I can make you cry... check out these gas prices.

Taken Thanksgiving weekend, Outside D.C.---In Falls Church, VA.
(I do think it was 1979..maybe '80)

Those prices aren't bad, in fact, why didn't you fill up with Super Shell ? You've got the card.

It's a little higher here, So I think you should stick to your station.



By the way, Isn't it time we got rid of the 9/10 ?
At 67.9/10, it made sense, but not at 4.67.9/10

Just a thought.

Is that you in the picture, Tara?

When I started driving, circa 1965, regular gas sold for 26.9 cents per gallon in NJ. By buying $2.00 worth of gas, I was able to drive my father's '63 Plymouth Belvedere 6-cylinder for about 120 miles, which represented about 2 weeks of driving for an urban kid.

Of course, the minimum wage in those days was $1.25 per hr., so everything is relative. But, on some levels it still makes one long for the old days.

In 1979 I was driving a 68 Olds Delta 88 with a 455 to which I had mated a dual quad carb set up. I got about 6 to 8 miles per gallon on good days. Even at 70 cents it was a costly commuter car!

Remember when you could search the car seats for change and cruise all nite on what you found!!!!????

The cheapest I ever bought gas was 20 per galon around 1963??

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

We did a summer roadtrip in '79 from Indiana to N J and back to visit old friends. This was during the '79 gas shortage that pushed prices up close to the dollar level. There were huge lines and many states had limits and alternate day plans in effect. On the New York and New Jersey toll roads there was a $5.00 purchase limit and alternate day buying (Odd-Even) BOTH in effect.
Luckily we had sequential license plate numbers on our two cars...so when I left home I removed the plate from the car we left at home and carried it with us. A $5 purchase for my suburban would get us less than 75 miles so we had to buy gas (the limit) at each service area. We hit New Jersey late at night when the plate allowed switched from odd number to even number.. our plate numbers were 1013...While sitting in line to get to the pump I got out and switched to the 1012 plate I was carrying in the car..that allowed us to buy gas!! The guy in line behind me watched the whole episode, and laughed with me at what we had to do to get a bit over 5 gallons of gas to get on down the road.

Those 70's shortages..the 73-74 was the worst...but the 1979 was bad as well, were very difficult to deal with. Today we have adjusted our driving to try to keep a handle on the gas budget, but at least we aren't waiting outside a closed station, waiting for it to open and dispense a limited amount of gas to hundreds of people waiting out in the road.

When I was in high school they used to have these gas wars all up and down the Berlin Turnpike in Connecticut. We'd drive up there with a spare buck to buy Ethyl for 16.9-cents a gallon and cruise around all night.

(Ethyl, for those too young, was the tetraethyl lead additive they used to provide higher octane. It was more expensive than regular leaded gasoline, but at those prices it was silly not to buy it.)

I sincerely hope that's not you in the picture, Tara, because I've got to come out and say that that cowl-neck sweater's what's making me cry! Man, I hated those! But if it is you, well I hope you threw that sweater out...

quote:

Originally posted by harriet1954

I sincerely hope that's not you in the picture, Tara, because I've got to come out and say that that cowl-neck sweater's what's making me cry! Man, I hated those! But if it is you, well I hope you threw that sweater out...

Don't worry Tara; I still like you (and your Runzas).

quote:

Originally posted by MiamiDon

Is that you in the picture, Tara?

No.. Thats a girl that I went to school with. I was visiting her there.
Harriett, NO>>NO>>>I am not a turtleneck or cowl like sweater type girl.
I am sure she doesnt appreciate me posting her photo, but I dont care. We dont talk anymore anyway...

Thank you Adjudicator...

quote:

Originally posted by Sundancer7

The cheapest I ever bought gas was 20 per galon around 1963??

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

I remember gas at 19 Cents.. think it was 1969.. that would have been when I first got my license.

I started driving in 1983 and gas I believe here in California was 75 cents a gallon and the best gas saving car was the Honda Civic. Our gas station there had a gas ration once but it was cool because back then we wrote IOU's to our regular station..Times have changed for sure...

quote:

Originally posted by Adjudicator

quote:

Originally posted by harriet1954

I sincerely hope that's not you in the picture, Tara, because I've got to come out and say that that cowl-neck sweater's what's making me cry! Man, I hated those! But if it is you, well I hope you threw that sweater out...

Don't worry Tara; I still like you (and your Runzas).

Oh, I love Tara!! I just could never stand those sweaters!

Started driving around in the 50s, and remember gas at less than a quarter, but not sure of the exact cost anymore....maybe around 16 cents. We would literally dig around under the seats and in the cushions for loose change. One of my buddies would borrow his older brother's car, but was limited to 25 miles per "borrow," so he'd drive around in reverse all night.

Anyone remember the old Sunoco pumps where you would blend your gas depending what octane you wanted. I still think it was bull-crap.

quote:

Originally posted by kensandyeggo

but was limited to 25 miles per "borrow," so he'd drive around in reverse all night.

Thats funny..... I am still laughing.....

quote:

Originally posted by Guilty One

Those prices aren't bad, in fact, why didn't you fill up with Super Shell ? You've got the card.

It's a little higher here, So I think you should stick to your station.



By the way, Isn't it time we got rid of the 9/10 ?
I mean, at 27.9, it made sense, but not at 4.67.9

Just a thought.

Hah.. yanno, she had a 79 Malibu SS (I think-maybe a 78).. white and red stripes..... she shoulda been using High Test..
I have to dig out that pic.

Yeah.. just why do they make it 9/10ths of a gallon?..Why not just a simple gallon?....
Everyone knows the difference.
How and why did that start?

