How Much Did Gas Cost When You First Started Driving?

[THUNDER HANDS]

I remember it being around $1.09 or so back in 1996 when I started.

[Droopy]

1. Somewhere around a buck a gallon in '88

It will depend on where you live. I remember seeing gas prices in California of about $1.35 a gallon about the same time I started driving and I thought that was outrageous.

[MountainLaurel]

5. Same here.

Depending on where you bought your gas, you could get it for 95 cents a gallon in '89 and even into '95 or so.

[Ptah]

2. I remember $0.25/ gallon when I was in high school.

[yellowdogintexas]

14. same here. A dollars worth would last a while, that's for sure nt

[Ptah]

25. At the time, my father had a new 1967 Chrysler 300 with the 440 cu in, four barrel.

How did I live through that?

[dmr]

69. Same here, and 19 cents, full service & a glass during gas station wars

Nearly a gas station on every corner, it seemed.

[KeepItReal]

3. Less than a dollar a gallon in Louisiana in 1989

(eom)

[SacredCow]

40. Hey- we were neighbors (maybe)!

I graduated from HS in Baton Rouge 1989

[flvegan]

4. $0.95 in 1987.

Wow, I've been driving for over 20 years. Now I feel old.

[KG]

6. 58 cents in '77, soon went up to .75

then there was the embargo in '79 and gas went to 1.25!

[whistler162]

58. I am watching CHIPS(Season 1) which came

out the same year I started driving in 77' and one show had 60 cents a gallon.

[Connonym]

7. 35 to 45 cents a gallon I think

I'm bad at math but I'm thinking that I could probably fill up for an hour's worth of wages. Today it takes 4 hours wages to fill up the tank. What's wrong with this picture?

[Reverend_Smitty]

8. It was about a buck or so in the begining of 2001 when I started...

and then shortly after it spiked up like mad...wonder why...

[Ikonoklast]

9. The least I've ever paid was $0.29

God, I'm old.

I used to work p/t at a Union 76 station, just so I'd be able to use their third bay to work on my car, when I wanted to.

Whenever the bell rang when a car drove over the pneumatic line, I would stop what I was doing, ask the driver "Regular or High-Test?", check the oil, clean the windshield, and check the air pressure in the tires.

After pumping the gas, I'd ask "Cash or charge?", and either swipe their charge card (we only accepted Union 76 cards back then, no bank cards) or fished their change out my pocket on a roll of bills I carried from the cash drawer, finish the transaction and give them their Green Stamps.

If you had a car that took over ten dollars to fill the tank, it was a Caddie.

[sasquatch]

10. $.99 a gallon

[MilesColtrane]

11. I'm so old, we actually had to make our own gas.

You killed a dinosaur, then buried it deep, then waited. The hardest part was the waiting.

[Critters2]

28. We'd jump up and down on the dinosaur hole a lot.

That sped up the process.

[Cant trust em]

62. I've just been using this thread for the funniest "I'm so old..." jokes.

This one's pretty solid.

[ScreamingMeemie]

12. 0.76 a gallon in 1986...Michigan

[MichiganVote]

13. .50 cents a gallon. Eat your hearts out.

[Initech]

15. $1.19 when I got my license in 98.

[DarkTirade]

16. I first got my permit in '97, I believe

and it was still close to that amount. Got my license in 2000, and it was still less than 1.50 a gallon at most places.

[taterguy]

17. Innocents slaughtered in senseless oil wars

Which unfortunately has been the cost of gas as long as I've been driving

[BrotherBuzz]

18. 29.9 cents for premium

I have no idea what regular sold for because I was running a 312 Cubic Inch Ford Thunderbird Special that liked high octane.

[femmocrat]

38. Ah yes.... and you would get a free glass with a fill-up!

I still have some of those glasses! LOL

[Rhythm]

19. The first time i filled my dad's car up (after borrowing it)in 1984, gas was about $.75/gal

I still knew a few places where i could fill up for 99₵/gal in Charlotte in 1995.

We haven't had a car since last October, and in my bus-rides, i really hadn't looked too closely at the exponentially rising gas prices around here; when the car died, gas was fluctuating between $3.15 - $3.25. Yesterday, my jaw hit the floor as we were heading over to a friend's house, and i saw the sign at the corner gas station -- $3.99/gal!!
:wow::wtf::wow:

[halobeam]

51. We went up 25 more cents overnight. It's now 4.30/gal self serve

long island NY

[Rhythm]

68. Yikes! But a slightly off-topic question...

I didn't know there was anywhere in NY that DID self-service... when did that happen?

