That looks like a corner in Chicago where there is a Mickey D's now.

 

Well - I ended up buying the place in July of this year! I will be out there working on it trying to bringing it back to the former glory in the 1947 black and white pic.....

 

That's very cool Ed. That place is a long ways from home for you though.
I just looked it up and it's only 20 minutes from my daughters college. I will need to find it when I'm down there next.

 

So, I guess Gasohol wasn't a 70's thing after all.

 

Very interesting to to know that from the vintage picture. Of course the pic is owned by the Nebraska State Historical Society.

I wonder how much cheaper corn gas was compared to real gas in that day? And was it worth it?

Notice the ears of corn hanging from the pumps.

 

It probably wasn't any cheaper, but more likely a way for the corn belt folks to "stick together" in the depression era, before the days of government subsidies. You can see the slogan at the bottom of the sign, to the background right; "Development means cornbelt prosperity." Likely E10 didn't work any better then than it does today, if not worse.

 

I wonder how many problems it caused with various makes and models with rubber seals, o-rings, diaphragms, etc. 😱

 

Awesome!!!! Keep us posted!

 

I wonder if it was a way for the distilleries to stay in business during prohibition? Can anybody give me some years on those cars? Is the year 33 on the bottom left of the photo? I totally missed the corn hanging from the pumps.

 

I would date the cars early 30s. If you have not done so, expand the corn gas picture and you can scroll to other very neat pictures of old gas stations. Photobucket

 

It looks like the date is 4/11/33..... Good eyes...
The 21st Amendment was ratified on Dec 5, 1933. This ended Prohibition by repealing the 18th amendment. So maybe distilleries did make corn alcohol for gas to stay in business. Good theory Car nut. That will take more research.

 

I did that after you mentioned it. Those are some amazing shots. And I remember paying those prices for gas when I was a teenager driving my '57 Ford.

 

Anyone remember the gas price wars of the early 60s? I do because i was working part time at a service station while in HS. The station was owned by the oil company and my boss leased it by a certain cents per gallon pumped rather than a flat rent. He received a similar amount per gallon profit, any profits derived from service work was his to keep, he was required to buy the staples such as oil and air filters, batteries, motor oil, from the oil company. The oil company therefore owned the gas in the storage tanks and could set the selling price at whatever the market would bear. The year of the price wars the competing oil company stations would be ordered to adjust (lower) their prices several times a day! This strategy was also designed to drive the operator owned stations out of business since they had to buy their reserves at whatever the prevailing price their supplier was charging on the delivery day. If they wanted to try and compete for gas sales they were often forced to sell below cost. If their profits were primarily derived from gas sales and they hadn't set aside large cash reserves when profitable they were soon forced into bankruptcy. I clearly remember our district manager calling on the phone at least 4 times a day. First thing he would ask is what price the company owned station across the street was selling their gas at? Then he would have us reduce our price immediately to a penny less. During the hours I was working, immediately after "the call", I would have to get out the step ladder, climb up and change the price signs to the new price, then open the pumps and change the selling price. Of course the oil company across the street was doing the same thing, cutting our price, so I was spending more time changing numbers than pumping gas. I remember it getting as low as 17.9 cents per gallon!!!! Customers were filling up on the change in their pockets!

 

I remember pricing and the gas wars quite well. It was common to burn over a hundred gallons a weekend between tow vehicle and boat.
Go here for an inflation adjusted pricing on gas. Wars not included.

Historical Gas Prices in the United States

 

It's tough to wade through inflation figures because the government has a bias towards understating the actual rate. The official figure moving a fraction of a point can translate into huge increases in outlays for social security for example.

One thing to look at is how much fuel an hours worth of labor will buy. Minimum wage in the 60s was $1.25, so a teenager working at the Sonic could buy roughly 5 gallons. Today it might buy 2, although this is offset by better fuel economy.