A Little Gas Price History

Hi all,

Well, Governor Douglas is declaring next week "Way To Go Week."

For those of you that were commuting then, and some of you are still commuting today, what an enlightening time that was in the 1975-1978 time period.

Unleaded gas in 1976 was running around 60 cents a gallon, however, during those next four years or so, it more than doubled. The big V8s like my 1975 Plymouth Fury 9 passenger station wagon which made about 9 miles to the gallon were soon to take a dive on the market. Every major automobile company was now producing the small compact car.

It was during this time here in Fairfax that I gave Senator Dick Soule a call and asked him if he could do something about a commuter parking lot. He told me he would check into it and called me back the next evening to let me know that they would be drawing some crushed stone in at the intersection of what is now the McNall Road and Route 128 and it should be ready within a week.

During the late 1970s and early 1980s, it was quite heavily used until the late 1980s when gas prices again dropped below $1 a gallon.

In earlier years, I had driven a used Volkswagon Bug for a second car. Now this was a great little car, if you didn't require heat in the winter. My sister used to trade every three years and always gave me a great deal on her old one. Each time she went in to get a new one, she would always ask the salesman if they had improved the heater. The salesman would always reply with a "Yes." Now, she knew he was not telling the truth, but these old dyed in the wool Volkswagon Bug owners stuck with their favorite car anyhow.

In 1975, Volkswagon came out with a new type of car called "The Rabbit."

This car had a good heater, made over 30 miles to the gallon and was truly a remarkable car. We purchased one for our main vehicle and I used the 1975 Plymouth Fury Gas Hog strictly for car pooling.

In 1978, I went down to Paquin Motors and spoke with my car salesman, Clint Paquin, with whom I had done business since 1965 about swapping in the Big Plymouth Fury Station Wagon for a Plymouth Horizon which was very much like the Volkswagon Rabbit. Clint was quick to inform me that I would never be happy with it.

Now, there were several reasons for swapping as not only were gasoline prices going up, but you were limited as to how many gallons you could get. Yes, right here in Fairfax even there were lines at the gas pumps as you were pumped your allotted number of gallons of gas. In our car pooling group, one inovative member has several 5 gallon cans of gas at home, just to make sure that we would have gas to go to work.

When gas prices dropped again in the mid-1980s, people again started buying less efficient vehicles in regards to gasoline mileage, until today there are far more high powered gas guzzling vehicles on the road than in years past. I know of very few people that car pool today, but then again I am not out in the working world.

Below you will find a little history of what the gas prices have been since the 1970s