70's Gas crunch question!

[2fast4u]

   Okay all you guys out there that are old enough to remember and hopefully have a good memory.   Back in the 70's there was the gas crunch that I first remember as a young boy.  Didn't really care about gas prices 'cause I was still ridin' my stingwray.  My question is...does anybody remember what the gas price was before we had the "so called" gas shortage and what the price went up to?

   I am curious to know what all happened back then...why? and so on!  Any information would be welcome.

2fast

                                                                       

[PocketThunder]

some old ( i mean older ofcourse) guys at work today were saying that they remember when gas was $0.23 a gallon and there was gas wars going on with the station across town being $0.21 a gallon....  and most cars had a 11 gallon tank so it only cost what $2.53 to fill it up!  but i was just a shot in the sheets back then so this info is second hand.

[2fast4u]

Thanks Thunder!

[Troy]

Adjusted for inflation, I think gas is still cheaper than in 1980-1981. Let me see what I can dig up though.

Troy

[Brock Samson]

wasn't there a thread on this very subject three weeks ago?...

[Bluebeast]

I don't know about the prices because I was just a youngin' but I remember having odd and even days depending on your license plate. You could only get gas on the days that correlated to your plate number and its corresponding odd or even number (don't know which number had to be odd or even, maybe the last one??). Anyway, I remember sitting in my mom's Datsun B210 in a long line,waiting to get gas.

[694spdRT]

It was bad enough my dad converted his truck over to LP gas.

[ChgrSteve67]

http://www.ccds.charlotte.nc.us/History/MidEast/04/horton/horton.htm

[Troy]

The 1960s and early 1970s in the United States represented an era of cheap fuel. In early 1973, gasoline was selling for an average of 39 cents a gallon â€" the equivalent of $1.70 today after adjusting for inflation...
That era came to an abrupt end in late 1973. Angry over Western support for Israel in the Yom Kippur War, the Arab-dominated Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries doubled the price of its exports and imposed an oil embargo on the United States and the Netherlands, Israel's chief allies...
Most controversially, Nixon imposed price controls on gasoline. Some economists say the price controls, lasting from 1973 to 1979, exacerbated the nationwide shortages because petroleum companies believed they were not making enough money refining crude oil.

The 1979 revolution and hostage crisis in Iran and the Iran-Iraq War, which began in 1980, pushed the price of oil to an all-time high of $38.31 that, adjusted for inflation, would be $85.85 per barrel, with gasoline selling $1.38, the current equivalent of nearly $3 per gallon. The price spike threw an already shaky economy into recession, and Carter lost his job.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/20050529-9999-lz1n29opec.html

More:
http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Energy-crisis

Interesting:
Oil price increases of 2004
The apparent cause is high demand and low supply of crude oil. High demand is coming from increased industry in emerging third world nations including India and especially China which is developing a large car culture.
http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Oil-price-increases-of-2004

Very Interesting:
All developed countries have high fuel taxes that decrease as oil prices increase and can be eliminated in the event of a dramatic price spike. The American Strategic Petroleum Reserve could serve a similar role in overcoming price increases in an emergency. Moreover the western economies are about half as reliant on oil as they were thirty years ago.
(Same link as above.)

Troy

[694spdRT]

So we are 1/2 as reliant on oil. That seems like a good thing.

I would guess that figure includes home heating oil and other non auto uses.   

[Troy]

I believe that's crude but I am not positive.

Troy

[CFMopar]

How did you get that the US is now 1/2 as reliant on oil?

[Troy]

How did you get that the US is now 1/2 as reliant on oil?

Did you read the link? Question and answer session starts right after you read...

Moreover the western economies are about half as reliant on oil as they were thirty years ago. In the United States, for instance, each $1000 dollars in GDP required 1.43 barrels of oil in 1970. In 2000 this number had fallen to 0.74.

Troy

[CFMopar]

Nah I didnt read it. Im to lazy its 1:30 am 

[2fast4u]

  Awesome guys...thanks Troy and ChgrSteve for all that information...WOW!   What I wouldn't give for a gas pump that was at a $1.38 now!!

  But I'm a little fuzzy on ChgrSteve's link when it talked about the daylight savings time.....how the heck does that come into play?     

2fast

[CFMopar]

If your wondering how the daylight savings change is going to help by extended the day lighthours we in theory wont need to have our lights on as much. But I dont think it will matter cause it will be offset by the morning.

[CFMopar]

Nixon formed the Energy Department and it became a cabinet office. It developed the national energy policy. They made plans to make the U.S. energy independent (The Arab Oil Embargo of 1973-74

I want to know what happend to this

[JimShine]

Great links Troy! People always seem to forget about inflation and the buying power of a dollar.

[SirNik73]

From what I'm gathering the gas crisis is the worst its been. at prices here in Sacramento at exactly 3.00/gallon we are at the peak of the gas prices... over coming the price in the 80-81 spike (adjusted for inflation). from what I'm hearing we haven't built a refinery in some time and that is causing some of the high gas prices. here in California we had a power problem... my dad works for Calpine... one of the major independent power producers in the state. he said that the problems in California was (setting aside the fact that Gray Davis and Enron screwed us)  because when they deregulated the power market in California there hadn't been any power plans build in 15 years... thus no surplus of power to trade on the newly opened market so prices for power went sky high. now I'm seeing the same thing in the gas market... but it is due to overwhelming demand. and now with the distruction in the gulf coast things are only getting worse. what solved the supply and demand problems in the California's power market was the building of new power plans. i would assume that if we had newer more efferent oil refineries the price of gas would go down... even if the price of oil stayed where its at. maybe with the distruction in the gulf and the shutting down of those refineries will cause them to be rebuilt and maybe new plants build to increase the refining capacity.

[Steve P.]

I started driving in 77'.. I could allllllmost buy 2 gallons of gas for what I made per hour.. Then of course you must take out the taxes.....  OK, 1 gallon of gas per hour worked...


I do remember going to the (service), station, (that's what they used to call them as an attendant pumped your gas, filled your tires, checked your oil and tried very hard to pick up your MOM), and having the tank of our 62' Dodge Dart filled for less than $5.00...... 


Ahh, the good old days..........

[2fast4u]

  Cool Steve....I too remember the"service" stations.....never hear that any more! lol   the first Back to the Future movie gave a good example of that when Marty ended up in 1955!  It's neat watchin' all those guys race around the car to do their job!!   Never see that again I bet!

2fast

[Steve P.]

Someone in Tampa tried it a few years ago. He asked a local news show to do a bit about "service" stations and asked if people would pay the extra money for the service.  Well they received many yes replies and the guy put people on to do the job. It didn't last long. I think mainly due to the higher cost of fuel but, also due to the homeless people hanging around the pumps across the street at another station. They would pump gas for a small tip..