What did the oil/gas crunch of the 70's look like?

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Would someone that lived through the gas shortages in the 70"s please describe the problems that they experienced during that time? Was it just high cost, or was there rationing etc... -L.

-- Lucy (windsng@123.com), February 15, 2000

Answers

1) Gas went from .25/gallon to .45/gallon almost overnight. That would equate to our current "normal" gas prices of $1.20, going to $2.25 in a few weeks. (DOH! - head slap! - that's what's happening!)

2) As people tried to fill their tanks with "cheaper" gas, many stations ran dry. This was duely reported on national news, which caused MORE panic buying, as people wanted to keep their tanks full.

3) As the tanks ran dry, "unofficial" gas rationing was implemented, and odd-even purchase policies as well. (If the last digit on your car's license plate was an ODD number, you could only buy gas on ODD days of the months, etc...)

4) Inflation quickly hit double-digits, as prices on ALL goods skyrocketed. This was due to the increased freight charges to get the goods to stores. (Again, we're beginning to see the same thing).

5) Millions lost their jobs as companies were forced into Draconian cost-cutting measures.

6) A bunch of politicians lost their jobs too.

7) Took 15 years to recover.

All in all, it was a NIGHTMARE.

Got preps?

-- Dennis (djolson@pressenter.com), February 15, 2000.


That would be both Lucy.

We traveled in Virginia in the summer of 1979 and I remember queuing up in the right hand lane of a state highway at one point with our tank near E. We didn't even know for sure if it was a gas line because we couldn't see the station at that point. About an hour later or so, we got to the pump. It was self serve, so we had to figure out how to work the pump ourselves.

In PA, they had even-odd days based on license plates and the minimum AND maximum amount of gas you could buy was $5. About 5 gallons then.

Disruptive and not fun to deal with which is why I have 4 5-gallon gas cans in my garage which are still full.

-- nothere nothere (notherethere@hotmail.com), February 15, 2000.


The 70's gas crunch brought with it gas theft from automobiles. Lockable gas caps, previously unheard of, were sold in parts stores. Lockable filler access was ultimately incorporated into basic car design.

Alternate days (depending on license plate numbers)for fill ups, resulted in ugly scenes at gas stations. Yes, there were special plates then that didn't fit the even/odd numbering criteria. Gas stations indicated by green or red signs wheteher they had gas or not, to keep people from driving in to find out.

The crunch had a few social lessons free of charge...

-- W (me@home.now), February 15, 2000.


I got married in 1972 and my (now ex) husband and I had bought a brand new fully equipped Chevy Blazer for just under $5,000. When the gas crunch hit we had to sell it for a loss and buy a more efficient gas car from his dad because of the high gas problems. I also remember the odd/even days (I lived in NY) and the long gas lines. Got a gas guzzler? I just lost my job because my homecare agency is not making money. I also know of another local homecare agency that is going out of business for the same reason (I live in VA). I'm sure I'll find another job with another agency as a R.N. but I use my car to get to work. Most of the shifts I get are 40-50 miles from my home one way. So higher gasoline prices leaves me with less money. Oh well!

-- Debi (LongTimeLurker@shy.com), February 15, 2000.

I was in my teens during that time. Prices shot from 25 cents a gallon to nearly a dollar a gallon in a matter of months, and sometimes you'd wait in line for nearly an hour.

That didn't guarantee that you would get gas, either. One time, my mother waited in line for 15 minutes. She was four cars away from the pump, and then the attendants said that they were out. So, close to E on the gas guage, she started driving around town in this huge barge (Ford Thunderbird) that got 13 miles to the gallon at best, trying to find a gas station that didn't have long lines. I usually didn't hear my mother swear too much...think I heard her swear more that day than I had in my whole life up to that point. Some stations let you fill up, some places rationed.

People really got hit in the wallet. If a station charged 3 cents less than the others or didn't raise their prices as fast as the others, they were usually the busiest places in town. Other places gouged, but the lines weren't as long. Go figure.

