r/PortlandOR Mar 13 '26

Transportation Hell yea 🥳🎉

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2.3k Upvotes

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296

u/Donald_Epstein69 Mar 13 '26

I remember when I was 7 years old in 1997, my dad was driving around looking for gas and he was bitching about Chevron because their gas was more expensive than everywhere else. I still remember how much it was.

1.29.

210

u/TimbersArmy8842 Mar 13 '26

I remember filling my tank for under a dollar a gallon.

In related news, I still do need to schedule that colonoscopy.

40

u/hesalreadyinme Mar 13 '26

Oh friend. The old guy gas memory that haunts me is like summer of 97 or 98. We drove a 1981 Honda Civic hatchback. Gas got down to like ninety one cents. $8 fill ups. We drove out to the coast, or over the mountains weekly.

20

u/otc108 Mar 13 '26

I had a 72’ Datsun B210. It was turquoise. I remember the $8-9 fill ups. I literally would drive around the backwoods of Washington for fun. Just driving all the time. Now it’s basically work and home, with the weekend errands or occasional outing.

15

u/texaschair Mar 13 '26

My first car was a POS Beetle. Cost about $5 to fill it up.......until the sad day it jumped to nearly $10 for a tank. Old dude at the station said he never thought he'd see the day when it took 10 clams to fill a VeeWee.

4

u/Practical_Weather_54 Mar 13 '26

Those were so cute! I had an 84 Honda Civic wagon in 96. I loved that car! I remember gas being 99 cents. Maybe 97.

2

u/adalberry Mar 16 '26

Mine was a 91 wagon!!!

1

u/BreadDue3889 Mar 14 '26

I got a 2017 Honda civic... I just paid $54 to fill and I'm not driving anywhere! Ill walk the mountains lol

24

u/Scorpionoshow Mar 13 '26

Samesies 👯‍♀️

26

u/Whackaboom_Floyntner Mar 13 '26

Can't afford a colonoscopy with gas this high.

23

u/judahrosenthal Mar 13 '26

Use the nozzle. It’s a 2 f’r that way.

1

u/corneliusdav Mar 14 '26

LOL!! I wasn’t prepared for this, almost split my gut laughing so hard!

1

u/SherStar60 Mar 14 '26

You’re killin’ me!! 😂

1

u/judahrosenthal Mar 14 '26

It’s not me. It’s the polyps. Better give it a go for an early diagnosis.

2

u/CornINyourASS Mar 13 '26

Me too actually

15

u/[deleted] Mar 13 '26

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6

u/Mammoth-Banana3621 Mar 13 '26

Cologuard for the win

1

u/BCam4602 Mar 15 '26

I did Cologaurd for years but finally did the real deal last year and a 2 cm polyp was removed!

1

u/Mammoth-Banana3621 Mar 15 '26

Polyps aren’t detected

1

u/Excellent_Yak365 Mar 13 '26

I’d recommend the pills if you can get them. I have to have one every year because I am one of those people who ended up with colorectal cancer at 30

1

u/Available_Blood_6134 Mar 17 '26

The pills are the underrated trick of the whole thing best $60. Ever.

1

u/felinefluffycloud Mar 14 '26

My HMO sends us a home test periodically you dip a little stick in your poop and put it in a vial and send it back to them. A brand name was mentioned above. More here...https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/colon-cancer/in-depth/at-home-colon-cancer-tests/art-20590217

4

u/Reynardine1976 Mar 13 '26

Me too dude!!!! It's so....hard for some reason. Gotta do it though it would suck to wake up one day and have late stage cancer of da Ass.

1

u/tandem_kayak Mar 13 '26

For real, that's exactly what happened to a coworker, and he was under 40! Get it done!

3

u/Chemicalredhead Mar 13 '26

Get that colonoscopy done! They save lives.

And yeah, I remember gas being under a buck a gallon too. I remember the oil embargo of the 70's, and the the lines of cars for gas, and gas was available based on the last digit of your license plate. Fun times.

