Less Driving due to high Gas prices?

Edley Rondinone · #1 (**permalink**) 03-22-2004, 09:32 PM

Do you drive your Cobra less, (as well as your other "recreational-driving/racing vehicles) now that gasoline prices are higher than they have been for a while? Myself, I use one company's gas card, drive as much as I normally do*, and just write out a larger check when the gas bill comes.

*Of course I live in sunny SoCal, and can drive my Cobra EVERY DAY if I so desire, but dont let THAT fact cloud your responses!! I STILL enjoy ALL my Cobra brethren's replies, even the ones still snow-bound back East.

G.R. · #2 (**permalink**) 03-22-2004, 09:46 PM

Don't drive anymore or any less--just costs more, 92 octane, the most available here, averaged $1.92 to 2.02 on our short trip this weekend.
I need gas for my work truck, and usually fill at least 2x a week--40gals average.

Just pisses me off that we are fed the oil company's "story"---BS it's all about oil company $$$$ and "how much can we push the price up".

Then again for years untold we here in the USA have paid the least for gas and consumed the most worldwide.

Chaplin · #3 (**permalink**) 03-22-2004, 09:49 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by G.R.

Then again for years untold we here in the USA have paid the least for gas and consumed the most worldwide. [/b]

That only seems fair. After all, why shouldn't we get a discount for buying in bulk?

Excaliber · #4 (**permalink**) 03-22-2004, 10:26 PM

I had to run some errands in town today. Thought about taking the Jeep (12 per gallon) and decided to take the bike instead!

If I had the ERA here (coming soon) I might have taken it instead. With a Cobra it's more about "smiles per gallon".

Ernie

BMK · #5 (**permalink**) 03-23-2004, 12:36 AM

Hi all

Gas prices are reasonable there in the States. I paid around $1.30 whilst in Cal.

A small station on the beach at HB. near the pier (Chevron) was the lower at $1.25 a gallon. Now that was October/November last year.

In Australia we were paying $1.02 per litre about $4.00 per US gallon so I thought it was reasonable cheap there.

Our octane (RON) is higher and we can buy a premium with 96 octane so its great there. This premium is usually about 5c more expensive than Super gas. Up to $1.09 in the country.

Additionally, we have Shell and Mobil refineries very close to some of the most expensive fuel outlets.

Guess it a matter of you drive you pay.

Cheers

Bernie

Wild Thing · #6 (**permalink**) 03-23-2004, 01:51 AM

Over here in Europe, we're used to high gas prices; my personal consequence is that my "civil" cars are diesel powered.

My cobra doesn''t care about gas prices, and so do I.

After all, its all about fun, and thats worth every dime (or euro cent).

tonyvda · #7 (**permalink**) 03-23-2004, 03:11 AM

My heart bleeds for our USA bretheren......

Cheap 95 Octane ( equivalent to USA 92) is $6.54 per gallon here, and is even more if you buy it on the motorways......

Diesel is getting more and more popular here although it is slightly more expensive than petrol its more economical in the long term given the mileage you can get......

Latest Jaguar concept/ show car has a diesel engine btw......

Cheers,

Tony

Lowell W · #8 (**permalink**) 03-23-2004, 05:42 AM

Drive my Cobra less??? Heck, I'm just starting to be able to drive my Cobra AT ALL!

The price of gas at the time relative to what I was earning as a college kid when gas prices first shot up in the 1970's compared to the price of gas relative to what I earn now, makes todays gas look like a real BARGAIN.

I can't remember when burning gasoline wasn't my favorite pastime. I'm gonna drive my car every chance I get!

Actually, with my wife's Expedition and my F-250SD, the Cobra is our "economy car".

slithering · #9 (**permalink**) 03-23-2004, 06:06 AM

You know some petro. executive needs a new house, so guess who gets to pay for it! Things come around and go around, prices will drop...someday.

slithering

maxrpm · #10 (**permalink**) 03-23-2004, 06:13 AM

.......diesel cobra??

