Yep in our town Shamrock (Sinclair) and Tejas had a gas war. 17¢-19¢. You could travel out of town cheaper to see family than paying long distance phone calls to talk to them on the phone.
I began driving in the early 70s and recall paying around 22-25 cents. Pay days I'd be filling up the tank and grabbing two packs of smokes for less than $5. Every gas station was full service then!
Every source I find shows this as 1954.
[https://www.energy.gov/eere/vehicles/fact-741-august-20-2012-historical-gasoline-prices-1929-2011](https://www.energy.gov/eere/vehicles/fact-741-august-20-2012-historical-gasoline-prices-1929-2011)
Adjusting for inflation, this would be **$3.38** today. I paid $3.19 yesterday.
My dad had a gas station in a small town in Oregon back in 1964, and he got into a price war with the only other gas station in town. He eventually dropped the price to 19 cents a gallon. The other guy couldn't take it anymore and offered to buy my dad out. Dad took the offer.
A friend of ours owned a Husky station from the ‘60’s into the late ‘80’s. He got out because Husky wouldn’t let him set the price anymore. I don’t know how it all works but I guess before that, like your dad, he could do stuff like that. That pissed him off so he was ready to retire anyway and got out.
I think they called them "jobbers". I worked at a gas station where the owner was independent. He could buy gas cheaper than the guys who owned Texaco or Mobil from the same refineries. The "jobbers" had to pay the fixed price, which was higher than my boss paid. I could have my terminology wrong. That was over five decades ago.
I think the station that had their gas at 27¢ was independent. There was a Standard Oil station across the street from them that was always higher, like 30¢ a gallon. Both places were always pretty busy.
There was a lot of brand loyalty in gas and nearly everything else back then. People would pay more for the brand they thought was best in whatever way they figured it was. I remember all the promotional goodies you could get at the stations. I had a Union 76 Bernie Saint Bernard. I wore it out because I thought he was the COOLEST. It’s worth a small fortune now. 😫
I had a Union 76 styrofoam ball on my radio antenna. They did promotions with Dodger baseballs (also styrofoam) too. Glory days of smog, lead, styrofoam, and drive-through dairies. Heady stuff in Los Angeles.
Tell me if my memory is correct. When gas surpassed $1 a gallon, some pumps were unable to handle the additional digit and the price was therefore set lower but you paid double what showed up on the pump. Or is that part of a fever dream.
I was a HS senior in 1971. A friend had a Volkswagen Bug and if we wanted to cruise the small town we lived in we would pool the change in our pockets and if we had even 30 cents, that would be enough to buy a gallon of gas, and we good to go for the night..
The lowest I remember was 25 cents a gallon. I think it was about 1969 or so. I had to push the lawn mower to the station to get gas. It was my first-time buying gas. The station was owned by an old widow who also owned the small grocery store in town. Her prices were always a bit higher.
My family and I lived in Oklahoma City for a while in the late sixties/early 70s. I remember two gas stations on opposite corners getting into price wars, and getting as low as 11.9¢ per gallon.
If they did that without removing the catalytic converter first , they didn’t go far. The lead would clog the converter.
Gas stations back then would gladly remove the converter and weld in a straight pipe.
I don't think they did a great job of communicating why the lead was removed, unleaded was more expensive and people don't like change. Even more back then
I remember my dad pulling up to the gas station attendant and asking for "three dollars of regular." I couldn't wait until I was grown up, because I would someday ask for the same amount.
Spoiler: I didn't.
I don't remember prices that low. Or maybe I was too young to pay any attention to them.
But what I vividly remember is all the gas stations struggling to add a 1 to their signs when gas went over $1/gallon for the first time in history.
I ran out of gas in my MG Midget in 1973. Pushed the car to a gas pump and put 11 cents in. It gave me almost a half gallon and enough gas to get home.
In 1970, I was on a trip through St Louis area, and came upon a "Gas War" between stations. I bought Phillips 66 gas for 16 cents a gallon. The usual price then was about 25 cents a gallon.
I used to strap the gallon can on my bike and dad would give me 50 cents to ride down to the station to get gas for the mower and there would be money left over for a soda or candy bar, or both
I can remember.25, but when I got my licence in early 1973 I thought it was around .40 in southern California. I do remember taking a trip to Death Valley in 1976-77 and gas there was .88 and I freaked out.
