Reached yesterday in Devon. 109.9p per litre for BP ultimate diesel for the cage. Mark
A local independent garage selling "callow" diesel charges £1.10 Typical price at a major chain is £1.03 at the mo - 10p a litre more than it was a month back.
Sucking his keyboard for inspiration, Mark typed: Well, that's taken long enough! During the oil crisis of 1973, I remember reading an article in one of the tabloids where they asked people how expensive petrol would have to be before they cut back on their motoring. The general consensus was that the price would have to hit a fiver a gallon before most people would take radical steps to reduce their mileage. This was at a time when 4-star had rocketed to about 70p a gallon (15.4p per litre for the young 'uns). Earlier that year, I had ridden from Leeds to Bangor (N Wales) with all my worldly goods on a C70 for the princely total of 30p.
It's supposed to be 'The older you get, the *faster* you were.' not *more economical*. So what was the price of fuel in early '73 and how economical was your C70?
But the weekly wage was ten bob and a fish supper was tuppence. -- Dave GS850x2 XS650 SE6a Teach a man to fish and he and his pikey mates will have the river cleaned out in a day.
I was a part-time pump-monkey in '72-'73 and I seem to recall it was 37.5p/gallon - about 8p a litre. The pumps had pre-measures and most people put exactly four or eight gallons in - nice and easy to do the maths. I was being paid just under two quid for an eight-hour shift - enough for sixteen pints of ale!
Sucking his keyboard for inspiration, Eiron typed: Genuine lol. Long time ago, but ISTR that when I made that journey (several times) it was in the region of 30p a gallon. The C70 had a capacity of 0.9 gallons, and I had to refill at Llanfairfechan, making the journey total around a gallon. This was before the M62, and the mileage was 150-odd. All of that could be bollocks, mind, as I've lost a fair few brain cells since then, and probably the ones with the correct information in. <fx: wavy lines, hypnotic music> Leeds - Huddersfield - over the Pennines - through Oldham and Manchester - Warrington - Connah's Quay - Rhyl - Bangor. With 14 stone of student, guitar in hard case, large rucksack on rear rack, small rucksack between legs, another small rucksack worn on back, two tiny panniers. I had some amazing state-of-the-art riding kit. Leather Brando-stylee jacket, nylon anorak over the top, jeans, long johns, fireman's boots with kneesocks, leather mitts. And a jet-style helmet with a bubble visor. ****, I must have looked a sight. And ****, it was cold in winter. Back in the room. That bike took me all over the country and never let me down. My first bike, I passed my test on it, and I loved it. Why I sold it for an East European POS that had bigger numbers on the side panels I will never know.
Sucking his keyboard for inspiration, Grimly Curmudgeon typed: Never! Oh, *that* kind of fish supper.
Those were the days eh? I used to keep a halfcrown tucked away as a get you home petrol allowance. -- +-------------------------------------------------------------+ | Pete Fisher at Home: | | Voxan Roadster Gilera Nordwest Yamaha WR250Z | | Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 | +-------------------------------------------------------------+
70p/hour working 12 hour shifts at the local bakery and £10 / night playing middle of the road music in the local working mens clubs driving test cost £3.70
So a five a gallon in 1973, given inflation, would be equivalent to what now? Given the state of public transport in these parts, I can't imagine how expensive petrol would have to be for me to even consider an alternative.
This is, I presume, a 1973 fiver? The equivalent in 2007 money, based on a change in RPI from 10 to 207, is about 100 quid a gallon. I think I might change my driving habits long before fuel became so expensive it'd cost me a grand every 320 miles.
Sucking his keyboard for inspiration, ogden typed: The point was that in 1973, the prospect of a £5 gallon was a reality (or so we thought) within a couple of months. In fact, it took 34 years for it to reach that level. I won't argue with your maths, but it seems wrong. The "too-expensive" gallon felt like about £25 at today's prices, rather than £100. A bit like a fiver a litre would seem today.
A pound a gallon was the fear point, not a fiver. -- Dave GS850x2 XS650 SE6a Teach a man to fish and he and his pikey mates will have the river cleaned out in a day.
Sucking his keyboard for inspiration, Grimly Curmudgeon typed: Not the fear point, but the point at which the majority of those polled said they would either give up or substantially reduce their motoring. If we are disagreeing on whose memory is the least faulty, fine, but it's how I remember it.
I remember someone wanted to swap his 3.4 litre jag for my 850 mini around that time unfortunately not a practical swap on a student grant
