What was the lowest gas price you can remember both as a young person, (non-driver) and as a driver?

12/29/2014 | Nikos1121

[nikos1121]

I can recall growing up in Chicago in the 1950s. "Oklahoma" gas stations were the most visible. I seem to recall 19 cents a gallon. The lowest price as a driver was around 29 cents. Seemed like it always was about the same as a pack of cigarettes or gallon of milk.

[BenLurkin]

While outside on the turnpike
They got this new hit tune
Where thrills become as cheap as gas
And gas as cheap as thrills

[ansel12]

At least 17 cents, and I think I read of 14 cent gas wars.

[Ahithophel]

Sunnyvale, CA $.34 / gal., circa 1973

[chalkfarmer]

19 cents (Gas Wars of the 1970s)

[buckalfa]

$0.04.9 in Sharon PA in 1962. Gas war, and you got a set of four tea glasses with a 10 gallon fill up. Currently $1.83 in Upstate SC.

[doorgunner69]

I “think” I recall $0.19/gal. Mostly it was in the 20-30 cent range in the sixties in SoCal.

[BigEdLB]

$0.19 Burbank California, 1958 Kindergarten age

[maddog55]

.31 cents back in 62.

[Steely Tom]

19.9 in Santa Monica, CA. 1961.

[ealgeone]

Had a train set with the gas price for 103 octane at 19 cents a gallon.

Gas was around 70 cents a gallon when I started driving.

[Cletus.D.Yokel]

My first employment was with the local TEXACO station. When I started, gasoline averaged $0.25 and diesel was around $0.28.

The station closed in 1975 and was selling gasoline at $0.43, diesel at $0.45.

Jimmah Cahtah took over and made peanut oil more lucrative...

[daler]

15.9 during a 1972 “gas war” in the Twin Cities.

[Eternally-Optimistic]

.17 in Washington DC in 1953

[Cletus.D.Yokel]

S&H Green Stamps!

Bought my first tennis racket with them...the rest is local athletic history!

[jy8z]

19 cents per gallon. I would give my brother a dollar(he had a license, I didn’t) and we could drive all over town during the weekend in his Volkswagen Beetle.

[getitright]

I think I recall 23 cents. This would have been Rockford, IL 1960’s. Big intersections would have a station on opposite corners and I recall the ‘gas wars’ where one would inch down the price a penny, then the opposite corner follows suit, etc.

And yes, full service absolutely. How clean our wind shields must have been.

Never heard of the blue chips. It was S&H green stamps in my neck of the woods.

[WayneS]

25 cents as a non-driver; 38 cents as a driver.

[Personal Responsibility]

$0.75 / gallon when I started driving in 1986

And it’s a good thing too...I drove a 1971 Cadillac Eldorado that didn’t get miles per gallon....it got gallons per mile :-)

[SAJ]

In a gas war in June 1972, just ouside Kansas City, KC, a Savex station was charging 12.9 cents/gal.

The lowest "normal" price from 1961 to 1971 in the St. Louis area was seen at Site, Savex, and Zephyr stations from time to time: 19.9 cents/gal.

[cripplecreek]

Between 60 and 70 cents when I started driving in the 80s.