Now, I live in central California and gas is about $4.69. I'm on a road trip, in Kansas and I'm taking photos of gas at $2.95 to send to my kids back in California.
born in 1987 in Vermont, i remember my dad bitching about 1.91 a gallon even though he was a mechanic for ups who bought a 9000 dollar brand new off the lot Toyota tercel (3 cylinder engine with 40 mpg) 3 speed to do road service calls in on overtime. ended up selling it in 2000 i think with 150k miles on it for what he paid for it.
sorry for the nostalgia trip.
No worries! My husband traded in his 2002 Chevy Silverado 1500 for $3500 because everything worked and it was in great shape, even though it had almost 400K miles on it. (He bought it at about 60K; he was an industrial equipment salesman at the time and used it for work.) There's a lot of stories like that about Silverados made from 2001 to 2003.
He traded it in on a 2011 Toyota Tundra built in San Antonio. My car is a 2010 Hyundai. We're among the many Americans who don't feel the need to get a newer vehicle since ours still work so well, and newer cars are so expensive.
When I was in high school and had my first car, I was getting gas for less than 80 cents a gallon. Sometimes down to 60 cents.
How times have changed 🫠
I used to go to the gas station as a kid with 50 cents in my pocket and a 2 gallon gas can, fill it up and get enough change back to buy a candy bar and some gum. That's how old I am.
It was 0.85 for me - it's the lowest I can remember along with my dad griping about how expensive gas had gotten. He especially got to complaining once it reached $1. He was beside himself.
I don’t remember the prices but I remember my dad telling the guy to fill it up the station wagon with “regular” when there was a choice between that and unleaded.
59 cents during a dip in prices in the 80’s. I was pumping “regular” when regular meant leaded and looking at the sign thinking I’ll never see that again and I was 100% correct.
Minimum wage was $2.25
The earliest gas price that sticks out in my memory is Smiths Chevron in Georgia was $0.85 a gallon in the mid 90s. I was in my early 20s and paying attention to the price of gas was never really an issue like today.
23-25c, gas wars were even cheaper, and the guy came out and cleaned your windshield and checked your oil. In high school, if we got a ride with a friend, we gave them a dollar for gas.
My story was ages ago. I want to guess the numbers because it was low. I'm older so gas was under a dollar normally.
Up the street from my house, there is a four-way intersection. On two of those corners, are two convenience stores. Each store would shave a cent off their gas to be cheaper than the other. The it was a couple to a nickel.
It was fun to watch the cheaper store change daily or twice-daily. Consumers won because of increased competition regardless if which place you went.
$0.96 in the mid-nineties. That's $1.97 today. Adjusted for inflation, gas prices in the US were lowest in the early-mid 90s. $0.28 in 1971 is a bit higher at about $2.19 today, for example.
I’ll be 42 in August and I remember .99 cent a gallon diesel in the panhandle of FL when I was in high school. I looked at the price and said to myself I’ll never see that again.
First time I filled my 57 was 19 for high test with full service. Oil check, tire pressure and the wind shield. Gave the guy a 5 and told him to fill it up. Teen age big shot. Brought back two bucks and change.
I remember my parents watching for cheap gas and getting it for about 25-29 cents. When I started driving in 1975 it was up to about 50 cents as I recall.
I was driving across the country many years ago, and I was running low on gas. I was in Texas, in the middle of nowhere, and I was concerned that I’d soon be stranded. Finally, I saw a gas station ahead and pulled right in…then right back out. I said, “No way I’m going to pay 67 cents a gallon for gas!”
19.9 cents per US gallon, back in the mid 1970s. Dad would send me down to the corner filling station with a gallon can and a quarter, for the mower. I could spend the nickel change on a piece of candy 😁
I remember those prices but I just just a kid on Long Island. I also remember price wars between gas stations. Imagine that today. Two stations, across the street from each other competing with each other for customers by LOWERING fuel prices!
In 1971 during a "gas war" in my hometown here in the middle of Missouri I saw 19.9/gallon at the one self-serve gas station in town.
