I wonder what a gallon of gas cost when this picture was taken. Five cents, maybe ten? Yesterday, I filled up my tank at a Shell station in Los Angeles. $2.57 a gallon, down from almost $5, just a year ago. Tomorrow, New Year's Day, we Californians may be facing a 10 to 15 cent a gallon increase thanks to cap and trade, the free market solution to global climate change adopted by our state legislature. Personally I've always doubted the free market approach to environmental problems.
Anyway, for those who wonder how these old glass top pumps worked. The motorist would order gas by the gallon rather than by price. The station operator would work the hand lever on the side of the pump until the requested amount filled the glass container. (The lines on the pump were gallon markers.) Then, a valve was opened, and gravity filled the tank.
Remember, don't let cheap gas lead you into bad habits. We can all drive a little less.
I still remember my dad driving out of a gas station in Truckee, California, because they wanted 35 cents a gallon. He said no way was he going to pay that.
ReplyDeleteI love these old pumps and still remember them from when we drove back and forth across country in the 50s, pre-freeway days.