Our family wasn't poor...my mother was a paralegal, my father an attorney. However, my father was frugal by nature. He just loathed paying through the nose or waiting for things. He had better things to do with his time than wait in line for gasoline. He had better ways to use his money than spend it to feed a luxobarge just so he could impress some shallow people (that's the way he said it, LOL)

So, he was one of the first ones to purchase a Volkswagen Rabbit. At first, the other attornies around town laffed, saying stuff such as "My lawnmower has more horsepower than you little piece of tin, ha ha ha." But that wasn't enough. He buried a 200 gallon gas tank and installed a manual pump. So, while others where waiting in line and paying high prices, my father tapped into his backup.

However, he got the last laff. His frugal lifestyle and his hatred of debt allowed him to retire early. The fuel tank has rusted, and my father has passed away. But, the spirit goes on. Granted, I drive a Porsche, but have a Saturn for a backup...and have been driving that more lately, lemme tell ya!

My mother is relieved about the rollover, but she's not lulled into complacency just yet. Every couple of days or so, she'll say, "Wow, this is eerily similar to the 70's...look at the way gas prices are rising!"

-- Tim (pixmo@pixelquest.com), February 15, 2000.



Ya I can also remember a fairly wealthy man in the who was tired of waiting in line for gas so he just walked up to the staion and bought the station on the spot.

Justthinkin

-- justthinkin com (justthinkin@back.com), February 15, 2000.


Gawd I hate lawyer stories!!

-- Porky (Porky@in.cellblockD), February 15, 2000.

I was a senior in high school at the time. I remember everything mentioned above (LOOOONG lines at the gas stations, if they even had gas to sell, odd-even days, etc.)

On the seemier side, I recall there being a big problem at my high school with some students going through the school parking lot siphoning gas out of students' and teachers' cars. This caused a lot of detentions, expulsions, fights and even arrests in some cases. It was precisely this type of activity that caused all modern autos to be equipped with locking gas caps or siphon-proof filler tubes. It was a crazy time and not much fun. EVERY decision had to include a calcualtion of the consumption of gas weighed against the importance of the activity in question. I was asked by my parents to drop out of the HS football program because they felt that picking me up from practice was a waste of gasoline.

Unfortunately, it appears as if we'll relive this whole, ugly scene in the not-too-distant future.

Jimmy

-- Jimmy Splinters (inthe@dark.com), February 15, 2000.


Its because of the 70's shortages that I wouldn't go near a SUV, I remember how the big gas consuming cars went down in value almost overnight. I how hard it was to find a small cheap car. That shortage changed North Am. auto industry forever, and allowed the Japanise cars into the market place and gain credibility. We learned that shortages do happen. I also remember truckers striking and shootings on the highyways of truckers trying stop other truckers from moving goods, trying to get the gov. to do something.

Not pleasant Justthinkin

-- justthinkin com (justhinkin@aboutgas.com), February 15, 2000.


We lived 200 yards from I-75 in north Georgia and I remember the requests to not drive on the weekends. Usually the noise from the interstate was always in the background, especially the big trucks. I recall us noticing the weird quietness that first weekend the voluntary restrictions started. One could go back to the fence and see very few cars going by per minute.

-- James Brooks (jrbkbb@juno.com), February 15, 2000.


There was high cost and a lot of worried people. Gas stations suddenly became precious-especially open ones. Not too many people took road trips during that time. People with two cars drove one and kept the second as a reserve, talking ominously:"at least I have a full tank of gas" -and NOT meaning a full tank for the daily commute. "Topping off the tank" was commonplace (and the cause of more than one confrontation and fight).

I can remember riding many overcrowded buses-so crowded that the last person on had to ride on the bottom step at the front-two feet from the freeway. My company (an insurance company) had to use Congressional pressure to get a special ration permit allowing the company cars priority access to pumps-on condition that they kept it secret, of course. I saw the permit. It was to be issued under a special wartime (as in WW III) authority. A lot of people thought that event might not be too far off.

The interesting thing, though, was what else I witnessed. I worked the swing shift (claims dept) and walked home nightly past a Chevron service station that was displaying a red flag during the daytime, signifying no gas for sale. However, several times, I observed a tanker truck emptying gasoline into the station tanks. Next morning-red flag again.

I personally believe that the "gas crisis" was part of a much larger event and completely artificial. Remembering 1974, I think of massive inflation with almost universally ignored "price controls". Asking for a raise seemed almost unpatriotic. Assuming you were lucky enough to have a job, that is.