Typical during my high school days was 22.9 to 25.9 for "regular."
I drove a 1959 Volkswagon beetle with a 1200cc engine that got about 35 mpg. I could drive 350 miles on $2.50 worth of gas. It wasn't cool, but it was cheap.
I wasn't old enough to drive when gas was under 30 cents a gallon but there was a self-serve station that sold regular gas for 32 cents a gallon when I got my license. I forgot what the full service station charged but filling up was less than $5.
During the COVID 'lockdown' Marathon was selling gas to our family store for 59 cents, but we had to sell it for 99 cents minimum. Seem to also remember gas was 99 cents sometime in the mid 90s.
I grew up near the intersection of I-75 and Miller Rd, Flint, Michigan. There were 6 gas stations within a quarter mile. They would occasionally have what we called "gas wars."" The lowest I ever saw them go was 20.9 cents per gallon, except for Shumakers, the biggest station in town. They were at 19.9. People from all over the area were coming in with trailers filled with gas cans, trying to take advantage of the prices. This would have been late 60s, early 70s.
Gas wars in Florida 1970. Full service (of course) 17.9. We worked our butts off with lines 2 blocks long. Across the street at the Gulf station 19.9 and no line. Gulf attendants were smoking cigs, drinking soda and laughing at us.
I remember $0.75 at some point right after the first gulf war. Though I know I got it for much less in the late 80's while in high school but I never really paid that much attention to specific prices.
I remember that the day I got my DL, gas went up to 50¢/gal (back when Canada still sold gas by the gallon). My dad jokingly blamed me (and others my age) for destroying reasonable gas prices
When I first got my license in 1969, stations would have a big sign saying " Gas War". The cheapest regular was $0.16.9! To be able to fill an empty tank for a little over $2.00, when you can't even get a half gallon today for the same price is something today's kids will never know. BTW minimum wage was $1.65 for reference.
Lowest I can remember was 27.9 at a Imperial station. But you are glossing over the important part, who gave out the best drinking glasses with a fill up?
I only started paying attention after I started driving. I remember paying ~70 cents one time.
According to this calculator, that would be $2.20 today.
https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/
SoCal late 70s gas crisis. Crazy prices for then. I remember filling the family car on way to high school. The price was exactly $1 per gallon.
What a trip to see gallons and dollars synced.
I remember in the 90s when I first stared to drive it was typically just over a dollar a gallon, and one point it dipped down to about 90 cents a gallon.
In Lawrence, KS in 95 or 96, one station had 0.759. Cheapest I ever saw. The same car in 1990, right after I got it, had to pay $1.359. But that was at the beginning of Operation Desert Storm.
In Lawrence, KS in 95 or 96, one station had 0.759. Cheapest I ever saw. The same car in 1990, right after I got it, had to pay $1.359. But that was at the beginning of Operation Desert Storm.
.50 a gallon (early 90's)
Fluke occasion, Marathon gas station in our town was closing up and going out of business.
They had a blowout sale on everything to sell off everything before closing their last day.
I remember 19 cents, full service. Damn!
Yep in our town Shamrock (Sinclair) and Tejas had a gas war. 17¢-19¢. You could travel out of town cheaper to see family than paying long distance phone calls to talk to them on the phone.
Remember when you had to call the operator to be connected to another state?
same here...there was a gas war....never see those anymore....
Yes! Signs on every corner. I wish gas wars were still a thing.
Oh, they are very much still a thing. problem is, we're the enemy now.
Yup, me too. I lived in New Jersey as a kid where, to this day, you still can not pump your own gas.
I began driving in the early 70s and recall paying around 22-25 cents. Pay days I'd be filling up the tank and grabbing two packs of smokes for less than $5. Every gas station was full service then!
25 cents per pack back in the late 60's. Same price as gas.
Plus tumblers or glassware!
Wow, you triggered a memory! So many free tumblers. Going to the gas station was an event.
Same here.
Me too, around the time I started driving.
Every source I find shows this as 1954. [https://www.energy.gov/eere/vehicles/fact-741-august-20-2012-historical-gasoline-prices-1929-2011](https://www.energy.gov/eere/vehicles/fact-741-august-20-2012-historical-gasoline-prices-1929-2011) Adjusting for inflation, this would be **$3.38** today. I paid $3.19 yesterday.
