<VV> Gas Prices (No Corvair)

[Tony Underwood]

At 11:46 PM 10/15/2010, AeroNed at aol.com wrote:
>I've found this web site (_http://gasbuddy.com/_ (http://gasbuddy.com/) )
>pretty interesting in  tracking gas prices.
>
>Ned
>




As of last week, gas prices at the 7-11 where I always fuel up:


Regular    87 octane 2.49/gal
midgrade  89 octane 2.59/gal
Premium  93 octane 2.69/gal

Not sure whose fuel they sell but it runs ok without pinging if I use 
premium.


BP station up the street is usually about a nickle more across the 
board, same performance.   If the 7-11 is busy and I don't feel like 
waiting, it's off to the BP.   Virginia has traditionally always had 
pretty cheap motor fuels.   State/fed tax on gasoline for highway use 
is 37.5 cents/gallon.   It's ten cents less than the national average 
and Virginia ranks 10th in lowest gas taxes.

I still remember buying gas for my '61 Valiant at 31.9/gal for high 
test and reg was 25.9/gal.  Today, the cheapest tax rate per gallon 
on gasoline for any state is more than the late 1960s price for a 
gallon of regular.



Today:

Lowest combined taxes on gas:
Alaska, 26.4 cents/gal

Highest tax:
California, 67.4 cents/gal.

Hawaii's gas tax is 2nd highest at 63.4 cents/gal.   New York is 63.2 
cents/gal.

These tax costs do not include locally added "regional or municipal" 
sales taxes although VA does include a $0.02 per gallon "excise" tax 
that isn't part of the state tax on motor fuels which is technically 
17.9 cents/gal that would place VA at #6 on the list for lowest state 
taxes on gas.


Interesting government DOE statistics:

http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/oog/info/gdu/gasdiesel.asp

Even more interesting DOE price history graph, note the dates and 
corresponding crude prices...  ;)

http://www.eia.gov/emeu/steo/realprices/index.cfm

Corvair content:   It's not really practical to include fuel costs vs 
economy when calculating operation expenses for a Corvair in this day 
and age unless you're one of the scant few (maybe 10% of owners, 
tops?) who uses a Corvair for daily transport.



A bit more 'Vair content, nothing to do with fuel.

I'm considering parking the '60 4-door once winter shows up and 
driving the Jeep instead so as to keep the 'Vair off the "salted" 
winter streets especially if the weather is anything even remotely 
close to what we had last winter.   Might even move some stuff around 
in the "polebarn" garage and park it there out of the weather.

It might give the car time for the penetrants to soak into those 
threads on the front strut rods so I can replace the crumbling 
bushings, because they're currently stuck so tight I'm thinking 
either the rod is gonna twist or I'll break the socket trying to get 
that big nut off.   Impact wrench won't budge it nor will the breaker 
bar and 3 foot pipe before I fear splitting the socket or twisting 
off the end of the breaker bar.

Torch is next, all else failing.  This is the first time any Corvair 
fastener has failed to come off for me.



tony..