one guy with a dual tank truck installed a resistor in the fuel tank level indicator wiring behind the dash, and when he went to a gas station, would flip a hidden switch, so it would show the attendant on the gas gauge that barely any fuel was in the truck... then fuel up one of the tanks, or top off them both, tank the truck home, siphon the gas out to a holding tank (like the 5 hundred gallon natural gas tanks many houses had) and then take the truck to different gas station to refill.
Many gas stations only would allow vehicles with license plates that had some even or odd number in the sequence to fill up on certain days. Hey, I wasn't old enough to go to school! I don't know the many methods for only allowing a very few people to get gas, but, I do remember waiting in the non air conditioned car for 15-30 minutes every time mom had to gas up in 1974-75ish. I even remember the station she went to. I was 3 or 4. It was next to the laundromat she went to... it's ridiculous what your brain holds onto and makes available... never the answers to the trigonometry test in high school... nope.
Thursday, April 25, 2024
I was just told about a great trick used during the OPEC oil crisis gas rations times, when gas stations would only fill you up if you had less than a 1/4 tank....
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New York State was an odd even state. The little village of Bridgeport where I lived didn't really experience the difficulties getting gas as most of the larger surrounding villages or cities. I was fueling up (not filling up) a 64 Chevy Bel Air station wagon. My first car and taste of freedom at 16 years old!!!
ReplyDeleteoh wow! A station wagon at 16! What a great high school car! Lucky guy! Did you get the usual experiences with it? The whole gang of friends for camping, picnics, school games, concerts, and drive ins?
DeleteThat would be a a terrific movie, a kid with a station wagon, small town upstate with a big lake... a summer between high school years
I had a Chevy one ton dual wheel crew cab for my everyday driver. Dual side tanks and a 150 gallon bed tank. Would hotshot parts for a oilfield equipment manufacturer and had paperwork as vital to the nation autheration. Texas was on the even-odd day but no one ever questioned me filling up. Longest run I made was from Fort Worth to Scranton, PA straight through. Had to pul the bed tank as I needed the room. Picked up a relief driver in west Tennessee and away we went to the old Go X Black Powder plant with a big hydraulic power unit as they had blown up one of the powder storage bunkers. Could not imagine that much powder needed for muzzleloaders. Told me it was for the Navy and those 16" guns on the battleships. What a education I got. Will have to fill you in later.
ReplyDeletewhoa... hauling black powder! Dangerous only when their is a collision... but sure would make me drive a LOT more safer!
DeleteIf your license plate ended with an odd number you could buy gas on odd-numbered days. Even number, even-numbered days.
ReplyDeleteI remember a newspaper story about a woman who insisted that "0" was an odd number.
I also remember that when gas got up to $1.00 a gallon, my Dad bought a locking gas cap.