I remember vacillating over the purchase of a Browning Hi-Power 9mm pistol. Before the gas crisis, it was priced at $137.50. Six months later, the price was $375.00, due to the dollar's fall against Euro currencies. (The gunshop owner thoughtfully raised the prices on all of his stock just to avoid any confusion.)

-- chairborne commando (what-me-worry@armageddon.com), February 15, 2000.


---well, I maybe have the high AND the low price story here! I bought gas at a clark station for the exise tax once! they were having a war with some other local stations, this is in the guiness book of records, i believe it was 11.9 cents a gallon.

--in the 70's, they ran out real temporarily one day where I was living,tampa/st pete area (same shortage time frame as everyone else posting here, basically) and on the radio I heard that this one station had gas, so me and friends took off to get some. We ran out, pushed an old van PRETTY FAR in line to get the gas. About an hour and change or so. They were getting TEN BUCKS a gallon, with a two gallon limit! And to top THAT, across the street from the station was a liquor store, I watched with me own peepers as some dood bought two cases of ron rico 151 proof rum and poured it into the tank of his RV and drive away!

-- zog (zzoggy@yahoo.com), February 15, 2000.


Lucy, there were actually two gas shortages n the 1970s. In the fall of 1973 the last Arab-Israeli War touched off the first energy crisis when the OPEC nations stopped delivering oil to the US and European countries that were supporting Israel. This is important because 1973 was also the first year the US had to import more than half of the oil it used. Prices doubled almost overnight, to about 45 cents a gallon. Gas-thrifty japanese cars had been something of a curiousity -- after 73 they almost destroyed Detroit. By 1977 Chrysler needed a federal bailout to stay in business. At one point you could have bought Ford shares at $3 per, as I recall. Gasoline stations went to odd-even days, closed on Sunday, and there was more than one gun battle at urban stations among irate customers. In the aftermath, several major oil companies paid huge fines for profiteering.

The second energy crisis was shorter. In 1979 the shah of Iran was overthrown by the anti-American Ayotollah Khomeini. Iran was a major oil source for the US. That "crisis" was far more problematical. My personal opinion is that it was largely manufactured to push up gas prices after five years of major inflation. Prices neared a dollar a gallon at that time.

-- Cash (cash@andcarry.com), February 15, 2000.


I lived 35 country miles from the hospital where I worked. But since my job was deemed very necessary (both by me and the hospital) I was given a card that allowed me to buy gas anywhere they were selling it at any time. I was real fortunate. As a result, I picked up 4 other people that also worked at the hospital. But like all sheeple, as soon as the crunch was over we all drove to the same hospital in our own cars. Smart, huh? Taz....who has a goodly amount of fuel stashed away thanks to y2k and a thinking husband.

-- Taz (Tassi123@aol.com), February 15, 2000.

My husband and I had not been together long when the gas shortages hit. We were young and it seemed like we needed everthing, like all young couples do. The resulting inflation and price increases really made for some tough times. The food prices were rising like crazy too but not the money we made every week. I remember having this plastic clicker thing (a little hand adding machine) and taking it to the grocery store and having to add up the groceries as they went in the cart. The food prices were changing so fast that you never knew from one week to the next how much things would cost. We only had so much money in the budget for food and when we hit that amount we had to stop and go to the register or even worse put something things back and get other in their place. I remember that was when I learned to darn socks, because life was a series of choices and if you weren't rich you couldn't get everything you wanted. Anybody but me remember the TP shortage?

-- hd5574 (hd5574@hotmail.com), February 15, 2000.


hd: Yes! I remember the TP shortage. My grandmother was so concerned about it that my uncles bought her a huge case for Christmas. We all laughed and laughed. I also remember that in our church's international family conference was cancelled because of the gas shortage. The conference is only scheduled on an international basis every 4 years, and that was the only time in history it has ever been cancelled. I've wondered if that might not happen again this year.

-- Jerri Faris (farisubah@aol.com), February 15, 2000.

I lived in the San Francisco area and remember waiting THREE hours one time for gas!! My next stop was the bicycle shop across the street from the gas station. I got LOTS of exercise that year. I still have that bike too - it could come in handy again some day. You never know!

-- Carolyn (artchicks@yahoo.com), February 15, 2000.

