Gas Shortages in 1970s America Sparked Mayhem and Forever Changed the Nation

Smithsonian ^ | 5/13/21 | Livia Gershon

[Regulator]

Yea and a buddy of mine from Flagstaff got a ticket just West of Gallup on I-40 where the idiot trooper gave him a lecture about how unsafe it was to go over 55 on that freeway...whereupon he asked how the hell could THAT be true since the speed limit on that section had been 75 just a few years earlier (this was in late ‘76).

The whole thing was a farce.

[nascarnation]

In the 70s and 80s, Ohio turned the 55mph limit into a profit center.

[Deaf Smith]

Homes that had NG lamps in the front yard were ordered to permanently turn them off.

Taco Bell's eternal NG flame burning in the outdoor patio was turned on off and never replaced.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

I will say one thing for it. The 55 MPH limit caused the Citizen’s Band Radio craze to start.

[nascarnation]

That was the case at my Dad’s house in Ohio.
He ran a cable and converted the outdoor light to electric.

[nascarnation]

[SuperLuminal]

Smithsonian vomits its (now usual) hogwash BS historical revisionism...

[mikey_hates_everything]

I don’t remember any “mayhem”, just people waiting in lines for gas. Imagine what that would be like today, especially in a civilized place like California.

[bunkerhill7]

In Berzeerkeley there was one gas station on San Pablo Ave open. None of us minded it coz there were dozens of coeds waiting in line.

[nwrep]

Livia Gershon, non-binary millennial:

[nwrep]

Why is that? What was the connection?

[Empire_of_Liberty]

CB allowed truckers to alert each other about “bear traps”. They knew when to slow down or go another way.

It also helped with diesel. Truckers could alert each other to stations that still had any.

[nwrep]

Thank you.

[Round Earther]

“Taco Bell’s eternal NG flame burning in the outdoor patio was turned on off and never replaced.”

Ah yes, the old adobe style Taco Bells with the fire pit on the patio.

That was right around the time they went away.

But the outdoor Christmas lights. Almost every American family had the tradition of decorating their homes with lights and then driving around town to see the lights on other homes.

A great American tradition rushed by one presidential dictate.

[Taxman]

Ping

[MrLucky1966]

The "oil crisis" arrived just after I got my driver's license for a car. I had my motorcycle learner's permit at age 15 1/2 and that was sufficient to get me where I needed to go. As the "crisis" arrived, the freeways posted 65 MPH or 70 MPH were dropped to 55 MPH to "save gas". As it got worse, lines formed at filling stations and an "odd"/"even" gimmick around the license plate numbers was instituted to reduce the number of people in line.

I remember that in 1979, I missed almost all the first week of school, 7th grade because of it. I spend a weekend over my paternal grandmother's place. My cousins got to go home but I was stranded, Mom needed gas to go to work So it turned out to be a little over a week. Still had a good time though, we went to Pittsburgh on the bus and rode the streetcars, worked in the garden, etc. Our car had a license plate 52471K so I guess Mom was odd since the last number was a 1.

[Myrddin]

I got married in June 1978. My wife and I both had jobs where we had to commute to work. It took some management to ensure we had the resources. For a while, my wife would drop me at the office and drive to work. I would wait for her to get off and pick me up to go home. As a distraction, I started playing with a Rubik's cube. Initially, my goal was to solve it between the time she picked me up and when she pulled onto the freeway. Eventually I could finish it between downtown city blocks. Cheap entertainment.

[dfwgator]

[rxh4n1]

Something tells me Livia is a little millennial chick who has been force-fed an educational diet of propaganda all her life. She has no clue what she’s talking about.

Some research. She obviously didn’t bother to interview actual people who experienced it. I’ll bet she just found some old newspaper stories or news videos.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

“Breaker 1-9. Watch out for the Smoky Bear at the intersection hiding behind the billboard!”