Do You Remember Cheap Gas?

[PAUL161]

I believe the cheapest gas I can remember was 19 cents a gallon. There was a gas war on and Merit had gas for 19 cents a gallon, normal was 25 cents! I think that was in 1955. Today PJ

 

[59diamond]

I remember when I was in high school if you had 22 cents you could buy a gallon of gas or a pack of cigaretts. or a jack in the Box hamburger

 

[mikephillips]

When I was a teen I recall I could fill up the Alpine with 5 bucks and have some change left, so would have been in the 40-45 cent range.

 

[HealeyRick]

Yep, I remember gas wars and 19 cent gas. And they gave out glasses and S&H green stamps too! My bugeye in high school was a $2.50 fill up with high test.

 

[CaptRandy]

I remember 16.9 cents adn even remember where. At Howard's Garage on York Rd in Willow Grove, PA. With his faithful Lion wandering around the station.

 

[DrEntropy]

It was "Jim's Esso" for me, just over 30 cents a gallon, a bit north of Beaver Falls, PA.

 

[aeronca65t]

25 cents a gallon for leaded regular in Trenton, NJ in 1968.

I think it was a bit cheaper in some New Jersey rural areas at that time.

As a poor college kid with a Sprite, I would always tell the gas attendant: "Two bucks of the cheap s__t please!"

Often, that would be too much for the 8 gallon tank. :friendly_wink:

New Jersey traditionally has cheaper gas.......it's $3.12/gallon down the street from me today. Plus they put it in for you!

 

[HealeyRick]

As a poor college kid with a Sprite, I would always tell the gas attendant: "Two bucks of the cheap s__t please!"

With my bugeye, it was "Gas, water and oil. A gallon of each!"

 

[Tybalt]

Until the Yom Kippur War in the fall of 1973 and the subsequent oil embargoes, there were three stations lined up next to each other on the north bound Central Expressway (US 75) service road between Spring Valley and Belt Line Road in Richardson TX that were always trying to knock each other out. The standard low price of the three was 21.9¢. At times they would get down to 19.9¢ or even to 18.9¢ once that I recall. During that period I had at various times a Fiat 1100D, a VW Type III Squareback (both great vehicles for the drive in, wink wink, nudge, nudge, say no more) and an early 3 main MGB (better than I had originally thought at the drive in, but not as roomy as the others, especially that Fiat). I was in the hand the guy two bucks and say fill it or stop it at $2, whichever comes first crowd. Most of the time I got change back.

After that it hung in there ranging from 50¢ to 60¢ a gallon and I remember everybody carrying on about how if gas got to a buck a gallon they'd just have to quit driving. If all those folks were going to quit driving, why is there so much more traffic now?

 

[Deleted member 8987]

Regular was 24.9 at the Hudson station. Anywhere else, 32, 34, and we'd keep going...too much.
16 gallon tank in the Ford, could not put five bucks in it.
Gas Wars always were fun. Never knew how low it would go.
Flatheads ran fine on Hudson Gas!

 

[Keoke]

Well down in the hills of Arizona, Texaco it weren't but 10 cents a gallon.

OH en we had Rich-Field too.:glee:

 

[LarryK]

I used to ride with a friend in his VW Beetle to HS. On the way home we needed gas and stopped at the Shell station 7 miles from home. All we could muster was my quarter. Attendant looked at us like we were nuts. Told him to give us an exact gallon (25 cents) and we would be back in a few minutes to fill up. Got the gallon, drove home and got $5 and came back and filled up. Attendant said "Well, I'll be darn, you did it"

 

[59diamond]

Well I actually paid Zero for gas sometimes. I worked as an attendant at a self serve gas station while I was going to college. I usually closed the station at night. After closing I would roll my 59 BE by the pumps and drain the hoses into my gas tank. I usually got quite a bit of gas out of all the hoses.

 

[PAUL161]

I remember when I had a 53 hopped up Harley and I could only use Sunoco 260 in it. It was 67 cents a gallon! . I liked those Sunoco dial up pumps, thought they were cool at the time. PJ

 

[DrEntropy]

I miss the smell of leaded gasoline. :smirk:

The local Sunoco station was owned by a pal's dad, we had run of the place. 260 was all I fed the Elan then. That was post-embargo, mid-seventies. He had a tubing bender, we got pretty good at making exhaust bits, too.

 

[JamesWilson]

Sure... not THAT long ago.

In the USA, BEFORE I moved to Britain.

As a rough estimate, it is now $8.00/US gallon here....

 

[blurooster]

24.9 all through high school, a date cost $5.00, gas, movie and food

 

[aeronca65t]

Yesterday I passed five gas stations that were $2.99/gallon or less (all in NJ so "full service" too).

I can now fill up my Chevy cargo van for less than $100. :friendly_wink:

 

[Boink]

AND 92 octane was considered low. I seem to recall putting 98 in the Austin Healey 100-4 (in about 1972).

I do remember gas wars where it got down to 25 cents or so in about 1968.

Funny, too, that it has taken FOREVER to stop saying "unleaded" for regular. :chuncky:

 

[pdplot]

Here in SW CT, gas is now hovering around $4/gallon. A bit lower lately and somewhat cheaper east of Norwalk. In the early '50s, it was about 25 cents but there were gas wars on the Berlin Turnpike going towards Hartford where it fell to 17 or 18 cents. (Why is there no cents sign on a computer?) Then, it was "regular or hi-test" and Amoco was the only unleaded gas being sold here. It was supposed to be better - no "lead fouling" and I would run it from time to time in my new TR3. Today gasohol; tomorrow ???

PD