I saw plenty of regular for 11-13 cents a gallon during the late 50s so called gas wars. Around 70 it stayed 30 for regular and 32 for Hi-Test quite a while.
Back in '72 I worked at a gas station and regular gas was 33 cents a gallon. One day the price shot up to 35 cents per gallon and boy 'o boy did that create some anger. Most everyone that came in that day was moanin' about the 2 cent price increase. "Sorry sir, I don't set the prices....I just work here" was my reply. These days prices generally increase by 40 to 60 cents and then usually decrease a couple cents incrementally until it gets back to pretty much where the price increase started.
Would not be surprised. Reduced demand in Asia due to Corona Virus may be the main reason. Hydraulic fracking in the permian basin is also flooding the market with supplies. Several Circle K's in El Paso, TX show cash prices for Unleaded Regular @ $1.89 currently. Still too high, imho. Go to Carlsbad (New Mexico) quite frequently for work, it is beginning to tail off, just a bit, in terms of opportunities and hiring.
In 1975 I could to fill up my 71 Mach 1 with premium for less than $10.00 when the tank was empty. It held 16 Canadian gallons. I held 2 jobs back then, one to pay for the car, the other to pay for the gas. Yes, I drove that car a lot!!
If you were financing muscle cars in the late 60s, your insurance premium was so relatively large that it also had to be financed and rolled into the same payment.
Where I live, insurance wasn't expensive for muscle cars at the time. It was "not for profit" government owned and run. My annual plate fees and insurance premium for that Mach 1 was somewhere around $150.00. Eventually the government figured they were losing money on muscle cars. So they created an insurance premium on your driver's license, which remains to this day. It also allows for bad drivers to be assessed higher premiums for their poor driving habits.
As if this morning our local fuel price dipped to $1.70 a gallon. When adjusted for inflation, it is now cheaper than 21 cents per gallon was in the mid 60s.
The Saudis and Russians are apparently starting a price war/market share battle. That what I read on a trader website yesterday. The Saudis likely are one of the few who can simply up their production over 10 million barrels / day without breaking a sweat. They don't have to frack, but simply drill a vertical hole and the result is a high quality light crude.
That race gas won't be no cheaper though It used to be 3$ a gal now it is 8$ at least. Somewhere in Cleve. it was in the 1.50 range just heard that on news. The oil had dropped to 28$ a barrel then recovered some.
If you are a buy and hold kinda person, those oil related stocks are taking a hit and ripe if they can stay afloat until the next boom. And ExxonMobil will make money either way as they have the market pretty well covered with little debt.
In 68 or 69, worked at a Metro 500 in Minneapolis. $.17 p/gallon and you got a free Qt of oil with a fill up. My 67 RS/SS Camaro loved that fuel... b