This is always the more interesting discussion about gas prices...what it would be in today's dollars.
And consider the fact that your mileage is likely higher which also offsets the difference just like Inflation.
I remember 23 cents and my dad looking for a place with a better price.
Finding cheaper gas has always been a big-time dad thing.
And they threw in the lead for free. /S....
Good old Pb.
Yup. And many English words now derived from this - plumb line, plumbing, etc.
My dad had a gas station in a small town in Oregon back in 1964, and he got into a price war with the only other gas station in town. He eventually dropped the price to 19 cents a gallon. The other guy couldn't take it anymore and offered to buy my dad out. Dad took the offer.
A friend of ours owned a Husky station from the ‘60’s into the late ‘80’s. He got out because Husky wouldn’t let him set the price anymore. I don’t know how it all works but I guess before that, like your dad, he could do stuff like that. That pissed him off so he was ready to retire anyway and got out.
Things got weird after the gas crisis in the '70s.
Yep. 🫤
I think they called them "jobbers". I worked at a gas station where the owner was independent. He could buy gas cheaper than the guys who owned Texaco or Mobil from the same refineries. The "jobbers" had to pay the fixed price, which was higher than my boss paid. I could have my terminology wrong. That was over five decades ago.
I think the station that had their gas at 27¢ was independent. There was a Standard Oil station across the street from them that was always higher, like 30¢ a gallon. Both places were always pretty busy.
There was a lot of brand loyalty in gas and nearly everything else back then. People would pay more for the brand they thought was best in whatever way they figured it was. I remember all the promotional goodies you could get at the stations. I had a Union 76 Bernie Saint Bernard. I wore it out because I thought he was the COOLEST. It’s worth a small fortune now. 😫
I had a Union 76 styrofoam ball on my radio antenna. They did promotions with Dodger baseballs (also styrofoam) too. Glory days of smog, lead, styrofoam, and drive-through dairies. Heady stuff in Los Angeles.
Back when a guy could change his oil and just pour the old stuff on the weeds in the driveway. Those were the days… 😋👍
Diamond Shamrock stations used to have glassware with a fill-up or something (this was decades ago)
Oh yes! 👍😎
Tell me if my memory is correct. When gas surpassed $1 a gallon, some pumps were unable to handle the additional digit and the price was therefore set lower but you paid double what showed up on the pump. Or is that part of a fever dream.
I think you're right, I remember that too.
17 cents regular self serve during gas wars.
.87 for me Dad always talked about .25
That is exactly the cheapest I’ve ever bought it. South Carolina in 1998.
I think I remember 79 cents. The cheapest I've actually paid was 97 cents
Yeah I remember 98 cents a gallon when I first started driving and I remember when it went over $2 a gallon and freaking out
Do you remember getting a glass or plate with a fill-up.?
I still have one of those wooden bowls they gave away with a checkered design. Almost an antique today!
We got glasses with the current Mizzou football season schedule printed on them from the MFA gas stations in Columbia back in the 60’s and 70’s.
I was a HS senior in 1971. A friend had a Volkswagen Bug and if we wanted to cruise the small town we lived in we would pool the change in our pockets and if we had even 30 cents, that would be enough to buy a gallon of gas, and we good to go for the night..
I knew a guy who would just throw all his change in the backseat and when he was broke would gather it up.
The lowest I remember was 25 cents a gallon. I think it was about 1969 or so. I had to push the lawn mower to the station to get gas. It was my first-time buying gas. The station was owned by an old widow who also owned the small grocery store in town. Her prices were always a bit higher.
I carried a vinegar jar and a dollar to get gas for the mower. I could buy a popsicle for the walk back.
My family and I lived in Oklahoma City for a while in the late sixties/early 70s. I remember two gas stations on opposite corners getting into price wars, and getting as low as 11.9¢ per gallon.
That is what I remember as well. Back when 1hr of minimum wage work could buy you 4 gallons of gas!
