I really remember when...

In my teens, I had an old station wagon that my dad bought for $100 from a neighbor so that I could ferry my younger sisters around after school to various activities, as my mother had gone back to work.

It had a huge V-8 engine and guzzled gas like there was no tomorrow.

Thank goodness gas was 25 cents a gallon. My friends and I would "cruise" on Friday nights for hours. Everyone had to pitch in a quarter for gas.
 

I don't think I remember 30 cent gas, but fairly certain I remember 40 cent gas. Hurts my head to try to remember that far back! When I cleaned out my parents belongings I found an old mortgage payment book, and if I remember correctly, their house mortgage cost was $64 a month.
 
Zardoz56! said:
Do you remember way back when gas for cars sold for less than 30 cents a gallon and a pack of smokes was less than 50 cents a pack. A day at the movies cost just 50 cents.
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It was much the same in the UK. Metrification has been forced upon us so that fuel is sold in litres not gallons. We see pump prices adertised at £1.40, but that's for a litre. If we still had imperial measures that pump price would be around £6.00. Six pounds is what we pay, half of it is tax, but when it's sold at £1.40, doesn't seem so bad, does it? By the way, that £6 in Uncle Sam's shekels is $8.10
 
I
horseless carriage said:
It was much the same in the UK. Metrification has been forced upon us so that fuel is sold in litres not gallons. We see pump prices adertised at £1.40, but that's for a litre. If we still had imperial measures that pump price would be around £6.00. Six pounds is what we pay, half of it is tax, but when it's sold at £1.40, doesn't seem so bad, does it? By the way, that £6 in Uncle Sam's shekels is $8.10
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remember even tho' I was only 11/12.. that petrol was 5/- a gallon.... there was an esso garage opposite our house so we could see always the price being displayed

5/- for those who don't know was the british currency before Decimilisation.. and equivelent to 25 pence today.... and as you say HC... that equvilent has now risen.. so that we pay the US equivelent of over $8 US dollars per gallon... one of the most expensive places in the world for petrol

Someone on this forum once said to me that they didn't believe we could have any cars on our roads due to the high price of petrol... they coulddn't believe it when I told them our roads are chocka-block...despite the fact the minimum wage here is so low...
 
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HoneyNut said:
I don't think I remember 30 cent gas, but fairly certain I remember 40 cent gas. Hurts my head to try to remember that far back! When I cleaned out my parents belongings I found an old mortgage payment book, and if I remember correctly, their house mortgage cost was $64 a month.
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Yes, I think my parent's mortgage was similar, and I have a copy of my grandmother's 1965 homeowners insurance policy. There's a receipt with it showing that she paid $95 for 5 years of coverage.
 
I remember being broke and riding my motorcycle from NYC to Vermont. Low on gas, 2:00 am, pulled of the interstate in Hartford Conn. and there were 4 gas stations at the 4 way intersection. (none open). Just went to each gas nozzle and triggered it. They would spill out a wee bit of gas. By the time I hit the last one, the bike tank was full and I was off. :)
 
Beezer said:
I went to the movie theatre about 20 years ago and ordered a regular coke and a regular popcorn...$10.80! I can't imagine what the prices are now at these venues...haven't been to a flick in many years.
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I took two of the Littles to a movie several weeks ago that they couldn't liiiiive without seeing and it was $43 for the three of us.

I told them DON'T EVEN LOOK at the concession stand.
 
JBR said:
Indeed.;)

That was a while back! I wasn't driving yet.
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I was only just born in 1960. I certainly don’t remember that. I had to look it up. I started smoking after I left home and it wasn’t cigarettes. My husband started smoking cigarettes when he was 13 and his parents bought them for him. 😱
 
Deya said:
I remember 19.9 cents a gallon.
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I was just going to write about that, Deya. Gas was real cheap back in the '50s, but with the frequent "gas wars", you'd often see it down at 19 cents. I recall my dad almost always told the gas attendant to give him "a couple of bucks". $2 would damn near fill the tank! And attendants filled the gas, washed your windshield and checked your oil!

I can't remember when self service gas stations started coming in. Was it in the '60s?
 

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