How much is your local "Trump at the Pump Tax?"

Youngin' I remember filling my '65 Corvair in 1976 for a bit more than $5. (14 gallon tank, but I never let it go below 1/4 full.)

 

Wherever being nearly 60 is a youngin', remind me to give to the VFW

Perhaps don't remember such halcyon days, as grew up in Hawai'i -- where even in the '70s, everything was at a premium.

Do remember my Dad's '70 Dodge Colt was a little 4-spd rocket that easily got 25 mpg, as only the single enthusiasts kept their 396 Chevelles and 440 Chargers -- and there were a lot of those uncles cruising large downtown, in a then-dying breed of vehicle (now replaced by Tahoes and RAMs or course)

 

Yeah, the lack of service centers does have me worried. We used to have both a Chevy and a Ford dealerships that both went out of business. Now the closest places are about 70 miles away or so. Startups like Tesla throw another wrench into things as their closest service centers are "hours away."

Sometimes I don't know if I should:

1. Interview every mechanic in town and see what kinds of vehicles they will work on (there are things they can't even fix on my Toyota).
2. Just buy whatever, because nearly every other car needs to be towed several hours away to be worked on.
3. Go back to something that I can fix myself. Maybe a VW Type 3 Squareback.

 

I had a mostly '72/'74, slightly '75 Dodge Colt.

 

Ford CEO had a peculiar statement the other day about right to repair, cited here (and many other places):

Ford CEO Jim Farley’s Right To Repair Comment Should Make Every Car Owner Uncomfortable

I'm firmly in the "manufacturers must provide a link to a free PDF copy of the service manual" and "repair manual and CAD diagrams of all automotive parts must be held in escrow and released with no IP encumbrance automatically to the public if the manufacturer ceases operation or stops making the part" camps. But I am some kind of commie socialist sicko because I think both throw away cars and corporate monopoly service (as typified by John Deere) are terrible ideas.

 

Aw you ancient-of-days folks are funny! I remember helping my Dad (helping just means getting yelled out because I didn't point the light right) in the 1970's while he worked on his old Chevy pickup truck. The engine bay was so big you could sit up on the side of it and get in there....I remember asking about the distributor cap and all the wires coming off of it. (No A/C, no complicated EVAP system, just engine and manually tranny....I think it was a 4-speed with shifter on the steering column.
I remember watching my neighbors (some great Hispanic brothers) working for weeks on an old Pinto....I'd go over and watch and talk to them and they were putting a V-8 from a Mustang into the Pinto to surprise folks out on the street, during races! They finally got her going and it wasn't a month when it was gone....asked about it and they had wrecked it!!! I was disappointed I never got to go out for a ride in her.

 

LOL yeah not too often I get out-geezered. Not saying it can't happen tho, to be clear

---

Just gotten my 2nd (3rd?) leave of a fledgling military career... and of course back then well-homesick, always took it back home. This time I'd rented a 5.0L Mustang GT droptop (as I worked at BRAC in HS and the old staff who remembered me gave me the now-illegal 'vip' rate -- $150 a week Not bad, even considering how much more $150 could buy in late '80s...

Anyway had been enjoying the massive amts of FI'd 302 torque (compared to my HS '75 Corolla SR5, anyway) and top-down cruising... when a Pinto pulled up behind at a light, just a bit too close to the trousers... with a round air filter poking thru a hole in the hood. Local ne'er-do-good behind the wheel, matching gaze in the rear view, that sort of Local redneck

Was circa late-'80s, so none of the current lights and alterations on the road we were on, existed yet to prevent what we were about to do. Just like in BRAC days (shuttling cars between parts of the island), we'd occasionally sneak a few gallons of premium into the tank, run the heater core full-hot a few mins to cool off that lump of '60s cast iron (old bracket drag racing trick)... and find a moment. I'd also changed the oil myself to Mobil1 synthetic first day... all of these things costing maybe $15 and a bit of wrenching

On green, buried the throttle, and saw the Pinto recede over the first quarter mile or so... but holy crap, was growing in my mirror! Knowing about the 302 / 351W swaps from Hot Rod (back then, you had to read things called 'periodical magazines' to know any tricks ), figured that must be it, as the car itself was an as-is powder-blue pile.

What I knew it didn't have tho, were 225/60VR15 Gatorback tires at all corners... so at point about a mile past the light, where a small pull-off and parking lot were (~ 0.25 mi further south past the then-nonexistent Hokiokio Place to the Lahaina Bypass -- still there), got into ABS at what had to be 90 mph, made the turn and pulled off, getting myself turned around to head back into town... and seeing if this townie was going to follow.

