I remember when gas was 27 cents, just before OPEC screwed things up. There are probably Freepers who remember when it was 12.9 cents, 13.9 for premium.
However, gas is better now (no toxic lead), unless you’re paranoid about ethanol. Cars are way better, too, which explains why all the service stations have long been replaced by drugstores. You can drive many new cars for 100K miles without a tuneup. All they need is gas and (synthetic oil), and maybe 2 sets of tires instead of 5 or 6 from the “good old days”. Not to mention 30+ MPG instead of 8 to 12.
ethanol kills small engines.
Gas is better? LOL!!
You would get 25% better gas mileage if you ran real gas, not that gasahol junk. And, your equipment would last longer. Believe that leftist lie if you want, but more energy is used when gasahol is substituted for real gasoline.
All anecdotal evidence aside, planned obsolesce is real. It is 5 years for appliances, and 7 years for consumer vehicles. There are hard industry stats to back this up, refer to British court rulings on this, as they have draconian warranty laws compared to the US.
And I do have a 40 year old truck with over 1/2 million miles on it, but that doesn’t mean an average vehicle today will last even a fraction of that.