I’m Fixing To Go Fill My Car Up with Gas.
(Editor’s Note: Ted Dunagan is on Sabbatical from writing his column. For the next few weeks, The Monticello News will feature some columns that ran previously.)
I’m fixing to go fill my car up with gas.
I used to have two vehicles, but I had to sell one of them in order to be able to afford gas in the other. That money will run out soon, so I’m contemplating selling the car I have left and purchasing a 1960 Volkswagen Bug. Those little suckers still get over 40 miles to a gallon.
I remember when I could buy a brand new VW Bug for just over $1,200. You probably can’t even buy a used Ugo for that these days. I could also put 10 gallons of gas in that bug for $1.70. That’s seventeen cents a gallon in case you don’t have a calculator handy.
And then I could drive from the Fourth of July until almost Thanksgiving before the needle would start bouncing off empty.
Besides a tank of gas for that $1.70, I also got my windshield washed, my radiator topped off, my oil checked, my tire pressure checked and usually Bubba or Goober, which ever one was working that day, would tell me who Candy Sue came cruising through with last night and how close she was sitting next to him.
If you bought 50 cents worth of gas today it wouldn’t get you as far as the next stop sign. But in 1961, it would take you about 120 miles, and even further if you coasted down hills.
Back then when you drove, you drove. You didn’t sit bumper-to-bumper for hours and no one had ever heard of a traffic jam. The closest thing to one was on Saturday mornings when we all flocked to the Sinclair Station and sat underneath that sign with the big green dinosaur on it and bragged about our Friday night escapades.
Someone told me that the Arabs must own this country with the price of gas what it is today. I told them I didn’t believe that to be true because I didn’t think the Japanese had sold it to them yet.
I’m finally pulling into the gas station and I see they raised the price again since yesterday.
How does the price for a barrel of oil go up yesterday and the increase takes effect at the service station today? Don’t they have to refine it and transport it? Shouldn’t that take a few weeks?
I’m fixing to get me a horse.