Memories... ;)

countrygirl · 06-06-2008, 10:43 AM

I was looking through my TM notebook and found a receipt for diesel last October 27th...it was only $3.07 per gallon in Lake Park, Ga! Wish it were that low now!

06-06-2008, 12:42 PM

I know it's high, but it makes me happy to know we can still afford to tow our light trailer. I bet all the folks with heavy trailers and bigger vehicles are parking their rigs or trying to find a way to unload it before the gasoline prices go higher. I think gas will be over $5.00/gal. by summer. I hope they will have a affordable hybrid vehicle out that can tow the TM before too long.

**Bill** · 06-06-2008, 06:22 PM

$3.07 last year? That's good! But let's see who really has old memories here. Going back into your earliest childhood, who remembers the lowest gas price? I'll start the bidding at 19.9 cents per gallon. This was a common lowest price in mid-Maine in the 1950s during small-town gas wars. Wish I had a photo - but we couldn't afford a camera.

Bill

06-06-2008, 07:06 PM

Here's a chart that shows the retail gasoline prices from 1949 - 2006.
http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/aer/txt/ptb0524.html

Back in the early 80's when we all experienced gas rationing and had odd-even days, I worked at a gas station. The prices increased to over $1.00 and the pumps were not designed to show prices in 3 digits so we charged 2x what was on the pump. When the prices dropped back down below $1.00 we no longer charged 2x what was shown on the pump but some who were in a hurry didn't pay attention and still handed me double the cost and drove off.

Compared to today's prices, I'd say they still got a bargain!

**wbmiller3** · 06-06-2008, 07:55 PM

At some point during the 80s gas crisis - just when the price was going over a $1 as BrigCA61 mentions - some stations in North Carolina changed to metric pumps. This added massive confusion since some stations had prices per liter, some had half the price on the pump, others had straight $/gallon.

I can remember in 1976 being on a camping trip with my parents through the West, looking for gas stations that were selling it for under $.50.

countrygirl · 06-06-2008, 08:04 PM

That chart is really interesting. In the 50's I did not pay attention to gas prices...too young to notice or care...however I did in the 60's. I could and did buy gas with pocket change for the VW.

**kempert** · 06-06-2008, 08:48 PM

In June of '73 I paid 19.3 per gallon on I-40 in Amarillo. The .3 shows that they were having a gas war. I had to pay .75 over a month later on a Sunday north of San Fran and thought I'd been robbed. How times have changed!

06-06-2008, 09:31 PM

In the summer of '69, gas in Columbia, Mo was .11/gal. We could fill the VW for about a dollar and drive to my wife's home in Bloomington, Ill. and back for about .80. We did that a lot since we got free food there. SIGH!

Keith Wire · 06-06-2008, 09:31 PM

That's right, 9.9 cents a gallon. That is the lowest gas price I can remember is when I was 5 or 6 (1954 or 1955)...

There is a story about this in our family that gets told every few years when we all get together... I had an Uncle who always, always had to have the best gas mileage in the family ( so he claimed

). It didn't mater that he was driving a big V-8. And he always, always was able to buy the cheapest gas of anybody in the family ( so he claimed

).

When I was 5 or 6, we were on vacation traveling through Texas and Daddy noticed there was a gas war going on in one of the towns we were passing through. He asked us (myself and two brothers) to watch the gas stations to see if we could find a price that would fix Uncle Paul once and for all. Well we found it, 9.9 cents a gallon. We filled up and were filled with anticipation at finally knowing we were going to win the next time.

At the next family gathering (Christmas I think) I and my brothers had fogotten all about the gas prices, but not our Dad. After dinner everybody was gathered around and Uncle Paul started his usual boasting again. When the conversation eventually came to the best gas price Daddy waited till last to speak and for the first and probably only time in his life Uncle Paul was left speachless.

All the principles are now dead, but every time I get together with one of my brothers we still laugh about this...

Keith

06-06-2008, 09:45 PM

When I was in the Navy in the mid 60's, I can remember gas war prices below 20 cents a gallon. I had a Honda motorcycle which only held about 4 gallons, but salaries were also low back then and it was still a struggle to fill it up sometimes. A hamburger and coke at McD's was only 50 cents, but it's all relative to how much you are making at the time.