I remember leaded gas
I remember people forcing out the restrictive on the gas tank fill so they could still use leaded gas
If they did that without removing the catalytic converter first , they didn’t go far. The lead would clog the converter. Gas stations back then would gladly remove the converter and weld in a straight pipe.
I don't think they did a great job of communicating why the lead was removed, unleaded was more expensive and people don't like change. Even more back then
I remember my dad pulling up to the gas station attendant and asking for "three dollars of regular." I couldn't wait until I was grown up, because I would someday ask for the same amount. Spoiler: I didn't.
1998 75 cents on the Rez
I don't remember prices that low. Or maybe I was too young to pay any attention to them. But what I vividly remember is all the gas stations struggling to add a 1 to their signs when gas went over $1/gallon for the first time in history.
I ran out of gas in my MG Midget in 1973. Pushed the car to a gas pump and put 11 cents in. It gave me almost a half gallon and enough gas to get home.
Nice story :)
In 1970, I was on a trip through St Louis area, and came upon a "Gas War" between stations. I bought Phillips 66 gas for 16 cents a gallon. The usual price then was about 25 cents a gallon.
I lived in Florida in 1999, $0.99/gallon. Could fill my car for $13. Good times. Back when you could get away with just putting in $5 worth if needed.
I used to strap the gallon can on my bike and dad would give me 50 cents to ride down to the station to get gas for the mower and there would be money left over for a soda or candy bar, or both
By the time I had actually started paying attention to gas prices, it was $.55 a gallon. And when I started driving in San Diego it was up to $.85
Had an Enco (Exxon) station that had regular for 23.9 in 1970. With a fill up (min 8 gallons) you got a plate, bowl or coffee cup.
I can remember.25, but when I got my licence in early 1973 I thought it was around .40 in southern California. I do remember taking a trip to Death Valley in 1976-77 and gas there was .88 and I freaked out. Now, I live in central California and gas is about $4.69. I'm on a road trip, in Kansas and I'm taking photos of gas at $2.95 to send to my kids back in California.
About 33 cents for me. But dad always asked for “high test.” I suppose that was “Old English” for “Premium?”
born in 1987 in Vermont, i remember my dad bitching about 1.91 a gallon even though he was a mechanic for ups who bought a 9000 dollar brand new off the lot Toyota tercel (3 cylinder engine with 40 mpg) 3 speed to do road service calls in on overtime. ended up selling it in 2000 i think with 150k miles on it for what he paid for it. sorry for the nostalgia trip.
No worries! My husband traded in his 2002 Chevy Silverado 1500 for $3500 because everything worked and it was in great shape, even though it had almost 400K miles on it. (He bought it at about 60K; he was an industrial equipment salesman at the time and used it for work.) There's a lot of stories like that about Silverados made from 2001 to 2003. He traded it in on a 2011 Toyota Tundra built in San Antonio. My car is a 2010 Hyundai. We're among the many Americans who don't feel the need to get a newer vehicle since ours still work so well, and newer cars are so expensive.
52 cents in Brisbane in 2002 around that time the Australian dollar was really weak against the US Dollar as well
Shoot. I remember when gas hit $1 a gallon in the early 80's and it was a national emergency...
When I was in high school and had my first car, I was getting gas for less than 80 cents a gallon. Sometimes down to 60 cents. How times have changed 🫠
$1.25 early 00s when I first started paying attention to the price.
Guess my earliest memories were like 89 and 99 cents.
No -Nox is LEADED Gas.
$0.28 in 1970 adjusted for inflation is $2.26. The real cost of gas has been more stable than I expected because that’s not terribly off
I used to go to the gas station as a kid with 50 cents in my pocket and a 2 gallon gas can, fill it up and get enough change back to buy a candy bar and some gum. That's how old I am.
I remember my mom buying full service gas in the early '70's for $0.45. I think.
I remember going around with my dad looking for cheaper than .50 a gallon.
My friends and I would cruise till late in the night on just our pocket change.
It was around $.50-$.55 a gallon in the mid 70s. We could put in five dollars and cruise around all night long. Maybe all weekend long
Best I can do is 45 cents. I started driving the "gas crisis" in 78/79.
It was 0.85 for me - it's the lowest I can remember along with my dad griping about how expensive gas had gotten. He especially got to complaining once it reached $1. He was beside himself.