One of my best friends lived about a block away from a gas station. He used to get up early and sell cups of coffee to people waiting on line before school started. He made more than $20 most mornings IIRC which was a fortune to kids our age. Today he's a lawyer...

-TECH32-

-- TECH32 (TECH32@NOMAIL.COM), February 15, 2000.


I don't think anyone has mentioned yet that sometime during the 70s is when the nation-wide highway speed limits were reduced to 55 mph. Driving 55 was supposed to reduce fuel consumption, and this speed limit stayed in effect about 20 years. Anyone want to go back to that?

I bought a Honda motorcycle, then a Civic, and also rode my bicycle alot.

-- No Polly (nopolly@hotmail.com), February 15, 2000.


There were gas lines, and the even/odd days, but the pace seemed a little slower, with fewer distractions(or do I just prefer to think so?) However I was 26 and didn't get too bothered over it, mostly what I remember about it was that we tried to invent alternative strategies to get gas; like at night; there was talk of doing alternative activities to driving, but it didn't seem to get real serious here, although one guy did shoot and kill someone who butted in front of him. (Wash,DC/Md)

-- KoFE (your@town.USA), February 15, 2000.

In 1979 I was working in a powerplant at the Cape Cod Canal. It was my job as an engineer to track and plot shipments of oil to the powerplant and track oil usage.

I used a chart which was about 4 feet tall. It started at nearly 6 million barrels of oil which was the contents of the 6 tanks at our oil tank farm. When I started the chart, the line showing oil usage was high and stayed near the top of the chart.

Then the oil crunch. Almost immediately, our fuel buyer started reporting trouble buying oil on the "spot" market. Prices were through the roof at times with spot market prices of over $100 a barrel being "asked." (The powerplant was not "taking" at that price.)

Meanwhile, our oil inventory continued to decline. About 6 weeks at full load was our "reserve." For weeks there were almost no new tankers docking to replenish our supply.

The oil inventory finally dropped to less than 100,000 barrels of oil and we were forced to "cut back" our generation to conserve oil in case no further tankers were to dock (it was winter after all and we didn't want the plant to freeze.)

Meanwhile, from the roof of the powerplant, a commanding view of Cape Cod Bay could be observed. The "arm" of the Cape as far as Providencetown could be seen. And beyond the "arm" there were at least six tankers lined up - all waiting for the spot market oil price to go up!

Every time our fuel buyer was able to strike a deal, one of these tankers would come in. Meanwhile, there didn't seem to be much action offshore.

I laugh when I think that most blame the oil crisis on the Arab states and the OPEC Accords. The truth of the matter is the American consumer is being manipulated. In this case the oil companies and the tanker owners were balancing the profit to be made against the "demurrage" that having the ships sit idle would cost. As long as the marketplace price increases equalled or exceeded the ship demurrage, the ships would stay where they were. As soon as the market "softened" or the demurrage became too great, a deal was struck and the ship landed.

I guess I don't blame the tanker owners. If I owned a tanker or it's contents, I would play the same game. And a person would be foolish not to. That's *free enterprise.*

The truth is we have done it to ourselves...

Best regards,

-- Joe (KEITH@neesnet.com), February 15, 2000.


How about the antifreeze shortage that occured. I remember going to a small town about 350 miles from home and I found antifreeze about 5 g. at pre-shortage prises. Living in a oil town I had heard that there was going to be a glycul (spelling :-( )shortage so I knew it was going to go through the roof. But it wasn't just the oil shortage that created all the other shortages it was also that the manufacturing process were not able to keep up with demand from the boomers, and of course free enterprize took advantage of the shortages and the prises went up. But shortages created and interesting world, for me anyway I have always had preps after that and always made sure my family had there needs in storage. Ya I can see that the pollys on the form who had not seen the shortages would think that we were exagerating about the y2k issues.. I can also remember that people would travel much less and made there trips count, by asking if friends or other families needed to go to the store. We would also purchase bulk items for other people knowing they would be more than happy to pay for it even if they didn't ask for it.

Justthink@memories

-- justthinkin com (justthinkin@memories.com), February 15, 2000.


