19 thoughts on “Add $4.50 To That”

  1. I lived in northern Ohio at the time, and I recall stations charging 16 cents a gallon during price wars. I personally paid nothing, as our family had an underground tank and a pump on the premises for the business, so I filled up for nothing.

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    • That’d be a nice arrangement until either the EPA or state DNR got up your ass about the tank and it contaminating ground water, which is likely what would happen now on a privately owned tank. That’s also the reason you see modern gas stations ripping out the tanks and replacing them every so many years, because they replace them just inside the manufacturer’s warranty expiration.

      The rationale is if they fail and leak inside warranty, the manufacturer has to cover the cleanup and decontamination costs, rather than the station owner. Told to me by a guy who is a big shot in the gas station/convenience store biz.

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  3. I remember as a kid, my dad bypassing the gas station charging 25 cents a gallon in favor of the one down the street charging 23. 8% difference with a few blocks.

    Just filled for $2.79. Not the best in the country, but certainly better than the left coast.

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  5. Yup, I used to wait until my bug was down to near zero fuel and having flipped to the “reserve”, would go see which stations were having a gas war that weekend, then fill up the tank for 3 bucks (or less). Good times since by 74 I had switched to a big honking V8 Chevy Impala just timed for the fuel crunch.

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  6. Minimum wage then was a buck twenty five, so about five five gallons. Now about fifteen here, and gas is 2.79 to 2.99, so really no different. The dollar has shrunk.

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  7. I am from Los Angeles metro born in the late 50s. I was first learned to drive in 72 and gas was about 22 cents. I am last in my family by 6 years to my brother and 8 years to my sister. I remember the cost as I bought a Motorcycle and was working in a restaurant.

    My family was lower middle class so we had worked always. When each of us graduated HS we were shown the door. I met my wife at UCLA and she is from the Bay Area of NorCal and did not like LA, so after college we married and moved north. Our two sons were born there and business made me move the family to the east coast later.

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  9. In Canada i remember in the late 80’s prices of 42cents a litre, current prices are around $1.79 a litre and in 2023 i saw it hit $2.15 in fort mac.

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  12. I just tanked up my wife’s car and my own this morning, somewhere behind enemy lines in southern California. The Jeep took regular at $4.70/gallon. My wife’s car uses premium, and raped me for a straight-up $5.00/gallon. Gavin Newsolini never met a tax he didn’t like. If that guy DOES try to run for the White House in ’28, tell your friends. Tell your children. Tell your childrens’ children; DON’T VOTE FOR NEWSOM!!! For the record, I STILL can’t find anyone who voted for that guy here. I guess that’s what happens when the dead and the illegal can vote…

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  14. Huh. I was driving in ’69 and it was .30 to .33/gal – but that was in Spokane.

    I remember in the late ’50s when it went from .11 to 13 and my Dad threw an absolute fit!

    And, I might add we had a ’55 wagon with the 265 V8 but I don’t know or remember the MPG.

    Be of good cheer, my Beaver Motor Coach’s Chebbie 427 gets 4.3 MPG…
    Right now it’s parked.

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