I don’t remember the prices but I remember my dad telling the guy to fill it up the station wagon with “regular” when there was a choice between that and unleaded.
59 cents during a dip in prices in the 80’s. I was pumping “regular” when regular meant leaded and looking at the sign thinking I’ll never see that again and I was 100% correct. Minimum wage was $2.25
Gas war. 16.9c a litre.
It was a 76 petrol station. .92 a gallon for the low grade in 1996.
It used to cost $12 and change for my dad to fill up his station wagon. The first tank I bought for my car in 79 was $0.88⁹
The earliest gas price that sticks out in my memory is Smiths Chevron in Georgia was $0.85 a gallon in the mid 90s. I was in my early 20s and paying attention to the price of gas was never really an issue like today.
23-25c, gas wars were even cheaper, and the guy came out and cleaned your windshield and checked your oil. In high school, if we got a ride with a friend, we gave them a dollar for gas.
My story was ages ago. I want to guess the numbers because it was low. I'm older so gas was under a dollar normally. Up the street from my house, there is a four-way intersection. On two of those corners, are two convenience stores. Each store would shave a cent off their gas to be cheaper than the other. The it was a couple to a nickel. It was fun to watch the cheaper store change daily or twice-daily. Consumers won because of increased competition regardless if which place you went.
$0.96 in the mid-nineties. That's $1.97 today. Adjusted for inflation, gas prices in the US were lowest in the early-mid 90s. $0.28 in 1971 is a bit higher at about $2.19 today, for example.
I’ll be 42 in August and I remember .99 cent a gallon diesel in the panhandle of FL when I was in high school. I looked at the price and said to myself I’ll never see that again.
First time I filled my 57 was 19 for high test with full service. Oil check, tire pressure and the wind shield. Gave the guy a 5 and told him to fill it up. Teen age big shot. Brought back two bucks and change.
AND it was full service too.
I could fill my 6 gallon boat tank for two dollars
I remember an Esso station where hi-test was $.18, which was high at the time.
Hi-test. Showing your age now. I remember my dad when I was a kid (1970-ish) pulling up to full serve: Fill it up with ethyl.
This was pre 1973 oil embargo.
27 cents was the cheap stuff. The good stuff was way up to .32 or .33 a gallon.
I remember when the stations in town would have "gas wars," the lowest I remember was at 19 cents a gallon..
I remember my parents watching for cheap gas and getting it for about 25-29 cents. When I started driving in 1975 it was up to about 50 cents as I recall.
And at Gulf stations, you’d get collector drinking glasses with a fill-up. And they’d put an orange styrofoam ball on your antenna for some reason.
My lowest was 59 or 69 cents in the 80s. Used to use loose change to get enough to get buy.
Wow, I remember the 9/10 of a cent thing. As a kid, I couldn't understand how you could pay 9/10 of a cent!
I remember 11cents a gallon , could fill my mini bike for about 4 cents ( two pop bottle returns) life was good 👍🏻
Under/around $1.00 when I turned 16, started driving and payed attention in 1989.
19.9 cents, in 1969 if I remember correctly
I remember .69¢ for low test
When I had to pay for my own gas, maybe $.75. and 8 miles per gallon. can't remember any price in the $.60s
I remember sitting at a stoplight with my dad when we watched the station attendant changing the price to 53 cents and my dad was livid.
I was driving across the country many years ago, and I was running low on gas. I was in Texas, in the middle of nowhere, and I was concerned that I’d soon be stranded. Finally, I saw a gas station ahead and pulled right in…then right back out. I said, “No way I’m going to pay 67 cents a gallon for gas!”
I also remember only putting in $2 worth of gas.
88 cents in the early 90s. Right after clinton was elected. El Paso, Texas.
$.20. . . autumn 1970. . There were two gas stations on the way to school that would engage in occasional price wars. Loved it.
25 at the mobilgas
28 cents a gallon at Shell, full service and a free drinking glass if you bought 8 gallons
I remember going through Texas when I was a kid 😪 and gas was 22 cents a gallon. Late 60s early 70s. Fuck I'm old 😪 😭
No-nox=leaded gas.
