimes it is better to be in the right place at the right time during layoffs.

[shdwlkr]

I can remember gas at 23-24 cents a gallon and premium was 39 cents and diesel we used on the farm was something lie 9 cents delivered to our farm tank.

[budliteguy]

I know one thing There is not going to be a Family Vacation this year, Its taken an extra $250.00 a month out of of my Pay check every month and thats driving my V.W. to work. I can not afford to drive my truck to work because its 42 miles round trip every day. I cant find a job closer to home because they are none. all my expenses have went up and my take home pay hasn't. I have a county job and they said that we would get the same "FAIR" market value pay increase we got last year, 0 to 5%,It depends on how much your supervisor likes you, not on how good of a job you do. I'm stuck here because of having to have insurance for my disabled wife, because she can not get a private insurance plan or what she can get we cannot afford. Plus they went up on our co-pay on meds this year instead of going up on our insurance cost. Still cost me $150.00 more a month because of the medication my wife has to take. So they can take there charts and stick them where the sun dont shine and get off there lazy butts and try to straighten this mess out they have caused. If you notice all this started in 2004, the same year we invaded Iraq. Who's making a killing off of the high price of oil, take a guess he's from texas. I think all office terms should be limited to 2 terms, alot of these clowns have been in there way to long. OH by the way when I started driving in 1979 gas was .49 cents a gallon. Oh how things have changed.

[Chuck 100 yd]

I can remember when it was $4.09 9/10 .... Heck that was last week!

[TomD]

Old Ironsights That chart is what it feels like. All the BS about China and so forth don't account for the near vertical rise since 2002. Whatever the cause that rise isn't sustainable. Keeping the faith means believing the price will go down, and finding alternatives to save gas, as simple as driving a little slower. Right now everyone is convinced gas is going in the right direction even though it feels terribly wrong in the pocket book.

[TomD]

budliteguy, not an easy sell, but some of these guys who practice high efficiency driving are doubling gas mileage in their cairs, maybe you could find something that would help you at least a little:

http://cheapmpg.com/

[Jeff Pitts]

I remember seeing the gas $.19 per gallon in Southbend/Raymond back during a gas war in 1968.

I filled up at $4.27.9 today here in SWW.

Jeff

[GANJIRO]

These are Hawaii prices so bear with me, but as a kid in the 60s my Dad had a 1960 Mercedes Benz 190D Diesel 4 dr sedan. He used to go fill it up at the local marina for 10 cents a gallon, diesel was the cheapest fuel back then and my Dad's MB one of the most fuel efficient vehicles. I'm one of those strange ones the loves the smell of diesel exhaust, I get all nostalgic when I smell it.
Later on in 1970 my Dad bought a new VW van because our family had increased to 6 kids, and I remember distinctly my Dad paying 31 cents a gallon for regular gas. By the time I started driving in early 1976 gas was around 60 cents a gallon. When it hit a dollar a gallon everyone thought it was the end of the world.
I'd like to go back to those dollar a gallon days now.

[adirondakjack]

Looking at the inflation adjusted gas price chart, note that gas began a steep climb right around the time the "dot com buble" burst, and folks (including those managing HUGE mutual fund accounts) began looking to ENERGY STOCKS to MAKE MONEY ON.

Effectively that makes the "Street value" go up because somebody holds a futures contract that PAYS that much for it.