I was wondering what the gas prices were in the earlier years that you are modeling? I am modeling in about 1976 and would like to know where I could find out how much gasoline was back then. I need to change the sign in front of the convenece store. Thanks Mike
As I recall, gas prices in my part of Canada reached $1/gallon in the mid-1970’s. When I started driving in 1960, gas was about 33 cents/gallon.
Well, if I was to model the fifties like I have thought about so many times, gas would run around 20 to 25 cents per gallon.[C):-)]
I graduated from high school in 1975 and remember the gas station across the street from the school was selling regular for 27.9 cents per gallon. On weekends, four of us would each chip in a buck and go cruising around all weekend in my friends car.
Don Z.
Fall of 1974 was the first oil price crisis. Until then gas had gradually risen from the 20s (20-29 cents/gal) in the '50s and '60s to the low 30s in the early '70s. 1974 saw gas rationing, even/odd days, gas lines miles long, 50 MPH speed limits, and at least 75 cent gas (when you could get it). I think it eventually broke the 1$ mark that winter. I think (memory is getting old) that it dropped back to 50-75 cents /gallon in 1975.
Hope this helps.
Fred W
I think I remember 52-59 cents, either in 1975 or 76 cars started using unleaded gas.
I don’t remember seeing a convience store for a few years after that.
Most of the gas stations were just gas with a one bay gargage for oil changes and a few tires.
Also gas stations were still full service back then, check the oil and clean the windshield.
Wow I feel old saying that.
Using “1976 gas prices” and “inflation calculator” in Google searches, the 1974 price of gas was approximately .329 per gallon. The 1975 aaverage price was .429 per gallon. In 1978, it was .519 per gallon. Not until 1979-1981 did the price top a dollar gallon, ultimately averaging $1.259.
I remember the '79 to '81 rise very well. 1978-79 was my junior year in high school and I was considering buying a '79 Trans Am. My dad asked me if I really wanted to buy such a gas guzzler when gas was probably going to be a dollar a gallon. I considered his sage advice for about a minute and bought the car anyway. I spent the next 2 years working at Piggly Wiggly in the mornings before school and afternoons after school to pay for the car and the gas that it burned. But I never regretted buying the car and working hard to have something nice.
Jay
Atta boy. My first car was an old 1977 Cadillace Sedan DeVille. I’m a big man and I need my room in a car. My current car is a 1996 Ford T-Bird LX. I’d rather pay the extra and own something nice than buy a cavalier or a neon and look like a dork.
Fred,
No, I think your memeory serves you pretty well. I lived in Illinois at that time, and you have got everything in perspective there. Then, remeber allocations with the second so-called gas shortage of '79? It’s all B.S. if you ask me. And some of the stations that did have gas charged $4.00/gallon. It was just amazing. The guy would stand out at the pump with a notepad, because the machines wouldn’t register that high- pump a gallon, write it down, pump another gallon, and so on. Talk about the embarrasment that went on…
All of this oil biz is ONE BIG SCAM, but nobody wants to wake up to the reality of the whole thing.
In 1973 I had a turkey (1973 Chevrolet Malibu with a 350 V-8) which burned Ethyl/Hi-Test/Premium. This was running about 34-35 cents a gallon. A year later most Ethyl/Hi-Test/Premium was approaching or exceeding 80 cents a gallon. Regular was running 4-5 cents cheaper.
By the spring of 1975 when I got rid of turkey and bought a decent car (Toyota Corolla station wagon) regular (leaded) was at about 79-80 cents a gallon. I remember a year later (Summer of '76) regular had eased up above 85 cents a gallon. I don’t remember encountering my first $1.00 a gallon gasoline until I came back from the Azores in the spring of 1978.
So, regular gasoline went from about 30 cents a gallon in 1973 to 85 cents a gallon in 1976 to almost $1.00 a gallon in 1978. My hot-smoking calculator tells me that was an average of 26% per year; but it went up a whopping 165% in the year 1973-74.
1976 I was in Germany, but I remember the Stars and Stripes (US newspaper) said gas in the US was averaging between 85 and 90 cents a gallon. It was higher than that in Germany, I can tell you.
In the 70’s, the size of the station varied to the kind of business they did. Some Clark stations had no service bay, but the gas guy would come by & make change for your $20. Others may have a 2 to 3 bay, one for tires, batterery & one for oil changes. Some stations made their money repairing or replacing tires. The Sears catalog was a great place to look for auto parts.
I think it would depend on what part of country you are modeling. Huge difference between, say, Wyoming and California. Population. Here in Wyoming it was around 40-50 cents.