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Remember when?

I was working in a gas station in the early 70's when an old man comes in. He asked me to check the oil on this mustang he was driving. I lifted the hood, looked at the engine and then looked at him. He just picked up this used mustang for one of his daughters. He said they all had mustangs and this was a good deal so he bought it for her. He knew nothing about this car and the only thing he said was, I think it may be a little to strong for her, he was going to talk to her about that. None of the other daughter had a mustang quite like this one. A 1969 Ford Mustang Boss 429. Not quite like the Ford Shelby GT500, but, man what a car!! A half a million dollar today!!
 
When the Evel Knievel influence was strong . . .

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I got my license in late summer of ‘78, and for some reason I can still remember filling up the Challenger I bought in late fall for the first time, at an EZ Go gas station and premium was 75.9c a gallon.
We had a couple bad snowy winters then, and a lot of people bought 4WD SUVs like Broncos and Blazers. By ’81 gas prices were shooting up to around $1.35 a gallon for regular, and all those people who bought those 8-9 mpg SUVs where freaking out about gas prices and dumping them.
I bought a 2 year old Bronco from a young couple for about half its sticker price. They were buying a new diesel Audi!
Talk about chasing fads and making bad choices…
I was making around $7 an hour working part time at a grocery store and living with my parents while going to community college and working part time, so gas prices didn’t bother me at all.
You need to factor in inflation when seeing vintage prices, that $1.35 in ‘81 was probably over $4 in todays dollars.
 
Cheap gas yes. I made $3. an hour at the Phillips 66 station back in the early 70's. It took years of full time employment before I made $20, 000 a year. It is all relative. Now my Social Security check is about that.
Lol, I was at the same time on the same pay scale at our local DX station.
Fast forward to 1980 I walked into the door of Oscar Mayer and started at $10.?? Per hr.
Felt like I had hit the lottery.
 
In the early 70s, I made $2.10 an hour, working as a dishwasher and busboy in the Penn State student union building cafeteria, an hourly wage about four times the price of a gallon of gas at the time. I had two reasons for working a job that paid lower than average wages, even for that era - I was one of only two males (I think the other guy was gay) working with two dozen young women, many of whom I dated, and I got employee meals for 50 cents, which usually included a pound of choice roast beef left over from banquets the night before. With the current price of diesel, my truck profit works out to about the same ratio, if I don't load both ways.
 
Lol, I was at the same time on the same pay scale at our local DX station.
Fast forward to 1980 I walked into the door of Oscar Mayer and started at $10.?? Per hr.
Felt like I had hit the lottery.


My first job in 1975 was as a bag boy at the local supermarket making 1.85 per hour. At ten bucks an hour, you really were raking in the dough!
 
My first job in 1975 was as a bag boy at the local supermarket making 1.85 per hour. At ten bucks an hour, you really were raking in the dough!
Back in 68-69, I worked as a bag boy, making about that 1.85 I think. The real money was in tips. Even though there was a sign saying tipping not required, most of the customers tipped anyway. All the bag boys recognized the big tippers and there was a race to get to that register. So you bag the groceries, take them out to the car, put the bags in the car and a lot of the time you made more in five minutes than you did in an hour of wages. Anywhere close to Christmas time, we really racked in the dough.
I always double bagged the cold stuff and packed similar items together. Now, they put in a few items in a plastic bag, bananas and canned good together who cares.
 
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My first paycheck came from delivering 235 blue sheet papers once a week. When I got inserts, that was another .5 cent each. Doesn't sound like much, but an Aurora 1969 Charger R/T was $3. I was happy to work, even in the Spring rains. I had least 1/2 dozen different colors
 
My first job in 1975 was as a bag boy at the local supermarket making 1.85 per hour. At ten bucks an hour, you really were raking in the dough!
I hear you RC, it was 2 decent jumps in wage during the 70s.
Like Mike it was service station work at $3 Got married in 76 and got a job in a foundry at $7 then went all the way up to $10 at the slaughter house in 1980 plus benefits. The 1st 90 days was a riot, they gave us every crap job in the book. Lol.
 
I hear you RC, it was 2 decent jumps in wage during the 70s.
Like Mike it was service station work at $3 Got married in 76 and got a job in a foundry at $7 then went all the way up to $10 at the slaughter house in 1980 plus benefits. The 1st 90 days was a riot, they gave us every crap job in the book. Lol.
Oh my, your first ninety days working a slaughterhouse had to be offal:eek:.
 
1964 minimum wage 1.05 per hour. Gallon of gas Canadian, about 5 quarts US, .47 cents, pack of 25 cigarettes .53. Might have been reversed .
 
Oh my, your first ninety days working a slaughterhouse had to be offal:eek:.
Rendering was a pretty dick job, took a few years to get it that easy. Those guys had their own little break area with a water cooler & coffee pot.
 
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