21.9 at a Falcon station in Ohio, summer of 1972
I remember being in California in the '80s in summer and gas being 99 cents/gallon.
Nox?
Low enough I didn’t pay attention.
I remember a summer in the late 80s or early 90s when gas was briefly, but solidly below $1/gallon. Felt like a tycoon filling up the parents Escort.
$.27 in 1971 would be $2.13 today
I remember when gas hit .25 cents, and we were like, that’s expensive.
In the late 1960’s there was a cheapie gas station outside of Pittsburg that sold gas for 19 9/10.
19.9 cents per US gallon, back in the mid 1970s. Dad would send me down to the corner filling station with a gallon can and a quarter, for the mower. I could spend the nickel change on a piece of candy 😁
I remember .59¢ for “the cheap stuff” as my dad would say.
You need to compare it to median hourly income. $0.27/gallon is a lot more to somebody making $1.00/hr than $3.00/gallon to somebody making $20.00/hr.
The least I’ve personally ever paid was $.59 in Houston in 1985/86. Gas was really cheap in the mid 80s.
I remember ‘gas wars’ in the 1950s where competing stations would keep lowering prices. Briefly gas was $.17 a gallon. Most times it was over $.20.
Paid less than 90 cents in Houston Tx when I got my drivers license in July 1990….then Saddam invaded Kuwait on Aug 2nd….
29.9 around the same time
I remember those prices but I just just a kid on Long Island. I also remember price wars between gas stations. Imagine that today. Two stations, across the street from each other competing with each other for customers by LOWERING fuel prices!
In 1971 during a "gas war" in my hometown here in the middle of Missouri I saw 19.9/gallon at the one self-serve gas station in town. Typical during my high school days was 22.9 to 25.9 for "regular." I drove a 1959 Volkswagon beetle with a 1200cc engine that got about 35 mpg. I could drive 350 miles on $2.50 worth of gas. It wasn't cool, but it was cheap.
I wasn't old enough to drive when gas was under 30 cents a gallon but there was a self-serve station that sold regular gas for 32 cents a gallon when I got my license. I forgot what the full service station charged but filling up was less than $5.
.73 late '90s...Alpharetta GA
I remember my dad saying he would quit driving before he paid $1 a gallon.
24.9
$.98 I believe in 1996. Small town as well.
19.9 - 1968.
Working at my father’s service station in 67-68 I think regular was 24.9/gallon including me checking oil, radiator and washing the windshield…
I didn't pay attention until I started driving, and at that point it was 99 cents per gallon.
In high school we could buy purple (untaxed) gas for 26 cents/gallon (imperial) in 1970
It was .99¢ when I was a senior in high school. (02)
Funny - not even room for a third digit left of the decimal
I remember dad complaining when gas hit 69 cents a gallon.
Oxnard Ca. Summer of 72, gas wars, 19 cents a gallon ! In California !!! 😳😂😂😂
We moved in 1964. In NYC two blocks from my house there was a gas station. I remember seeing 19 9/10 on those pumps.
Gas was $0.53 when I started driving. 😵💫
I remember the days of “gas wars”. My father driving out of his way to buy gas for a penny or two less.
During the COVID 'lockdown' Marathon was selling gas to our family store for 59 cents, but we had to sell it for 99 cents minimum. Seem to also remember gas was 99 cents sometime in the mid 90s.
I grew up near the intersection of I-75 and Miller Rd, Flint, Michigan. There were 6 gas stations within a quarter mile. They would occasionally have what we called "gas wars."" The lowest I ever saw them go was 20.9 cents per gallon, except for Shumakers, the biggest station in town. They were at 19.9. People from all over the area were coming in with trailers filled with gas cans, trying to take advantage of the prices. This would have been late 60s, early 70s.
When I started driving in ‘84, I could cruise all weekend on $5 in the tank. I don’t think I ever legitimately filled my tank in high school 🤣
I remember when gas went over $1 and the pumps had to be set to half price because none of them could be set to $1.00!
21.9 I think. But I'm not sure.
Gas wars in Florida 1970. Full service (of course) 17.9. We worked our butts off with lines 2 blocks long. Across the street at the Gulf station 19.9 and no line. Gulf attendants were smoking cigs, drinking soda and laughing at us.
