Pickles by Brian Crane for March 30, 2012

Many older people don’t like to concentrate on the future because the big Event keeps getting closer and closer.Some of us, though, avoid living in the past because it wasn’t a nice place to be when we were there.

Now some gas stations have the nerve to makepeople pay for air in their tires.

You also wouldn’t believe how low wages were!

In 1969 Ipaid 21 cents a gallon for gasoline for my motorbike

There was a “gas war” not long after I moved to this area … 1971-ish….a new “discount” gas station undercut everybody, and the majors made their franchisees cut prices till they lost money on every sale.Some even lost their stations because of it… but for a few weeks, gas got down to 16 cents a gallon!And nobody else can have Earl’s Bulletnose, cos I called dibs years ago!

I remember my parents had a Toronado. We filled it up with premium one day. My Mom gave me a five to pay for it. I got back some change. When I climbed back in the car she says.“See you’ll need a good job if you want to be able to afford a car.”

I remember how everyone freaked out because gas went from 30 cents a gallon to 60 cents a gallon in just a few months. Long lines, stations closed…. it was the end of the world! I’d go back to 1973 in a heatbeat….

love the car, my mom had one of those and it was goofy, the Park gear diidn’t always work, and it would roll downhill in our driveway alot. lol……….Gas was 19 cents a gallon when I learned to drive and now if we find it at $2.99 we think we are getting a good deal.

Cheaper gas, cheaper smokes, cheaper everything. But then I wasn’t making then what I am now either.

Where I lived growing up we were all poor and all lived in 1 or 2 bedroom apartments. But we all had food, passed clothes along to smaller kids on the block, and looked out for one another. None of us felt deprived. And we were really grateful we didn’t live in Europe where millions of people were being killed. It was an innocent time in many ways, which is probably why all of us 60 and older are nostalgic for it. Yeah, my first job was $3,000 a year, but rent was $82 a month with utilities and it cost 10¢ for the subway and a phone call; bread was about 15¢ a loaf. Doctors made house calls.

Oh yeah, and the first car I remember my parents owning was a light green Studebaker.

Driving Studebaker!! That was a cool car!

I invented self serve gas stations in 1968. I would pull up to the pump and ask the Attendant for 25 cents worth, and finally they just let me pump my own gas. I wasn’t worth their time to come out to wait on me.

Summer of ’69, I was one of those guys who “filled your tank, checked your oil, and cleaned your windshield.” I worked for a dealer with Gulf Oil and we were in a gas war (remember those) with an independent up the street. Gulf covered half the cost of cutting prices up to a point. My boss took another penny out of his pocket and we were selling regular at 19 cents a gallon. Premium was a whopping 34 cents.

I love living in the past too, Earl.

Life always seemed better.

LOL xxx

Great a 1951 Studebaker Commander with a Borgwarner transmission..Very dependable car.

Thanks, guys, for the trip down memory lane!

We’re never nostalgic for the past as such — we’re nostalgic for what we felt like in the past, such as being young, and strong, and cocky/hopeful….

Essex 60: It is a ‘53. The ’50-’52 versions had smaller grill openings and long horizontal ones over them. The body design was by Raymond Lowey. I learned to drive on a ’51 – named Trikephalos.

And you sir/madam? are an idiot if you think people relate to each other any better in this golden age of technology than they did sixty years ago.

I’ll gladly pay $4/gallon for gas to not have to relive my past.

Yes, it was that bad.

I’d rather live in the future, flying cars. :-)

As far as things go for today, I strongly doubt that I will ever drive anything larger than a four cylinder engine in a car ever again. I drove an old Geo for four years delivering auto partsfor a living recently. It got about 200 miles per tank. It was really great on gas, but that’s about all you can say for it. Other than that it was a pile of junk ! If you ever get in a wreckwith one of them tuna cans you’re pretty musch toast. Glad my personal car isn’t one of them. I can remember back when I could buy gas for 29 cents a gallon, but some of theother readers have me beat on that.

i remember that 18 cent gas. i also remember the 90 cent/hour wage i thought was “decent”. if i now make 22 bux an hour, and pay 3.80 for gas, it’s one hell of a better value.

I go there myself. when you could get 4 gals of gas for a buck not its 1 gal of gas for 4 bucks

Essex 60: For its time, I agree. Still, I will take my ’08 Prius over any of the US or Canadian Studebakers today.

Get an education you little twit!!

I think j.A.M. needs to get a life and leave Pickles alone!