[Baron Von Zeppelin]

We had the gas lines and rationing in the 73 fiasco around here.
But I don't recall anything going on in 79 like that.

Took drivers ed in summer 79 and started driving in late 79

[salem1912]

Was 17 in '73 working the Exxon station. Odd/even day's $5 limit,lot of pissed people. Exxon was trying to put my boss out of business as he was a independent. My girl friend's (wife) father was a Amoco jobber and would drop off tanker load in the middle of the night. Exxon never caught on.

[poncho-mike]

There was some rationing in 1979, but it was not nearly as bad as it was in 1973. I was in college living in the dorms at UNC-Charlotte in 1979. My home was about 30 miles away, and I went home every weekend for a Saturday job. I remember that I didn't go home for a couple of weekends due to concerns with being able to find gas to get back. The money I was earning barely covered gas to go back to my dorms.

I think the rationing only lasted a few weeks. Gas became available but was much more expensive. Cruising was popular in the 1970s in my home town, but high gas prices killed it for a while. I was driving a 1964 Buick Riviera with the dual carb 425 (factory) at the time. I had to park it because gas got so expensive. My dad bought a cheap early 1960s Studebaker Lark with an electrical problem. I fixed the electricals and drove it for about a year or two. In 1980, I bought a Suzuki GT550 2-stroke street bike. I fitted it with a luggage rack and saddle bags, and used it to commute back and forth between home and my school and jobs.

Originally Posted by Baron Von Zeppelin

We had the gas lines and rationing in the 73 fiasco around here.
But I don't recall anything going on in 79 like that.

Took drivers ed in summer 79 and started driving in late 79

[mgarblik]

I was working at a full service Gulf gas station in that time period starting in 1973. Minimum wage in Ohio was .75 cents an hour. I was in high school, working after school and often closing the station at 11:00 PM. Clocking 40-50 hours a week including Saturdays and Sundays for a whopping .90 cents an hour. Our gas pumps would only mechanically register to 99 cents a gallon. We sold gas in half gallon increments when the gallon prices first exceeded 1.00 per gallon for premium. There were even/odd days for purchasing fuel but my boss had a list of about 50 long time regular customers who we would sell gas to anytime they came in. That was a real "customer loyalty" program!!