I lived in Los Angeles at the time, was attending Santa Monica College. I remember the even/odd fill days based on plate numbers. Also very long lines. The two tough things about the lines were that your car would run out or overheat from all that idling, and that the lines were out in traffic so sometimes it was scary. Imagine one lane of a street blocked semi-permanently by a gas station line, that's what it was like. Anywhere there was a station there were traffic problems. They even had policemen come and direct traffic around the particularly bad spots. I remember sitting for over two hours in one particular line because I had my radio on, and they were playing "Desperado" by the Eagles, and I could hear other car radios playing the same song.

But you know what? We got over it. My next car was a VW Beetle.

-- mommacarestx (nospam@thanks.com), February 15, 2000.


One thing not mentioned is that the resulting inflation knocked the bottom out of housing prices all over the country. If you were lucky enough to work for a major corporation, and they wanted to move you, they bought your house -- then held it until they could get a decent price for it. (Sometimes years.) A whole house-buying investment industry also sprang up, firms that would buy your home quickly, if you were desperate to sell in a certain time frame, and lived in an area where they thought prices would recover in a few years. (Selling a home was otherwise a REALLY slow process, if you could move it at all.) Lots of folks saw their "equity" disappear for over a decade.

Yep, I remember the 70's. It wasn't coincidence that when we moved to the small town we now live in, we bought a home within walking or bicycling distance from the bank, hospital, supermarket, post office, etc. and have always figured gas mileage into any car purchase. The big media thing back then was that the government and industry made all kinds of overtures and promises to reduce imported oil and increase money for research and development of alternate fuels so the country would not ever have to go through the same debacle again. A common phrase was, "We've let the Arabs get a noose around our neck." Turning the lights off when you left a room, even for a few minutes, became standard family procedure. Average folks did not take vacations, but stayed at home. The tourism industry was devastated. Ideas of solar and wind power were all the rage, as well as vastly increased public transport and car-pooling. All the good citizens cried, "We've learned our lesson! We can't keep being such energy hogs!"

Umm hmmm....we did change eventually....to using even more energy and importing more oil. The one constant in life -- shortsighted, greedy human nature.

-- Bonnie Camp (bonniec@odyssey.net), February 15, 2000.


I was in orlando fl at the time(1973),owned a motorcycle and two cars.I was very popular with my friends for about 2 months as I had a 55 gal barrel of high test behind my garage,purchased the gas for about $20 also spent $20 to a friend to fill the barrel after hours.Long lines and 5 gal rationing were the norm.

-- just a thought (tigerpm@neyscape.com), February 15, 2000.

I spent my time sitting in the gas lines. Was truly angered at gas prices having jumped from $.32 to $.64 and swore that I would walk before paying $1.00 or more per gallon.

Then there was the second gas crisis when gas hit $.99, we swore a buck and a quarter was time to break out the sneakers. And not to mention being in Southern California in the late eighties when prices spiked to $1.64, but places out there were too far apart to walk.

Oh, those were the days. Boy do I wish I could find a station selling unleaded for a buck a gallon now.

WW

-- Wildweasel (vtmldm@epix.net), February 15, 2000.


At the time, we lived in a state that produced an excess of distillates. To prevent mass transfer of fuel from low price states with no shortage to high price states with a shortage, the government limited interstate shipment of gasoline [or so we were told]. All I remember is seeing gasoline lines on TV and watching our prices drop.They were giving away gifts to get people to fill up. Eventually, all of our refineries had to close because they ran out of storage capacity. [this was the big one in the early 70's]. Go figure.

Best wishes,

-- Z1X4Y7 (Z1X4Y7@aol.com), February 15, 2000.


I was home in England for a visit during the winter of 1972-1973, from December through February. The United Kingdom, like European countries and Japan, was particularly hard hit. The North Sea gas fields were not yet on-line and British dependence on OPEC oil was just about total. There were rolling blackouts all over the country. It might be that electricity was available in the morning, gas in the afternoon and nothing at night; the next day a different pattern of energy availability was in use. If electricity happened to be out during night hours, so were streetlights and traffic lights, at least in the small town where my parents lived. There wasn't much traffic anyway due to reduced petrol availability.

I very clearly remember walking to the local pub on a cloudy night, rounding a corner and colliding with a large police officer, almost invisible in his black uniform. Strong arms steadied my stumble and a rich laugh accompanied, "Third time tonight!" Pubs were in great demand as their warm candlelight and cheerful fires provided light, heat and camaraderie for the price of a pint of beer or a glass of wine.

