Gas 10Cents

10¢ PER GALLON--No GAS TAX
I found this on the net and thought you might like to read about the days gone by.
Coming home from an extended stay I found a brand new Ford automobile parked in front of our house. In spite of their high cost and unreliability, automobiles had been increasing rapidly in popularity in the East for several years; but it was not until Henry Ford began his assembly line manufacturing could the price be reduced until the average man might hope to own one. When the price of the Model T came down to $650, people in the smaller towns began to buy them. Papa was one of the first to buy one in Plumerville though he never learned to drive it himself, saying he was too old and nervous to learn. Perhaps his decision not to drive was influenced by the experience of a somewhat younger physician, who before his purchase, had had a garage built to house it. The car salesman demonstrated how to handle the spark advance and gas throttle and how to use the foot pedals for starting, stopping and reverse. Then he let the doctor take the wheel to get the feel of it. They drove about the streets awhile, until the doctor thought he could handle it. The doctor drove home alone in confidence. Before he had left home, he had opened the garage door wide. As he drove in the doorway, the garage wall came at him faster than he could bring forth his instructions. So in panic, he could only pull back hard on the steering wheel and yell, "Whoa, whoa!" as he took out the back end of the garage.

As for himself, Papa had Steele and Harold taught how to drive, and when I came home, they taught me. By using one of us he was able to use it in his practice as well as for pleasure.

The gasoline station in Plumerville to begin with was a 60 gallon drum set out in front of the store. A removable kerosene hand pump was used to pump the gasoline into a gallon container for measurement. The gasoline was then put into the tank on the car's rear by use of a funnel. It cost all of 10¢ per gallon--no gas tax. At night the drum was not taken inside, only the pump, as no one had a need to steal it.

At that time the tire industry had not developed a resilient rubber tire that could take much abuse, so we had to be careful on side roads not to hit a rock that might cause a blow out and ruin the tire. I would say that the average life of the tires then was not over 5000 miles. Nail punctures were quite frequent, and to repair the inner tube, we had to use a cold patch called "monkey grip" which often came loose if the tire got hot.

The Ford of 1913 and a few years afterwards was hand cranked. It had a crude ignition system regulated by a rotor attached to the end of the drive shaft, which was advanced or retarded as a means of advancing or retarding the spark. This was controlled by a small hand lever attached to the steering wheel. If the spark was advanced too far, the motor was subject to back firing. In this case the crank might fly backwards and break an arm, so you stood spraddle legged while cranking to prevent a whack on the knees, then pressed down cautiously and jerked up rapidly. If this did not start the motor, you had to spin the crank rapidly.

The carburetor was also simple compared to modern day carburetors. If one stalled the motor, it usually flooded. Then the only means of getting the motor started again was either to wait until the surplus gasoline had evaporated, or crank and crank until it had been drawn out by suction.

The acceleration was regulated by a little hand lever on the right side of the steering column. It was not as delicately responsive as the foot accelerators of today and unless one rightfully anticipated the pull on the motor, it would die for lack of fuel, usually causing it to flood