70's Energy Crisis

Ghrit mentioned the 70's energy crisis here: Gas availability in the Southeast (AL, GA, TN, NC, SC, VA mentioned) | Survival Monkey Forums I was really young during the crisis but I remember being in the car for a long time, waiting to get gas. I can still picture myself playing in the car as we waited our turn because it was our day. I knew it had to do with our license plate but that was it. I had no clue about energy crisis and OPEC, those far away places were just something we learned about in school. I had no worries, just a kid playing in a car while we sat in line waiting our turn. I recall Mom looking tired and unhappy, what she was thinking I do not know because she never really spoke about world events or the news. .

Maybe some monkeys remember the 70's crisis-

Gas Lines Evoke Memories Of Oil Crises In The 1970s

This is a great editorial, a walk down memory lane for one person during the energy crisis.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/01/opinion/01Straight.html?_r=0

Imagine odd-even rationing next week, next month. I feel thankful that I have not had to live with such rationing. My Mom sat there quietly, just waiting her turn. I wonder what I would be thinking if odd-even was started again, what would I be feeling while my kids played in the car.

 

I remember it as well .It started while we were visiting my grandparents , about 250 miles from home . I don't know how we would have made it home if it wasn't for my grandfather being friends with the owner of one of the local gas stations . He let us run thru the line twice to be able to get a full tank so we could get home . If I remember right , my grandfather also gave us a gas can with a few gallons in it in case we ran out .

 

Yes I remember getting in line at the Chevron station that was off the beaten track, probably 2 miles from the Interstate in Camarillo CA, probably 20 cars ahead of me at 0600 in the morning. Going to work at Port Hueneme for the Navy, I don't remember that it lasted very long, real problem with the shortage was that people that normally only had 1/4 - 1/2 of a tank of gas, wanted it full, every day, just incase....

Rancher

 

Sadly, this 'gas crisis' is entirely from old pipelines. The 1970 "Crisis" was entirely manufactured.
TAPS - the Trans-alaska Pipeline - or The pipeline.

The pipeline was built between 1974 and 1977 after the 1973 oil crisis caused a sharp rise in oil prices in the United States. This rise made exploration of the Prudhoe Bay oil field economically feasible. Environmental, legal, and political debates followed the discovery of oil at Prudhoe Bay in 1968, and the pipeline was built only after the oil crisis provoked the passage of legislation designed to remove legal challenges to the project.

You can read the history, but the initial run at building the pipeline ran into...issues. (See the wiki) The 'Crisis" happened just in time to give the pro-pipeline Senators a large figleaf to hide behind. The vote was 50-50 and tie-breaking vote went to build the pipeline. The rest, as they say, is history.

 

I had an old VW Bug during the oil embargo, worked in Atlanta and had a girlfriend in Orlando, where I would drive to Friday after I got off work for the weekends. Getting gas was dependent on the last digit on your vehicle tag, odd or even, which would correspond to odd or even days on the calendar, and those were the days you could buy gas.

That was when gas pump attendants disappeared and everybody started pumping their own gas, and at what we felt were ridiculous prices. I have sat in line for well over an hour to fill up, baking in the sun on a hot summer day with no AC, and an hour was common, as you could go 2 hours on a bad day. Cars would be backed down the streets waiting to just get into the station parking lots. That is also when the "Double Nickel" 55 mph speed limit was put into place on the expressways to conserve fuel, as it had been 75 mph before the crisis. It felt like you were crawling going 55 after being used to driving at 75. Seems like the CB radio craze got going around the same time. Everybody was looking for Smokey the Bear as we were still trying to drive at 75 as often as possible, and with a CB you knew where every cop on the road was, and when to slow down to avoid a ticket.

Later we learned the whole thing was pretty much a scam perpetrated by the oil companies, as they had fleets of oil tankers anchored at sea waiting for the prices to go up before they would put them into port. So, my cynicism got an early fertilization from the event, and has only grown stronger through the years as I survived scam after scam by big government and business which has only served to forge me into one mean old crotchety (*&^%$$#.

 

I remember there was limits on how much fuel you could buy at a visit. My dad and grand dad would both run through several stations to get full tanks and then keep one truck full while the other was being used! I also remember a few times sitting in line and the station ran out of fuel! We had to come back later and start all over in line! I had a Honda mini trail 50 and it got a lot of extra use because it could go several days on 1 gal of gas! Mom would ride it to the store with a back pack and get the shopping done! If I got caught riding it on the street, the coppers would chase me down and give my kiddy ass a ticket!

 

Actually, you have a very a good point. Some kind of very fuel 'friendly' vehicle - like a moped, could be just the thing if you don't want to ride a bicycle in 100F heat....

 

I still have the little Honda! Used it to teach my boys to ride and also as a camp/hunting/fishing bike! Gets a little better then 50 miles per gal! You can get them brand new from China, and they are actually pretty good. I bought a "frame Kit" sans engine/tranny and did the Tim Allen up grade ( More Power ) by putting a 150 cc Honda knock off in it! The wife rides the Original and I ride the Hotrod. Funny thing is the Hotrod gets the same miles per gal!

 

No gas on Sundays many old pumps would not no over $0.99 a gallon so they charged by the half gallon.
VW bugs were a sought after car and this gave us the Chevy Vega and Pinto..

The Vega was a horrible car rust bucket with an engine where the cylinder liners that would let go.
But it had a large engine compartment and with an after market motor mount transmission braces would allow you to drop in a small block Chevy engine and tranny making an instant crazy fast 2000 pound car with a 327/350 CI 300 horse engine..

 

In 79 down here if you worked for an oil company you could fill up, All you needed was a hard hat when you pulled up to the pump.

 

I remember it as 95 cents per gallon one day & then it went to 25 cents /litre next day , but no shortage .Have no idea of the year or what i was doing or where i was.

 

I remember gas being 84 cents a gallon before the shortages, and after the end, the price was less then 90 cents! I also remember you could also get Ethol Gas for a few cents extra, this was the race gas of it's day, and boy did the pickups run with that in the tanks! Our old 69 Ford F-100 got 21 miles per gal with the 390 motor in it, and the 49 Chevy (Dad still has it) got 10 miles per gal!!! Funny thing, all the way into the 90's gas was pretty cheep in the PNW. I don't think gas prices went up over $1:50 a gal until 96 or so!

 

Yup...even-odd rationing, plus if you had more than a half tank, too bad. My pickup had the fuel tank behind the seat, so I'd just reach back and unplug the sending unit - instant "empty" tank

ETA: Ura-ki...I'm jealous! My 71 F100 with a 302 only got 13mpg with a tailwind! But it would beat a T/A with a 400 light to light

 

In 73 I was working at a Sohio station pumping gas and wrenching. In 79 I was deployed to Westpac and didn't really notice because we were all either afoot, riding benjo bombers, taking taxis or jeepneys, or puking our guts out on a big gray boat in the IO.

 

Good point. If you can't have then you want it. That syndrome happens often and if we ever went back to rationing, I think many would have a hard time adjusting.

 

I remember mom saying "fill her up with ethyl." Then us kids would laugh our ass off. Wait. I couldn't say ass.

 

I sure wish we would have kept that Ol' Ford. Had the 390 Thunderbird Special with the Rochester 4 barrel and the Doug Nash 4 speed. I think it had 3.55 gears and locker in the rear end and the 15 inch rims with the 60 series tires! It was a screamer that could take a lot of the muscle cars light to light!

 

Ah yes tetraethyl lead
We only had two grades of gas back in the good ole days, ethyl and regular... octane, what's that?

Rancher