Who here lived through the gas crisis?

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Which one? I lived through both. It was fun actually - queued up around the block and wondering if there'd be any gas in the underground tank by the time I got to a pump. Or, getting to the pump and realizing that it was an "even" day, and my license plate ended in lucky number, "7". If the U.N. forces Iran balls-to-the-wall over their nuclear "research" program, and Iran shuts off the spiggot to the Western nations*, I have a feeling the next gas crises will make the first two look like a walk in the park.

*That Iran does no business with the U.S. is largely irrelevant. But if Europe is deprived of Iranian supplies, that shifts the burden to those Arabian gulf states that do supply us, and that will be a real problem. Oh, and don't worry about Iran's welfare in seemingly shooting themselves in the foot - India, Russia, and China will happily buy all the Iranians can supply.
 
I had an Austin Healy Sprite in the early 70's when we could only get gas on odd-even days. Back then I was only worried about where my next bag of stash was comming from.
 
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Back then I was only worried about where my next bag of stash was comming from.

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Cool man. The 70's. I was there.
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Big cars. The cold war.

Man....I miss the cold war.
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One day I took one-half day of vacation time so I could get in line at a gas station in order to get gas in time to be home by 4:00. I was in line for 3 hours, and when my turn came, pumped all of 10 gallons into the Chevette.

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If the U.N. forces Iran balls-to-the-wall over their nuclear "research" program, and Iran shuts off the spiggot to the Western nations*, I have a feeling the next gas crises will make the first two look like a walk in the park.

I agree, if the UN goes Iran hunting, we can all expect to pay Europe-like prices or more, or even have to make appointments at the gas station.
 
My Dad was a farmer - so we always had fuel - 3000 gallons of diesel in the barn and 500 gallons of gas in a tank outside the barn. I drove an old, rusted out, beat-up '58 Chevy pick-up - 235 in-line six cylinder motor with "three on the tree." I used to mix 10 gallons of gas with two gallons of diesel. Sure it smoked, but a big part of that was the two quarts of oil it burned for every tank of gas. Those were the days.
 
If your life is busy now,with not enough time to do the things you want,just imagine budgeting about 2 or 3 hours a week to wait in line with a bunch of ****ed -off people, to do something as mundane as getting gas??? That carnival act was the end of the CUTLASS, GRAN-PRIX,etc. era and the beginning of TOYOTA and HONDA as household words.
 
I was a pump jockey. It affecte me by making me have to stay out on the island all day long as the cars were lined up down the street. I probably had a car but didn't drive much as I could walk half a mile to work.

We already had long lines after Katrina. Here in the Detroit area any station with cheaper prices was swamped with customers. I went to the stations that were not busy. It could have been that way in '75, but the federal government decided to put a celing on gas prices, which caused a pricing where supply was grossly lower than demand. Had they left prices to adjust for the pinched supply, there would not have been long lines (except for those stations that chose to sell 10 or 15 cents cheaper than the others), just high prices. So, I hope the government doesn't try price celings again.
 
I remember the idgits who would (in L.A. area) stand in line to top off with a gallon or two. Crazy.

I had a Datsun 510. That thing didn't get all that great of mileage, mainly due to modifications, especially the nut behind the wheel.
 
I got another question for those in that time...


Did ya'll stay in line at the station for the 3-5 hours at a time with the car running and A/C on like the stupid people did after Katrina hit??


Did you "scoot up" after EVERY SINGLE CAR moved?
 
We farmed and had the elevated tanks for the equipment. We simply filled from that and had the tanks refilled every month or so. Never really affected us.

At that time though even in town (Des Moines) there wasn't much in the way of long lines or problems. I remember watching the news reports of the big cities though and thinking that I'm glad I don't have to live there.

The day of 9-11 was probably the worst I've ever seen it. For some reason every bonehead decided that after the news of the Trade Center attacks they needed to fill their tanks. Lines were long and stations were running out. 3-4 days later everything was back to normal and there was plenty of fuel.
 
I really believe we are consuming many times more fuel than we need to be. Something is going to bring it to a halt. Congress isn't going along very well with exploration or further drilling. They know that if we have more we will simply consume more, so producing more isn't a solution. I've seen that it's figured that at about $7.00 per gallon on gasoline would begin to bring down the heavy consumption.

Of course, that hurts the little six pack Joe first. It won't hurt the fat cats.

