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.