And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
Monday, May 6, 2024
Pumping the gas, cleaning the windshield and checking the air in the tires. Things were better then.
And they did all that on 5 cents a gallon. No better example somebody has literally stolen like 99% of the real value of our dollar. And now they are gonna try to burn everything to the ground and buy it back pennies on the dollar. Its a cycle been employed for centuries by some very nasty family bloodlines going back at least to Roman times.
Gas price in 1950 $.27/ gal. Federal minimum wage was $.75 so an hours labor gets 2.8 gals. of gas. Today gas is around $3.60 average in the USA and minimum wage averages about $10. An hours labor gets you about 2.8 gallons of gas. A '24 car gets 3 times the mpg's as a 50's car.
Larry Marshall's Chevron, Castro Valley, 1978. Same deal. We checked oil, emptied ashtrays, cleaned front and back windows and checked air. Sold a lot of wipers.
Miracle Mile Shell in Fort Myers FL, 1972, across from the Edison Mall, most popular gas station in Lee County, and we did it all. Recently looked at it on the map and it's gone now, replaced by a cellphone store and a tatt parlor and a florist and the whole area is somewhat depressed.
Bought a bunch of mid-50's cars, all around 70-75k miles, and the engines were all oil burners by then. Not much of a joke to pull in and say "fill up the oil and check the gas". I normally carried a gallon can of reconstituted oil in my '57 ragtop, and when the oil pressure gauge read near 0 it would take the whole can to bring it to the full line on the dipstick. REAL common to see a car trailing blue smoke due to worn out rings and valve guides. Brakes and clutches were usually in bad shape too. Lots of '57 Chevy sedans for $75. Six cylinder engines, the small block v8's were not common. They all drove home, or I wouldn't buy it.
"Gas price in 1950 $.27/ gal. Federal minimum wage was $.75 so an hours labor gets 2.8 gals. of gas. Today gas is around $3.60 average in the USA and minimum wage averages about $10. An hours labor gets you about 2.8 gallons of gas. A '24 car gets 3 times the mpg's as a 50's car."
....And that 2.8 gallons included the wages for three respectable men.
We was robbed. And gave it away for a mess of pottage. ~ Codex
check out that hood ornament
ReplyDeleteThe Packard hood ornament is a cormorant, Chevy had the eagle. The car is a '51 Packard.
DeleteAl_in_Ottawa
And Pontiac had an amber colored Indian chief
DeleteMy '65 Kenworth had a Swan. But that was an add-on.
DeleteI always did enjoy looking out over that Swan. It was a touch of class.
Mine was chrome, but they also made one with amber wings that were illuminated. They were pretty cool, but a bit too ostentatious for me.
And they did all that on 5 cents a gallon. No better example somebody has literally stolen like 99% of the real value of our dollar. And now they are gonna try to burn everything to the ground and buy it back pennies on the dollar. Its a cycle been employed for centuries by some very nasty family bloodlines going back at least to Roman times.
ReplyDeletebut it works!
DeleteGas price in 1950 $.27/ gal. Federal minimum wage was $.75 so an hours labor gets 2.8 gals. of gas. Today gas is around $3.60 average in the USA and minimum wage averages about $10. An hours labor gets you about 2.8 gallons of gas. A '24 car gets 3 times the mpg's as a 50's car.
DeleteI did this part-time in HS. Made pretty good tips too!
ReplyDeleteMcCain's Chevron, Class of '69. I think the pay was a buck six bits, if I remember right.
DeleteLarry Marshall's Chevron, Castro Valley, 1978. Same deal. We checked oil, emptied ashtrays, cleaned front and back windows and checked air. Sold a lot of wipers.
DeleteThe worst part of the job was when it was your turn to clean the toilets at closing time. I'll spare you the details of what that experience was like.
DeleteMiracle Mile Shell in Fort Myers FL, 1972, across from the Edison Mall, most popular gas station in Lee County, and we did it all. Recently looked at it on the map and it's gone now, replaced by a cellphone store and a tatt parlor and a florist and the whole area is somewhat depressed.
DeleteI've not seen before a fuel hose come up from the pavement. Where's the meter?
ReplyDelete15' away, at the end of the hose on the ground running behind the car. Like they did when no gas station on earth was "self-service".
DeleteChecked the oil too!
ReplyDeleteYes, back in the day, many cars burned oil and getting a quart seemed to be normal at many, if not most, gas fill ups.
Delete...and the engines did not last nearly as long - on the other hand, it was much easier to work on your own vehicle.
DeleteBought a bunch of mid-50's cars, all around 70-75k miles, and the engines were all oil burners by then. Not much of a joke to pull in and say "fill up the oil and check the gas". I normally carried a gallon can of reconstituted oil in my '57 ragtop, and when the oil pressure gauge read near 0 it would take the whole can to bring it to the full line on the dipstick. REAL common to see a car trailing blue smoke due to worn out rings and valve guides. Brakes and clutches were usually in bad shape too. Lots of '57 Chevy sedans for $75. Six cylinder engines, the small block v8's were not common. They all drove home, or I wouldn't buy it.
Delete"Gas price in 1950 $.27/ gal. Federal minimum wage was $.75 so an hours labor gets 2.8 gals. of gas. Today gas is around $3.60 average in the USA and minimum wage averages about $10. An hours labor gets you about 2.8 gallons of gas. A '24 car gets 3 times the mpg's as a 50's car."
ReplyDelete....And that 2.8 gallons included the wages for three respectable men.
We was robbed. And gave it away for a mess of pottage. ~ Codex