[dmr]

70. I lived on LI from 2001-2006, and all during that time we

could request self-serve; but most stations had attendants. But unlike South Florida and Michigan, (past and present residences) you would be hard pressed to find a full-service station.

[Rhythm]

71. I visited NY a zillion times in the '90s, and lived in Utica in '99

And i was always amazed that i didn't have to 'do it myself'... always a good thing, since i am something of a klutz and would always end up with gas on my hand or my shoe.

By that time, the 'full service' stations has long since gone on the endangered species list in Charlotte NC (where i grew up), except for an occasional station still operating a mechanical garage, but those were a rarity, and always overpriced.

[Pierre.Suave]

20. I remember it being right around a buck a gallon

maybe just a bit less at times. This was back in 1993-1994.

[Fox Mulder]

21. About $1.60/gallon in 2000.

Those were the good ol' days.

[DS1]

22. .97

[texanwitch]

23. I was farm kid so learn to drive early, around eight years old.

That would have been 1961, pretty damn cheap.

My Grandfather had a above ground gas tank on the farm, just drive up and fill up.

[lizziegrace]

24. 65 cents/gallon in 1977 n/t

[Oeditpus Rex]

26. We were paid to fill up

I put myself through clown college one summer by going to gas stations.



O' course, tuition at clown college back then was only eight cents per year.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

78. Your post is so silly

And I just can't stop laughing.

Thanks .........

[KitchenWitch]

27. around $0.609 a gallon in 1980

[Mojambo]

29. Just over a dollar.

Stayed there for a while.

[Trailrider1951]

30. Summer of 1968

I took driver's ed, given to students FREE, just sign up for it. Gas was 0.33 per gallon at the brand names, Humble (now Exxon), Sunoco, Standard (now Amoco or BP). If you went to the cheap stations, i.e. Certified, it was 0.28 per gallon. While we're at it, my Mom would give me a dollar and tell me, "Go to the store, buy a half gallon of milk (0.59), a loaf of bread (0.25), and BRING ME BACK THE CHANGE". Good Gawd, our money is worth nothing these days. Oh, and money back then was real silver (90%). The coins they mint today looks (and spends) like play money!

[laconicsax]

31. $1.20 in 1999

My friends and I used to play car-tag for hours because gas was so cheap. Now, near where I live, it's $4.15/gallon. A price that magically appeared Friday afternoon after holding steady at around $3.85 for weeks. I can't think of anything this weekend that would cause gas prices to just spontaneously jump like that.

[last_texas_dem]

39. That's about what I remember

Got my license in '99, and I think I remember it being as low as $1.09 at the time I started driving. The summer after my senior year (first summer with Bush as Pres.) was the first "really" high gas prices that I can remember. Those were nothing compared to what has come over the last three or four years...

[GirlinContempt]

32. Hard to believe

but I've never driven in my life.

[nomorenomore08]

33. I got my license in March of '01. It was probably less than $1.50 at that point, even in the SF area

I don't exactly remember.

[Bennyboy]

34. 39 cents if I remember.

in 1970.

[fizzgig]

35. $.96/gallon in 1997

i miss watching the gallons go up faster than the money

[ThatsMyBarack]

36. About 99 cents a gallon (late 1989).

Of course, I drove a mile or so to the "cheap gas" station to get it! ;)

[SOteric]

37. Bah! Gas was for wussies back when I was a kid.

We just roped our crude, wooden sleds to the back of a wolley mammoth and waited until we hit the downslope of a glacier.

[DS1]

54. What's a Wolley Mammoth?

:P

[SOteric]

72. My Bad. That's a typo.

I meant to write "Woolery."

[DeepBlueC]

41. I remember 29

Or 29/9. For some reason gas was sold in units of 9/10 of a gallon...or at least that's what my mom told me when I asked what that meant. Does anyone know if it is true? Anyway, I could NOT fit 5 bucks worth of gas into my VW bug. That was in 1971.

[Kutjara]

42. Nothing.

I got my first license in Saudi Arabia when my dad was working there. Gas was free in The Kingdom in the late 70s. You just drove up to the gas station, picked the nozzle up off the ground where the previous user had carelessly dropped it, stepped over the puddle of fuel, and filled up. They finally had to start charging something like five cents a gallon for it, just to stop people from using it to kill weeds in their gardens, light off bonfires in the desert, and generally just spray it around the place.

[krispos42]

45. Holy shit

:wow:

<sob>

[vixengrl]

79. I know--that scenario is going to mess with my head

for a long time. Like public gas fountains in Shangri-la, or something.