The coalminers union forever earned the disgust of the British people when it took advantage of the situation to call a strike and hold the Brits hostage for pay increases.

Because the oil crisis in Britain hit harder and was more prolonged, and stayed in people's memories longer, and because North Sea oil is now available, any current oil crisis will have a much reduced effect. Gasoline taxes have remained high, in large part to force people to conserve and drive more economical vehicles. This is not to say there will be little effect in Britain; supply and demand are global influences. But I do not think Brits will suffer as badly as they did in 1972-73.

I found a very useful and interesting Department of Energy site about the 1970s gas crisis here. It's a goldmine of information with lots of good links.

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), February 15, 2000.


Click here to start Table of Contents at the above link.

Major Disruptions of.World Oil Supply

Imported Oil as a Percent of Total U. S. Consumption

Percent of OPEC and Persian Gulf World Oil Production

U. S. Retail Price of Gasoline

U.S. Crude Oil Prices

U. S. Natural Gas Prices

U. S. Total Petroleum Consumption

U. S. Per Capita Use of Petroleum

U. S. Government Owned Crude Oil Stocks

Cost of Finding .Oil and Gas Reserves

U. S. MPG Ratings for New Vehicles

U. S. Average Horsepower of a New Vehicle

Share of U. S. .Homes Heated With Oil

Share of U. S. Electricity Generated By Petroleum

U. S. Crude Oil Reserves

U. S. Natural Gas Reserves

Futures And Options Markets Changed Energy Marketing

U. S. Total Energy Consumption

Annual Growth in U.S..Total Energy Use

U. S. Per Capita Use of Energy

Share of U. S. World Energy Consumption

U.S. Primary Energy Consumption per Dollar of GDP

Share of U. S. Renewable Energy Consumption

U. S. Retail Price of Electricity

Percent of U. S. New Homes Built with Natural Gas Heat

Efficiency of an Average New Refrigerator in the United States

Share of U.S. Net Electric Utility Generation by Energy Source

U. S. Air Pollution

U.S. Carbon Emissions

U. S. Carbon Emissions by Sector

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), February 15, 2000.


We were in Valdez in the 70's. It was the peak of the construction on the TransAlaska Pipeline, so there was lots of money. I remember the lines at the gas stations--on television. TV was new to Valdez then, so we watched our one station avidly. Reports came in every night of some other factory somewhere shutting down and laying off thousands of employees. No lines at our two service stations, but prices were up around $1.79. Grocery prices were very high. I remember having to drive a hundred miles to find antifreeze. "Fashions" were HIDEOUS!! Tight polyester shirts with wild flower prints, bellbottom pants, platform shoes, granny glasses, go-go boots! "The" colors were turquoise, tangerine, and lime green. Gack! Eewwwww!!!

-- Liz (lizpavek@hotmail.com), February 15, 2000.

Liz:

And now if you had those fashions, they would be worth money at an auction. Go figure.

Best Wishes,,,,,,

Z

-- Z1X4Y7 (Z1X4Y7@aol.com), February 15, 2000.


One truly major result of the energy crisis in 1973-74 that a few other people here have touched upon -- an interesting economic phenomenon called "stagflation." Prices on all goods rose dramatically (inflation) even as the economy stagnated -- or rather, collapsed in some industries. Before it was over, unemployment hit 10 percent or better, I think. I remember it marked the end of the ten-cent Hershey bar.

-- Cash (cash@andcarry.com), February 16, 2000.

I remember well the gas shortages in the 70's. I was newly married and neither of us lost our jobs due to this problem. There WERE gas lines, but we turned off our cars while in line, got out and laughed and joked with the other patrons. We drove a 1968 VW beetle and used public transportation to get to work.

We didn't know anyone who was laid off due to the oil crisis. This was in a south suburb of Chicago. We didn't notice any price increases in things we needed. We CHOSE to obtain an apartment that was well below the 25% of income that was the guideline at the time, and saved quite a bit of money during the 70's. We lovingly referred to our furnishings as "early attic".

-- Anita (notgiving@anymore.thingee), February 16, 2000.


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