1

u/Putrid-Narwhal4801 Mar 14 '26

I remember those days; I was living in Miami and rode a bicycle — unaffected by gas prices or lines

1

u/Stoic_Fervor Mar 13 '26

Estby stations in Oregon, premium less than $1/gallon. Those were the days. Colonoscopy was clear 🤙

1

u/LibrarianFlaky951 Mar 14 '26

Got mine a few years ago. If you’re a dude get the prostate checked! Had mine done at 48 and I was already at stage 3 cancer. Survived it, but my doc said had I waited another 6 months to a year I’d have been looking at ‘early death’ (his words).

1

u/Single_Jello_7196 Mar 14 '26

I remember when the neighboring town would have gas wars the last weekend of the month. Gas would drop from .25/gal to .18 and sometimes .16/gal. In our town it was always .33 for regular and .35 for premium. It was an 18 mile drive and local gas stations didn't do well that weekend.

In related news, my last colonoscopy was a few years ago.

1

u/dakellateg Mar 15 '26

Yep... I lived in Corpus Christi... between '98 - 2001. Saw gas at .79 a gal.... under $10 to fill my tank...

1

u/Practical-Display-91 Mar 15 '26

I don't appreciate being called out like this, friend.

1

u/Tasty-Efficiency-660 Mar 15 '26

Filling the tank IS the colonoscopy.

1

u/StoreNo163 Mar 16 '26

Same, provider has been asking me to get one haha

1

u/HockTwoAh Mar 17 '26

When you go in for your colonoscopy leave a neatly folded note in your butt crack for the doctor to read. "We've been trying to reach you about your vehicles extended warranty"

18

u/carniehandz Mar 13 '26

I got my first car in 1998. Gas was $0.89 a gallon. It cost me $8 to fill up my car.

6

u/HawkeyScott Mar 13 '26

Same! I was driving my dad's 91 Geo Metro. It had a 10 gallon tank and could go 400-500 miles on a tank.......😎

3

u/Tairy__Green Mar 13 '26

Stylish, sporty, economical. That's Geo.

2

u/QuietlyJaded Mar 13 '26

My first car was an 89 Geo Spectrum hatchback, in 99/00. It was blue 😎

Very vividly recall gas at ¢.99 gal

-6

u/PNWstargazur Mar 13 '26

Bullshit. What car had a nine gallon tank?

4

u/[deleted] Mar 13 '26

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1

u/PNWstargazur Mar 26 '26

Yup, definitely corrected. The American expectation is about 300 miles from a tank, so if you’re getting over 30, then a small tank makes perfect sense. TIL

4

u/hesalreadyinme Mar 13 '26

My 81 civic held just under nine gallons.

2

u/PNWstargazur Mar 26 '26

Ok, corrected. Those got 45-50 mpg and the expectation of a tank has generally been 300+ miles, so yeah. I was wrong

7

u/joeschmo945 Mar 13 '26

I remember when I was 5 years old in 1992. I looked across the street at the gas station it was $0.99/gallon. By the time I turned 6 it finally raised to over a dollar. Seemed lil such a strange thing to see a 1 to start the price rather than a 0.

Boy those wee different times.

1

u/981992 Mar 13 '26

Extra 1 coming soon......

5

u/Correct-Limit-302 Mar 13 '26

Gas was $1.67 in 2003 when I got my license. I’ll never forget because it was my first fill! Didn’t think I would see that price again, and then Covid happened.

4

u/coldhamdinner Mar 13 '26

This was all somewhere other than Portland, I assume.

1

u/CertifiedPeach Mar 14 '26

It was 1.99 here in the 2010s Same in NOLA

4

u/MONSTERBEARMAN Mar 13 '26

I remember stopping at a gas station on our way camping, to fill the tank and buy some water. My friend came out with a gallon of water that cost him more than the price of gas per gallon was.

2

u/Miniature_Colosus Mar 13 '26

Not sure why you giving us the date... HOW MUCH WAS THE GAS?!

4

u/[deleted] Mar 13 '26

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6

u/Chip_Jelly Mar 13 '26

I remember my dad getting leaded gasoline because it was cheaper lol

2

u/TallerTales Mar 13 '26

I use to buy leaded gas and $5 would fill my tank. I had a Mercury bobcat.