And people played about with it--man, I'll think about that when I'm pawning the silverware.

[Nevernose]

57. Except for the money part, you've just described East Texas

At least where I grew up.

[Kutjara]

60. I think the only difference between Texas and Saudi at that time...

...was that there were fewer Texans in Texas. ;)

[triguy46]

43. When I got my license in '68 it was around 32 cents...

but the lowest I've ever paid was 19 cents in the summer of 1970 during a gas war in KC. I'm not sure today's new drivers will ever see a 'gas war' except the one in iraq.

[krispos42]

44. $1.19, I think

Connecticut in 1994. I remember I could fill up the tank of my car (1987 Thunderbird) when the needle was on the 'E' mark for about $20. That car had a 22-gallon gas tank, too. The "E" mark was about 6 gallons left. It had a friggin' HUGE reserve!

Came in handy for more than a couple of close calls, that's for sure. I think the most I ever put into is at once was 21 gallons :scared:


I liked that car a lot. Got 27mpg on one trip! Towards the end, though, with 250,000 on the odometer it wouldn't get past about 16 mpg.

[LucyParsons]

46. Same here - about $1.09 in 1995

nt

[laylah]

47. It was $.23 when I drove to

St. Louis in 1968! Bill wasn't around to blame THEN! :rofl:

[malta blue]

48. I remember it as low as $0.79 in 1991.

:mad:

[tigereye]

49. I wanna say less than 50 cents, since the gas shortages of the mid-70s

drove it up to 50 cents per gallon and there were gas lines. People were outraged. It was probably around 40 cents per gallon or something before than happened when I got my license...

[hiaasenrocks]

50. I think somewhere around 85-90 cents. Late 1980s.

[bertha katzenengel]

52. I don't remember, but I started driving in 1979, So. California. n/t

[EFerrari]

77. The site I'm checking says .86 in 1979.

I started in '72, and it was around .55 -- I could fill up my car for a little more than $3.00! :crazy:

[harmonicon]

53. 90 some cents

That was in '94 and '95. Some times it was a buck, and other times it was as low as 80 some cents.

[fortyfeetunder]

55. 1980 $1.30

I settled for taking the bus many a day.

[Alexander]

56. About $1.30/gallon back in 1999-2000.

And I thought that was expensive.

[Mz Pip]

59. About 25 cents a gallon

I remember nearly running out of gas and putting a quarters worth in. 1967.

[WCGreen]

61. We just talked about it today....

About .349 and cigs were about .45...

Smoke and drove around alot...

[Cant trust em]

63. My pa taught me how to drive on our ol' Mule, Bessie.

The only "gas" I e'er heard of was what I was smellin' out of Bessie's south end, I reckon.

(I'm doing my best Walter Huston impression here)

[grannylib]

64. About $.75 if I remember right...I know we were all shocked and

pissed off when it got up to $.99 in the mid-to-late '70s.
I remember "gas wars" between stations when I was a kid, and a gallon getting as low as $.10. Sheesh.

[Skittles]

65. around .40 - .45 a gallon n/t

[Lasher]

66. We still used the barter system back then

I think you could get three gallons of regular for one beaver pelt.

[DFW]

67. Around 35 cents

Does that date me or what? We had to dodge saber-toothed tigers and
woolly mammoths on the rural roads in those days...........

[Blue_In_AK]

73. About a quarter a gallon...

That was back in the Dark Ages. If there was a gas war going on, we could sometimes get it for .19.

Now, THAT'S depressing.

[Sheets of Easter]

74. I got my first car in 1998. Gas was at an all-time low.

Compounded with the fact that a local gas station waged a pretty serious price war at the time, I remember paying as little as 89 cents on one particular occasion. No joke.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

75. $1.15 in 1997

15 bucks filled up my '89 Camry and it's 16 gallon tank. Now it costs 30 plus to fill up my Civic's 12 gallon tank.

[SPKrazy]

76. They paid me to put it in my car, that's how long ago it was! n/t

[vixengrl]

80. My hubby filled my tank and I paid nothin' (sike)

Um, I started driving about the time you did, and I actually did have a man-of-the house who filled my tank, so I wasn't paying careful attention to the damage--but $1.09-ish seems right. It was still under two bucks a gallon when I went home to my folks and had to get fills on my own. As of 2002, I was getting a fill-up for $20 and still sometimes got change back. With a little Ford Escort.

My last trip to the gas bar was a $36 tab--in a Honda Civic. My next one will be one of those hybrid deals, I do suspect.