Oh hell yes... I worked at a self service station in Westminster CA and prices were 29, 31, 33 and on weekends went up 2¢ a gallon. My fun time was "dippin the tanks".
I can remember when they were that low at Full Service stations and lower! As a teenager I can recall asking for, "75 cents worth please" and driving around all night with what it gave me.
My dad owned a Gulf station on Long Island back then and we saw gas as low at .19 cents per gallon. It was an all out war as to which station on the strip could go the lowest and when you think about what did .01 cent amount to in a fill up maybe a dime to .15 cents. It is amazing how many people see that .01 cent as a big difference and flock to that station to fill up.
No Chris, what I call "dippin the tanks" referred to what I needed to do at the end of my shift. I had to document the #'s on the pump at beginning 'n end of shift. Then I had to take a 15' 2×2 and spread Comet on it and dip it into the underground tank to take a reading and write that down too. This was 1972...no fancy computers here to do everything for us.
I forgot to add that yes, free gas was available. There was always gas left in the curled up pump hose. I usually got 1-2 gallons just by straightening out the hose and pressure on the lever would do the rest.