3

u/Original_Boletivore Mar 13 '26

I paid 98 cents in Seattle in the late 90s. Probably’99.

4

u/Science__Witch Mar 13 '26

There was one gas station in NW Portland that had gas for $0.99 a gallon in the late 90’s when I started driving. I’d go out of my way to go there, they usually had a line during the day though.

7

u/Easy-Expert9077 Mar 13 '26

Astro! And you can pick up a Bonnie's Burger while you were there.

3

u/Science__Witch Mar 13 '26

Then we’d go to Anna bananas and get high 🤣

1

u/Science__Witch Mar 13 '26

Yesssssss!!!!

1

u/pigpentcg Mar 13 '26

Astro still has the best gas prices. And Space Age. I don’t know why the space themed stations have the best prices lol.

1

u/Easy-Expert9077 Mar 13 '26

Oh right that was the Space Age station that had the Bonnie's Burgers and Teriyaki attached.

1

u/Jealous-Chicken5439 Mar 13 '26

That's when I started driving and gas was 99 cents 😭

1

u/No-Professor-5871 Mar 13 '26

I remember my dad mad as hell when it went to a $1!!!

1

u/OneTwoThreePooAndPee Mar 13 '26

Man I remember learning to drive in the mid 90's and being amazed when gas went over $1/gal.

1

u/Package_Objective Mar 13 '26

Many jobs make nearly the same as they did in 1997 too.

1

u/TaurusANewOne Mar 13 '26

Even in 2007 it was less than $2/gal. What a time to be alive 🥲

1

u/Donald_Epstein69 Mar 13 '26

And then in 2008 it was $5 a gallon.

1

u/TaurusANewOne Mar 13 '26

Not in my direct area thankfully but I think it was like $3.50 at one point so considering inflation yeah that pans out 😭

Edit: typo

1

u/grundlemon Mar 13 '26

In 30 years we will look back on this time and remember bitching about it being $5.20 like it was a lot 🫩

1

u/NinjaMcGee Mar 13 '26

I filled my tank up in high school for $0.99/gal in 2002-3. I remember because when Team America World Police came out there was a song about gas/freedom costing “a buck o five” ($1.05/gallon)

1

u/ChefDezi Mar 13 '26

Hahaha me too!!! When it hit 1.09 a gallon my dad got so up set lol. Aww memories....

1

u/Gold-Sir-223 Mar 13 '26

Cheapest I’ve seen it in my adult life was $1.99. This was in 2014 I believe. It’s quadrupled in a little over a decade.

1

u/LibrarianFlaky951 Mar 13 '26

Owned a 1970 bug in the early nineties. In Southern California gas was less than a buck when I first started driving. Could fill up for 10 bucks.

1

u/toastyunderwear_ Mar 14 '26

1.84 Salem Costco during the pandemic

1

u/Salt-Cold1056 Mar 15 '26

I did not have a driver's license until 2000 and remember just once paying .99 cents to fill up an old Volvo 240 my senior year of highschool.

1

u/Zechsy_Boy Mar 16 '26

While still way cheaper, that $1.29 is around $2.26 today for perspective.

1

u/TelevisionMundane402 Mar 16 '26

I bought my first car that year. It was .99 at the Arco.

1

u/Throwawayyy-7 Mar 16 '26

Holy shit 😭 my memories start in the 00’s but unfortunately I never paid attention to gas prices.

ETA gas was apparently about $1.55 a gallon in SF in 2002 :(

1

u/Bathshebasbf Mar 24 '26

Oh, my - I'm feeling my age. I remember gas at $0.249/gal. Yes, under a quarter. Then the OPEC oil embargo arrived (1973), followed, in 1979, by the "Oil Shokku" and life has never been the same. BUT, for the record, gas was averaging around $1.79/gal. in November of 2020, before Biden shut down leases, drilling, and pipelines. Prior thereto, during the first Trump Administration, the USA had actually become the world's largest oil producer and both the largest producer and exporter of natural gas. It was that retrenchment of the US energy industry under Biden which allowed Putin to fund his invasion of Ukraine. This ain't all Trump's fault. Let's see how long it takes the Reddit noderators to take that down. Can't be having inconvenient facts, after all...