I live within about 45 minutes of the Atlantic Coast. During the manipulated shortages of the '70s it was reported that full tanker ships were waiting at anchor just off the coast holding for higher prices. We had an airplane traffic spotter doing radio spotting that announced he would fly out there and see if there really were tankers at anchor. He came on the air and announced that there was a dozen or so tankers, riding very low in the water (loaded to the full) AT ANCHOR just well out of sight of the beaches.

So much for that.

I really do agree that we're using more than we should be and something will come about to bring it to a halt. Again, we can clearly see that Congress isn't going along with producing more domestic sources. They know what they're doing. Today's consumption rates are going to come to an end at some point.
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thanks for the replies guys. Thats to cool to hear stories like these. Especially before I was born. (Im not glad that the crisis happened though)

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One day I took one-half day of vacation time so I could get in line at a gas station in order to get gas in time to be home by 4:00. I was in line for 3 hours, and when my turn came, pumped all of 10 gallons into the Chevette.

Lyle,

My dad had a Chevette in the mid 80's with a 3 speed automatic tranny and I think a 1.6 litre carburated engine rear wheel drive. Wasn't that the only fuel efficient American car then? Or was the 70's chevette not fuel efficient at all?
 
My 1968 Opel Kadet with a 1.1 litre engine got 38 mpg, but it wouldn't go over 50 into a strong headwind. My 1973 Pinto with the 1.6 litre (English Kent) engine got about 33. I was a college student then, and didn't drive all that much so I avoided the lines. I never had much interest in a stash of herbal medicine either . . . too focused on studies, guitar, church, and my wife-to-be.
 
I was a little kid and I would stand up on the front seat of my Mom's Plymouth Fury (kinda behind her shoulder, really safe huh?) waiting in line to buy gas. "Mom, why are we just sitting here?".
Man, those lines for gas were long. People were better driver's back then too. They could fit eight boats in between the pumps to get gas. Who needs crumple zones? Half the people smoked while pumping too. Cripes, most of us are lucky to be here.
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"The day of 9-11 was probably the worst I've ever seen it. For some reason every bonehead decided that after the news of the Trade Center attacks they needed to fill their tanks. Lines were long and stations were running out. 3-4 days later everything was back to normal and there was plenty of fuel."

i was one of these bone-heads

the reason i went to get gas was because my Uncle who is a truck driver called and said he paid an outrageous amount to fill his truck down in Missouri and figured that the gas prices were going to go up everywhere.
 
i wasnt driving for the any of the crisises (w/e) but there have been some hairy times, i dont remember exactly when....i just kinda ignored it and got gas when the lines went down and paid the same as i had for the last tank. first car was a 4 cyl 86 camry that i got summer '04, 4 banger 5 speed ranger pickup that fall, and now straight 6 cressida (4 door supra, 156 horsies, ooo big engine :p)since summer '05. ive always been the guy that laughs at the ppl in line for $3/gal, then pull out the bike when my tank is low
 
In high school, I remember guys would go out at night and siphon gas from neighbors' cars, but I was only 14 at the time. In 1979-80 when gas got short I was in the Navy. I had a 1966 Charger with the 383 Magnum engine. it had a 20 gallon tank and I could just make it between Oceana NAS and Fairfax Va in one 20 gallon tank. The trip was 200 miles and I'd do it at night. I'd line up at the pump at 4AM, fill up when they opened, and drive Dad's car over the weekend. Then, I'd just barely make it back to Va. Beach where Oceana is. Va Beach always had gas, no lines, because the tourists wouldn't come down if there was no gas.

Jeez, I was making maybe 400.00/Month back then and gas was 1.50 or so.

Times have changed.
 
I can remember, in the early 1970s in northern NJ, going out with my Chevy Van and getting in line at about 1:30 AM for the station to open at 6 AM. I would be about 50th in line, and the line grew behind me.

Gas hoarding became an obsession. I would siphon out my tank into containers, then go back on line the next time I was eligible (odd-even). You felt blessed if you were in a household with several vehicles that had both odd and even numbered plates, as that way you could go buy gas every day.

Then, after a while, station owners developed their own strategies. They might open at random times that they would only tell their best customers about, word of mouth. They would sell out their day's allotment of gas, and then close again just as fast.

The problems were less severe, it seems, outside the big cities. I can remember heading north on a motorcycle having faith that I would find gas in some rural spot a hundred miles north. I always did.
 
K_R,

You make it sound like this event happened while Julius Caesar was still emperor in Rome! It wasn't THAT long ago...
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But to answer your question...cars were pulled by horses back then (that is why when they started installing internal combustion engines, they talked about horsepwer) so if their feed contained no soybeans you didn't have to worry about a gas crisis.
 
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