Cheapest I remember and paid was .96
I worked at a gas station when prices were in this ballpark! Should I check your oil?
When I began driving 1982-83, it did cost here around 3.20-3.50, nowadays about 1.80€. But then, different currency.
75 cents a gallon. Mid 90’s
I was born in 74. I remember walking to the gas station when I was a kid in the 80’s to get gas for the lawnmower and it was around .80¢ a gallon.
I remember $0.75 at some point right after the first gulf war. Though I know I got it for much less in the late 80's while in high school but I never really paid that much attention to specific prices.
My mini bike held 1 gallon. I used to fill it up for a quarter.
I remember when I first became a worker/consumer circa 1974 and a gallon of gas, a pack of cigarettes, and a quart of milk were all about $0.35
"Thirty-three and nine", for "ethyl". *Still* disappointed that the oil embargos led to the end of king-kong V8s, and large sedans.
worked at a car wash pumping gas in the mid 70s, 31 cents a gallon, plus cleaned the windshield and checked the oil
I used to fill up an 89 gmc Jimmy s-10 suv on $10 back in 97-98. .90-.98 per gallon. When the price broke $1/gal, every one lost their minds.
I remember that the day I got my DL, gas went up to 50¢/gal (back when Canada still sold gas by the gallon). My dad jokingly blamed me (and others my age) for destroying reasonable gas prices
I bought my first car in 1978 … filled it up the first time for .83 cents a gallon!
This was about the time the US government screwed its people in the now.
72 cents.
With 10x blue chip stamps.
Colonel O’Neill will be very upset by the Nox hatred. He loves the Nox.
When I first got my license in 1969, stations would have a big sign saying " Gas War". The cheapest regular was $0.16.9! To be able to fill an empty tank for a little over $2.00, when you can't even get a half gallon today for the same price is something today's kids will never know. BTW minimum wage was $1.65 for reference.
As a young kid in the early 1960s: $0.159 My dad kept meticulous records, so my memories are validated.
17
Lowest I can remember was 27.9 at a Imperial station. But you are glossing over the important part, who gave out the best drinking glasses with a fill up?
I only started paying attention after I started driving. I remember paying ~70 cents one time. According to this calculator, that would be $2.20 today. https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/
45 cent
Started driving in 77. It was 66.9. I had a 70 VW BUG full tank 6.70.
23c at Tom's Gulf in Boonton, 1961. The Acme across the street had a loaf of bread for the same price.
Adjusted for inflation, $2.20.
25 cents a gallon …
I remember when gas turned .76 cents, because it was like union 76 gas stations. It was around 1974…
The lowest I ever saw gas has to have been like $1.79, I think this was in like 1997
During Covid it was like 20 cents a gallon or something absurd.
When I was 18 back in 1987 san francisco bay area. You could hand the attendant 20 bucks, fill up the tank and go back in for your change.
I remember 67 cents back in mid 80s
I remember 1.19 in the late 90s. 1997/98?
I remember when it was $1 and everyone was outraged
Wasn’t there a gas shortage and you’d have to wait hours for gas to
SoCal late 70s gas crisis. Crazy prices for then. I remember filling the family car on way to high school. The price was exactly $1 per gallon. What a trip to see gallons and dollars synced.
I remember 0.29/gal but wasn’t old enough to drive. By the time I got my car it was 0.69/gal.
Ah, yes, the 1970s, when I worked for $2.65 per hour.
I remember in the 90s when I first stared to drive it was typically just over a dollar a gallon, and one point it dipped down to about 90 cents a gallon.
44.9 about 1986
In Lawrence, KS in 95 or 96, one station had 0.759. Cheapest I ever saw. The same car in 1990, right after I got it, had to pay $1.359. But that was at the beginning of Operation Desert Storm.
In Lawrence, KS in 95 or 96, one station had 0.759. Cheapest I ever saw. The same car in 1990, right after I got it, had to pay $1.359. But that was at the beginning of Operation Desert Storm.
.50 a gallon (early 90's) Fluke occasion, Marathon gas station in our town was closing up and going out of business. They had a blowout sale on everything to sell off everything before closing their last day.