Pinto, on the usual redneck fatties & shimmed leafs in the back / dragster skinnies in front, screeched out of control on the left and skidded with a massive cloud of dust in the red gravel and volcanic dirt in front the lot, to the horror of those in it. He'd done a full 360, nearly rolling and skidding onto boulders buried in the beach verge. I'd pulled away calmly but posthaste, as didn't want to be there when cops showed up -- and parked the 'Stang in the garage the rest of the afternoon

Ah, the days of being young and confident in stupid, irresponsible, short-sighted red-mist shens. Lasted longer for me than most rational adults I reckon... my dance card's well-punched-out

 

Remember taking on a phase 3 GTHO shaker XY Ford with the full Bathurst pack engine goodies, 4V heads, 351 Cleveland fully balanced and 850 Holley a high rise manifold .... I was driving a 4 cyl Aussie mini K, the usual side by side at the lights, and the look, so to improve the odds, I pulled out a $50 note and waved it, big eyes and two $50 notes waved back, matched the 2 notes and the bet and race was on, maybe a bit over 1/4 mile to the next set of light. The Ford erupted in a cloud of tyre smoke and over fuel exhaust, the mini, over bored to 1375, twin 45mm weber carbies cut in half so a full fuel bowl for each throat and a straight run into the intake port ..... I had 3 mini lengths on him by the next set of light and eased off to let things settle a bit and lose some speed over the next mile to the mega store parking lot at the end of that part of town ..... I had the mini back to the 50mph for that stretch by the time we crossed the speed change sign, I reckon the Ford must have been still over 80mph and out of nowhere, the party lights came on behind a cluster of trees and after the GTHO ..... I reckon he must have dropped back to 2nd, the rear end squatted and the thing took off like it had been shot in the tail ..... the cops got to watch it vanish into the distance, nothing was going to catch a GTHO with a rolling start back in those days

I delivered the customer his mini a few days later, I was only dyno tuning it I mentioned the drag race with the Ford and to act dumb if the Police pulled him over for a chat .... he just laughed and shock his head .... never did get the $100 or see the Ford around town again

T1 Terry

 

Awesome, with sauce

Had a father who were petulantly-determined to stay ignorant of machines (thus his son too, as couldn't have a child surpass him )... so no real iron in the fam -- had to leave Maui and seek my own respites in motorcycles -- to the horror of two elder generations. And no regrets

I understand cars and performance iron are pretty well-soaked into Australian culture? Much like it were a continuation of the WWII-era drag and roadrace scene in SoCA -- just with Barras with spools the size of your head smashing drag strips and V8 roadracing (meaning they turn both ways), like we wished we had (we don't deserve nice things -- got Commodores in Pontiac guise largely unchanged, 6-spds and original dampers, the lot... and tanked like a lead zeppelin ). Envious of those who had a petrol-soaked upbringing; I were playing catch-up from aged 20, really...

It's always a neat feeling getting a few lengths over the line, with a 'cute' car? Always loved q-ships, and tbh the 5G Prius is exactly that, both off the line and thru the corners (can't help it, were a sportsbike rider / commuter all my adult life... corners are where men live, not the straights).

But in a h2h -- esp with a Mini -- satisfying to see physics (low mass, static and rotational) + wise mods, topple the ever-present glandular bolt-on beeyotch

 

My Tesla charging from 50:50, grid and solar so no direct effect on me. But running my errands this Friday morning, there was very little traffic and the parking lots were mostly empty. Where are the other customers and service vans?

One suggested early vacation for next weekends 4th of July.

Bob Wilson

 

Are they at home or sports bars to watch futbol?

 

around here, everyone left for their summer homes last weekend. pulled kids out of school early, as they know nothing is learned the last few days

 

School is already out around here.

At the time and place I went to public school, parents pulling students out of class for vacation was not a thing. Or an excused absence.

 

Yeah that could keep you from graduating, if the school wanted to press the issue here in my day.

But likewise, my last few days as a senior were yep, at school but defo f***ing around, at least whilst avoiding the usual asbos, moist looking for an excuse to do their thing -- held back a year? To them, just like last year

 

school isn't like it was in our day. it wasn't like it for my kids or their kids.
why-us-test-scores-are-generation-long-decline
grade-inflation-in-us-schools-linked-to-lower-earnings-study-finds
whats-behind-the-decade-long-learning-recession-for-american-students
and this doesn't even get into the problems with teachers, students and parents

 

Back on topic, strategic oil reserve at lowest level since 1983:

https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/oil-stocks-us-strategic-petroleum-reserve-fall-by-55-million-lowest-level-since-2026-06-29/

Total capacity (if full) is said to be 713 million barrels and it is about 45% full.

 

$3.60 yesterday

 

Bought half a tank yesterday at $3 and another a couple hundred miles away at $3.82, but also drove past plenty of $4.80s and thereabouts. Crazy.

 

I've seen some crazy days where prices are all over the place as you go by gas stations. But it seems to have settled at $4.39 here in the area and hasn't really moved from there for several days.

 

$3.029 is the current lowest price in my 6-county turf.....with earl futures in the high 60s.

Not quite post-emancipation pricing but I put the give-a-crap switch in the "don't" position when petrol is sub-$3 - regardless of what is going on inside the beltway.