Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Rember gas wars?

I remember gas wars where prices teetered around $.179 & $.189. A high school buddy had an old Chevy we cruised around in. A car full of us guys would dig into our pockets & pool our change to buy gas. We would drive around to the wee-hours just like in the old American Graffiti movie.

I remember the gas wars..... .19 cents was as low as I can remember. As a kid, I do remember Dad telling the service station attendant (remember them), $5 worth or fill it up, which ever comes first.

It's tough to conduct a gas war here these days, it is legislated that gas prices cannot drop below a certain point (a percentage over cost). This was done to prevent large companies with vast/varied resources from undercutting smaller and independent stations thereby driving the smaller stations out of business. The exceptions were private "buying clubs" such as Costco where one's membership offered lower prices. It also seemed to lead to the prevalence of gas perks cards at traditional gas stations to further lower prices.

The lowest price I recall paying was 43 cents but that was around the end of the oil embargo. Prior to that I filled up from the bulk tank on the farm and there was no price listed.

Pepperidge Farm Rembers....

Lowest price of gas in my memory is .19 cents.

It was a good country once............

Amarillo was famous for gas wars between independent station operators. Can remember the sign in front of a station advertising .07 a gallon ~1957.

Paid .10/gallon back in the 60s while living in Ft Worth.

IIRC, gas was .39 cents a gallon when I got my license in 1974.
It went to $1.00 a gallon right after I graduated HS in 1978.
I can remember it being .29 cents a gallon before that when buying gas for my dirt bikes / motorcycle.

I remember gas lines and rationing in the 70's. I was just a kid back then...

I'm thinkin I saw it as low as 5 cents at the Horn Stations during the "Gas Wars"

i was a kid then also... but, the Gas shortage was fake... at least in Wi anyway... brother owned an old gas station in Milwaukee during the rationing... the local petroleum distributor rented his empty under ground tanks to store gasoline, and did same with empty tanks all over the city/state... all this while people waited in long lines payin' thru the nose for a few gallons at a time... bro used all we needed at wholesale price...

I remember 11.9/ gallon. RZ.

The outfit I hauled gas for was always a penny under their competitors. When the old man started the company, it took some wars for them to understand that was how it would be.
The wars weren't real painful, 3 outfits had a cartel. The owners met for breakfast and set that weeks prices on all liquid fuel.
So when the new guy opened, the margins were faaatttttt.


Fast forward 25 years.
I'm working for them when the station across the road from one of ours get froggy for some reason. And the prices drop, and drop.
Pretty soon we are selling for a dime under rack price. Losing 10 cents on the product, not counting costs.

My boss at that time was a cagey guy, and he also oversaw the garage and tow company. Not the stations though them losing money was pissing him off.

"From now on, every time a wrecker or any of our signed trucks leaves here, you go over there and buy gas from the competition.
IDGAF if it only hold 5 gallons. Buy from them! If they want to sell it cheaper than we can buy it, I'm buying off them while they are losing money."

It ended before the end of the next day.

We had a Humble, a Sunoco, a Gulf, 2 Texacos, a Phillips 66, a SOHIO and a Shell station all in one 2 mile stretch. Mom preferred Gulf in her Buick roadboat. The Gulf station also gave Top Value stamps and nice glasses. There are still a few in the cupboard. With 8 gallons you also got a free carwash. This was summer of 1969.

I remember gas getting down below $.20/gal. It didn't take long for the whole thing to fall apart. The Humble station went first. That building stayed empty until the 2000s. It's now a burger joint. The Gulf station was gone by the early 70s. One Texaco is a Valvoline Oil Change the other was torn down and became a superfund site. The Phillips station became a plant nursery. The SOHIO became a BP. The Sunoco is a convenience store, but it sells gas. About the only one that's still there is the Shell. It still does full service.

Lowest I remember was 17.9 cents/gal. Back when a buck was still silver....

It seems that WI gas stations all pretty much have the same “fixed” price in most locations. In other words every gas station in one town has the same price as every other station in town. Gas prices may vary from town to town, but it seems like each town location has a “coordinated & fixed” price. At least that was my observation from going up to the north woods area on fishing trips every spring and fall. it may not be that way now but that’s what I noticed back then several years ago. In Georgia it’s completely different, practically every gas station has a different gas price. Speaking of gas wars I remember $.22 a gallon & $.24 a gallon making a big difference on where customers filled up.

They used to pay us thirteen cents a gallon to fill our Studebakers.

Sorry, Thought this was about Beans vs. Cabbage vs. Deviled eggs.

When I was a kid and we drove to Florida there were gas wars in Georgia. They had clowns out by thr road waiving people in. Giving away bags of
Potatoes etc. 19.9 cents a gallon if I remember correctly.

Ron

Back in the late 60's, you could cruise the square all Sunday afternoon on $3 worth of gas.
Good old days!
Minimum wage was .75/hr!