£5 gallon

It is, a bit, due to my being unable to read column headings.

RPI index for 11/1973 was 97.4 (01/1974 = 100)

RPI index for 10/2007 was 824.1

(http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/tsdtables1.asp?vlnk=mm23)

So that means £1 in November 1973 would equate to £8.46 now. Or your
1973 fiver would be £42 quid now. Meaning the 12 gallons it takes to
fill my tank would cost £507 in 2007 money.

Even with the corrected maths, that's a **** of a lot of money. I think
Grimly may be on the money saying that £100/tank would be a more likely
trigger point. But it wouldn't change driving habits as such, it'd mean
I'd be driving a 60mpg car, not a 30mpg one, and car manufacturers would
have found a way to get similar performance from half the fuel. Most
likely by making them lighter - even the smallest urban motorised
fag-packet weighs a ton and a half these days.

 

A 1979 pound was worth 37p in 1973 money (see other post). Ignore
inflation at your peril.

 

It costs almost 100 quid to fill my car's tank. Fortunately I only do
this once or twice a month. Still doesn't put me off driving.

 

Well, in my original post I referred to the distance that tank would get
me, rather than the tankful itself. How far does that ton get you? 600
miles?

 

350-400 miles.

 

I don't think my Range Rover is far off that now...


--
Pete M - OMF#9
"Save your breath for cooling your porridge!
W&P Range Rover V8 Turbo
Scorpio Ultima 24v
Tatra 805

 

Jesus christ.

I got rid of the pug because it was putting in 17mpg tanks. The Leon's
not great at 29-ish mpg but the consumption is, at least, less than the
mileage rate I get from work.

 

The first I knew of fuel costing over the £/litre mark was when the
van I drive cost nearly £85 to fill and my immediate reaction was to
laugh at how close I'd been to running out.

A quick look at my expenses sheets tell me I shoved over £500 of
diesel through that van last month. That's not too bad when you
consider that I booked just under 40 hours as traveling time rather
than time on site.

 

Nice. My van does about 750 miles/£100 but the miles per pound is
dropping like a stone atm.

 

Of course; and that, more than anything else, made it possible for the
gloomsters to ignore their earlier pronouncements. Mind you, it's always
understood in these predictions that we'd be talking about 'real' values
in current terms, ie "I'll give up driving when it reaches £1/gal in
1973 prices". [1]

I still don't recall anyone at that time talking about the possibility
of £5/gal at that time, though it certainly became a very real prospect
later on.

[1] As you probably know already, the mid to late 70s were a dream
period for picking up great old cars for peanuts - Personally, E-types
for a couple of hundred, Interceptors for £400, because everybody
thought the only way for fuel prices was up (in real terms). Nobody
could foresee that fuel prices would stabilise and in real terms become
amazingly cheap for a period of two decades.
I also believed the days of cheap fuel were gone forever, and didn't buy
the aforementioned Jag or Jensen, much to my later regret.
--
Dave
GS850x2 XS650 SE6a

Teach a man to fish and he and his pikey mates will have the
river cleaned out in a day.

 

Two cars that I really thought I should invest in. Not both but one of
them. Both were offered to me really cheap about that time. In hind
sight I really wish I had bought one. But I expect my ex would have
involved that in the "What's yours is mine and what's mine is my own."
Debate that came later.

Since I moved up to Nar-f*ck I did consider taking on a GT40 replica but
made the ultimate, classic, error.

I had a half finished project offered to me, local. Rolling chassis on
skinny wheels with gear box, no engine, big ally wheels, no tyres, and
all the glass, interior and dials in T chests. Now it was offered to me
to take on, within a day or two of looking for one. It was about £5,000
ono. I thought if they come that fast I'll be choosy and let it go. Now
I find out the guy could have asked £15k and some and had his hand bit
off.
Bugger!

 

Once upon a time I was 5' 10" but I'm shrinking. Maybe 5' 9" now.

I've been in a Holman Moody prepared Ford GT40 as a passenger around
Brands. It was maintained/serviced by Piper Engineering. It was road
legal! Awesome. The guy who took me round, told me to brace my feet on
the bottom of the foot well and to pull the full harness down tight then
fold my arms.

"Why fold my arms?" I asked.
Answer:
"So bits of you don't start flying around when I start to push it."
Or some thing like that.

My dear old Dad called my TVR MkIIa and AIF car.

He was 6 foot plus and the only way in to it was 'Arse In First'.

Oh yes!

 

I had a chat with a tall GT40 owner at a classic day at Silverstone. He was
about 6'4". His GT40 had a modified roof to accommodate his height.
http://www.paintingsofcars.com/sdp242_Ford_GT40_gulf.jpg shows a Le Mans
winning car similarly equipped.

There were several cars, in those Gulf colours, there on the day.
Unfortunately they only did a sedate parade lap. Some of the other, often
older, cars were driven properly fortunately. Including a highly
entertaining 1960s touring car race. A MkI Lotus Cortina won with a BMW
2002 second.

 

Iirc, the Rocket 'box was the one to get, but I unrecall if that had
straight-cut gears (I've a feeling it didn't, though it was strong). The
noisiness of his box is undoubtedly due to the S/C gears in it, as it's
the only way of ensuring un-stripped teeth in a box that size. Hewland
and others would build a S/C box to order in those days, for an
astronomical sum, of course.
--
Dave
GS850x2 XS650 SE6a

Teach a man to fish and he and his pikey mates will have the
river cleaned out in a day.

 

Accompanied by the sound of a chisel on slate Grimly

The Rocket 'box was the one in the Mk1 Escort Mexico. Reverse next to second
gear, IIRC.

Not to be confused with the 2000E 'box.

--
Pete M - OMF#9
"Save your breath for cooling your porridge!
W&P Range Rover V8 Turbo
Scorpio Ultima 24v
Tatra 805