VCCA Home Forums GENERAL DISCUSSION General Discussions Cheap Gas??

Oh, Joe 'subscribes' to the theory that gas is actually "cheaper" now that it was in 1950 or 1960 or whenever compared to CLI and income and the cost of other purchases and etc. etc.

Actually he doesn't just 'subscribe' to it. He'a a proponent of it.

According to the 'numbers' he's correct. It just grates on me when gas is $2.50 or even $2.19, like it is down here in the PDX area these days.

He and I talk about it for hours when we're on the road or whatever......

That's his post of July 4th @ 2:41pm as an example. "Cheaper than 1950." ARRRRGHH!!!

Consequently my reply, "Don't start."

Bill.

DUUUUH? :rolleyes: Everyone seems to be after the almighty $ well, once almighty $

Is Joe calculating the cost of all the additional federal and state taxes into his "cost per gallon for gasoline" Also that 1950s cost included free tire check, window cleaning, oil, water, battery check, and in the case of the station I worked at, floor swept, inside of at least the windshield washed, and the ash tray emptied. Now at a self serve you have to do all this your self and if the earns more than 10 bucks and hour he would have to factor in the 10 bucks as a labor cost added to the gasoline price. Also there was "Green Stamps" and freebie chinaware.

adjusted for inflation, $2.28 would have been $0.28 in 1950 and $0.35 in 1960...seems quite a bit more than what I recall gas going for then...


epi

Glyn, that extra stuff was just to get you to come in and buy some of their expensive gasoline and motor oil! Ha!

Kepi, also you need to adjust the taxes back to that era, which will make the price of gasoline even less....it seems that most Americans worry more about the price of gas than worry about their Soul's Salvation!

Amen!
Don't forget the cost of buying those whisk brooms and tire gauges and the caps and bowties!

Hey Kepi,
I remember gas going for .199 in 1956 or 1957. Gas wars in Seattle. That was when a bucks worth of regular kept you going for a while. :)

Well actually, "Chevrolet" I think 0.35 is right on the money for gas in 1960. Maybe 0.35 is even a few pennies LOW!

My clear recollection is regular was 36.9, ethyl was 39.9 and 'white pump' was 41.9.

"White pump" was a couple of octane points higher than 'ethyl' - I think right about 100 octane, maybe even just over 100 - and was available at Atlantic-Richfield (ARCO), Chevron/Standard Oil and one other. Maybe Mobil.

(This fuel was obvious dispensed from a 'white' painted pump.)

When we were going to the drags, we bought 'white pump.'



I doubt it made much (if any) difference. But it sure seemed cool.

:cool2:

Bill.

In 1961 I was a Lance Corporal in the USMC and was getting around $100 a month, I remember looking for gas wars and buying gas for $.299 a gallon and it took less than $5 to fill up my 59 Pontiac 4 door hard top (payments of $49.50 per month) to drive from Oceanside to Reno or Las Vegas for a weekend pass! I also was smoking those "I'd walk a mile for a Camel"...cigarettes at $2.00 a carton and Hamms beer was around a dollar a sixpack on base. "From the land of skyblue waters"...!

off-brand ethyl in our poor part of town went for up to a penny under to two pennies over a dime per gallon in the early '60's...didn't get to the mid twenties or higher until 1970 (and don't forget your blue chip stamps)...

and it wasn't always ".9" cents either...really made sense to have tenths of a penny in the pricing to beat your competition on the other corner...I think they should use normal, whole-cent pricing now, instead of perpetuating this anachronism...we don't buy milk for $2.689 or a sandwich for $4.249...


epi

MrMack,

I remember my uncle worked in the oil & natural gas fields of West Virginia in the 1950's. He drove an old Chevrolet on DRIP GAS which was a by product of the natural gas wells. His car could be seen coming in a cloud of smoke. Those were the good old days. His cost was .0 cents but many fouled plugs.


w

John We had a better version of drip but still very volatile, it came off of the crude oil when the oil was pumped out of the well and into a pipeline, the rich gas vapor was condensed in a underground vessel and then blown out with the gas pressure into a faucet and into a bucket. It was known as casing head gasoline. We used it to wash greasy cloths it worked better than varsol but didn't smell as good! in and to run our cars. It worked well in a Chevrolet four or six and also a model A F0RD, but would vapor lock anytime you put it into a Flathead V/8. My Dad kept a 300 gallon tank full at all times. it was clean and was the same thing as white gasoline, works in cars that run on unleaded, we used it in our Coleman lanterns and camp stoves. ( it is still available if you know the right person.) I have heard the going rate is $20 for a 55 gallon drum, haul it yourself. Every once in a while we will pass or meet a beatup old car or pickup on a back road and smell the telltale smell of DRIP!

Mr Mack,
I'm glad there are still a few people from the real world. Not many people left who have milked a cow by hand before going to school every morning! Went to West Virginia for the 4th celebration. Enjoyed the symphony at Canaan Valley. My wife from LongIsland said these people in WV are pyromaniacs. Great fireworks!

I believe that! Why else would they have a town named NITRO! By the way...our old Guernsey cow's name was Bossie! We also milked her heifer and her name was Sally.

oil closed at $61.28 a barrel today... :( :eek:

The subect here is money, not service, green stamps,OR gas wars. Yes, I've bought gas for
19 cents/gal. a few times over the years, but the
regular price is the issue. Taxes have always
been in the final price and maybe they're not
higher in today's money. I don't remember what
the tax was in '50. But, the best price here was
$23.9 at the Time Oil dock with a student body
card from a nearby college. It was located near
an abandoned WW2 shipyard that wasn't convenient
for most drivers. The prices at retail ranged
from 28 to 32 cents for regular. Wages for entry
level jobs ranged from 75 cents to a buck 25.
Union stores paid entry level around $1.40. In
1956, union base jobs in the mills were $1.85 and
when I operated a planer it was $2.35.
And, about "service" - the "old timers" warned us
kids with this advice, "Don't let anybody under
your hood", "check the oil and water when it's
cold". That was good advice. I still do just
that.....

PDXJoe,

I worked in 1958 for the Kroger supermarket for $l.15 per hour. Some folks say I was overpaid!

All figureing was done with a pen and paper. If you couldn't figure, you guessed!

I love to tell the young kids at Krogers now what I was making in 1958 and watch thier expression

Were you in a union, John? '62 I was getting .75 an hour for a 48 hour week at J.M. Fields...cigarettes for smokers was .25 pack and gas was .329 unless a gas war broke out...

Isn't it sort of funny that there aren't any more gas wars....it is like the oil companies are working together...now would that be possible???

Tongue in cheek for the last part of the above...

Gator,

As a matter of fact I was in a union or forced in a union.
My first pay check was $28. and the union rep. took $26. of my check. That was my introduction to unions and I never forgot.
Explain that to an 18 year old!
I now own oil company stock which pays good dividends. I lost my a-- in others. The oil company looks good to me even now in this market of high oil prices.
Is it Modine thats invested in fuel cell research for Volkswagon?

By the time 'we' got into unions their overall need had dimished. But in the 'early' days of their existence they were very important to the workers. Changed their whole financial lives for the better. And the employers / owners still made good money on their investment.

Incidentally Gator, collusion is a FOL.

(If that's what you were trying to "back-out" of saying.)

Bill.

Huh...FOL...What's that??

Not backing out of it...let's just say the oil companies have 'friendly competition' if there is any at all.

FOL???? I will guess 'Fly on Lindbergh'...LOL.

FACT OF LIFE.....

Thanks!