"Scuze me sir, I will take just 9/10th's of a gallon. I don't need a whole gallon"... "Here is .13 cents.. have a great day."
I can hear my mom saying that.

Does anybody choose the high test (premium) gas ???

quote:

Originally posted by wheregreggeats.com

Does anybody choose the high test (premium) gas ???

I do

I drive a car that runs best on higher octane due to high compression. It will run on regular or mid grade, but the little electronic brains in there alter engine timing with lower octane resulting in, as best I can figure, fuel mileage that is 25 to 30% lower. Not sure if all cars that are meant to run on premium will have such a mileage penalty when running lower octane, but mine does. The bottom line is if I buy cheaper gas, I need to buy more of it, so I just buy the stuff that makes the vehicle run best.

Tony,
I can run my truck and car on the usual 'regular' fuel, until I get out west in Utah and Wyoming where 'regular' is 84 or 85 octane and the elevation is often over 6000 feet, making the oxygen level drop as well. Then I have to use the higher grade of fuel or listen to the pinging and mis-firing of the engine anytime I head up-hill!

Right after we all got discharged in 1946 we had one car for 8 guys. We had to drive 7 miles to Patchogue every week to sign up for the 52/20 club. Vets got $20 a week for 52 weeks or until they got a job or went to college.

The car had belonged to an Aunt of one of the guys and had been up on cememnt blocks for 4 years.
It was an Eaaex Town Car, the kind you see in Al Capone movies. On the appointed day of the trip to Patchogue we would meet at Hollywood Pavilion and chip in till we had a dollar. That bought 25 cents worth of gas @ 16 cents a gallon and 3 quarts of oil @ a quarter per. Then 8 guys would squeeze in and take off leaving a smoke trail like the Destroyers of WWII, when they laid down a smoke screen.

We sometimes made it back the same day we left. But once we had to walk about the last 4 after a tire decided it had had enough---carrying approximately 1600 pounds on bald tires was an adventure.

Those were "The Good Old Days".

By the way there is an interesting article by John Coleman, the founder of the Weather Channel, that

I stumbled into. ---He has a web site called Coleman's Corner and in it is a copy of a presentation he

made to the San Diego Chamber of Commerce. Google it and see what he thinks of the gas prices.

quote:

Originally posted by wheregreggeats.com

Does anybody choose the high test (premium) gas ???

I do, simply because my car's engine was designed to run on premium gas. Yes, it will run on regular, but the gas mileage drops off considerably when I use regular, thus making it not much of a bargain. And, of course, the use of regular gas reduces the power output for accelerating onto a highway or for avoiding an emergency situation.

So, between getting lower mpg and reduced power from regular gas, I opt to use the premium gas that the engine was designed to run on. At this point in my life, I don't actually drive that many miles each year, so the price penalty for the use of premium gas actually costs me less than $100.00 per year. The rebates from my credit cards actually amount to about $500.00 per year (if not more), so this $100.00 "penalty" is not really very much of a penalty.

In every case, consumers should use the grade of gasoline specified in their car's Owner's Manual. An engine that is designed for regular gas will not deliver better mileage or more power if premium gas is used. And, an engine that is designed for premium gas will always yield less power and will usually deliver lower gas mileage if regular is used. Stick with what the people who designed and built your car recommend in the Owner's Manual!

quote:

Originally posted by wheregreggeats.com

Does anybody choose the high test (premium) gas ???

Not here. http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=5038652

quote:

Originally posted by Al-The Mayor-Bowen

out west in Utah and Wyoming where 'regular' is 84 or 85 octane

I can't believe I never heard that before.
I thought all pumps in the U.S. had the same three octane levels.

Are there any higher Hi-Test pumps that anyone knows of ?

In the 60's in the west Chevron Custom Supreme was like 125 or better.
They took it out to use the tank for Low Lead.
I know the South had other brands like Sunoco 260 (126 octane ?)

quote:

Originally posted by wheregreggeats.com

Does anybody choose the high test (premium) gas ???

My gas cap says 89 (Mid Grade) on it. After chatting with another owner of same model at the pump who said his runs much better and gets better mileage with Premium, I set the trip meter and ran it down to where the onboard comp. said I had was out, then filled it up with Premium.

I think it runs better, but it may be all in my head.
But the math doesn't lie, as I got 295 miles out of the Mid grade and 332 out of Premium. I drove much the same and paid close attention to idling, flooring the gas, street/hiway etc.

I was so surprised, I did the whole comparison again.
I came up 302 mi. for Mid and 337 for Prem.

Using Mid Grade, I had always filled up at around 280-290 miles which was long after the light went on and now I fill up around at about 315-325 and it's about the same amount of gallons.

For my appr. 16 gallons, the difference buying Premium over Mid Grad is $2.08 but it would cost about $9.00 of the Mid Grade to take me the distance of the Premium.

Yes, I use Premium.

I remember in the mid 60s dad would send me with the gallon can and a quarter to the Chevron station down the block. That quarter would overflow the empty can.

In high school, we would cruise in the family station wagon on 5 bucks all night.

In 2001 when I drove from WV to Calif to move my oldest daughter and Ava out here I averaged 1.00 a gallon cross country. OKlahoma was the cheapest I saw at 94.9. They also had the worst stretch of I-40 of all the states. Arkansas wasn't much better.

quote:

Originally posted by Tedbear
Stick with what the people who designed and built your car recommend in the Owner's Manual!

You said what I was trying to say. My car is meant to run on 91Octane. As other have said and posted, running premium in a car designed to run on lower octane serves no purpose.