Ron61 · #11 (**permalink**) 03-23-2004, 06:23 AM

Maxrpm,

Not in Calif. By the time all the new laws on the books are passed to make diesel meet emission standards you won't be able to buy it in this state. All electric or nothing. Actually mabe pedal power and no engine of any kind. Of course that would fail the visual inspection.

Ron

CowtownCobra · #12 (**permalink**) 03-23-2004, 07:23 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by tonyvda

My heart bleeds for our USA bretheren......

Cheap 95 Octane ( equivalent to USA 92) is $6.54 per gallon here, and is even more if you buy it on the motorways......

Tony

And just how much of that $6.54 is for the gas, and how much is TAXES. Socialism is to blame...

maxrpm · #13 (**permalink**) 03-23-2004, 07:54 AM

I remember seeing a movie a long time ago, I think the $6mil man was the lead, about an era when all automobiles were outlawed. I think he finds that there is some race car stored(buried or in pieces, I don't remember) he takes it out & terrorizes the countryside with the military in pursuit. Anyone ever see this movie? I'm starting to wonder if this will come true! How many buried Cobras will there be??

Excaliber · #14 (**permalink**) 03-23-2004, 08:24 AM

Yeah, I recall that grade B movie. Good movie too. Funky stuff.

Ernie

petek · #15 (**permalink**) 03-23-2004, 08:29 AM

maxrpm ... I've got that on VHS from a video rental store that went out of business. Bought the tape because it has a Porsche 917/30 in it. "The Last Chase", write up at: http://www.sd455.com/movielastchase.htm

Use up the liquid dino juice now, burn ethanol later.

nikbj68 · #16 (**permalink**) 03-23-2004, 09:47 AM

My uncle has a country place
That no one knows about.
He says it used to be a farm
Before the Motor Law.
And on Sundays I elude the Eyes,
And hop the Turbine Freight
To far outside the Wire
Where my white-haired uncle waits.

Jump to the ground
As the Turbo slows to cross the borderline.
Run like the wind
As excitement shivers up and down my spine.
Down in his barn
My uncle preserved for me an old machine
For fifty-odd years.
To keep it as new has been his dearest dream.

I strip away the old debris
That hides a shining car:
A brilliant red Barchetta
From a better vanished time.
I fire up the willing engine
Responding with a roar.
Tires spitting gravel,
I commit my weekly crime.

Wind
In my hair
Shifting and drifting
Mechanical music
Adrenaline surge...

Well-weathered leather,
Hot metal and oil,
The scented country air.
Sunlight on chrome,
The blur of the landscape,
Every nerve aware.

Suddenly ahead of me
Across the mountainside
A gleaming alloy air-car
Shoots towards me, two lanes wide.
I spin around with shrieking tires
To run the deadly race
Go screaming through the valley
As another joins the chase.

Drive like the wind
Straining the limits of machine and man.
Laughing out loud with fear and hope
I've got a desperate plan.
At the one-lane bridge
I leave the giants stranded at the riverside.
Race back to the farm
To dream with my uncle at the fireside.

Red Barchetta, RUSH.

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by tonyvda

My heart bleeds for our USA bretheren......

Cheap 95 Octane ( equivalent to USA 92) is $6.54 per gallon here, and is even more if you buy it on the motorways......

Tony
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And just how much of that $6.54 is for the gas, and how much is TAXES. Socialism is to blame...

Over 80% of that is tax, and it doesn`t fund road related spending either, we have $200-$300 annual road tax too!!!

klayfish · #17 (**permalink**) 03-23-2004, 10:00 AM

I don't get to drive much at all right now because of the weather. Besides being cold, they dump so much salt and stones on the roads for snow, it's painfull to hear it all pinging off the car.

The street sweepers don't come by until mid-April.

Once they do, the gas prices won't stop me. It's about an extra $4 or so per tank to fill up. I fill it up about every other week, so it's not a huge issue. Now all you guys in Europe and elsewhere where it's $6+ per gallon...I think I'd be very selective in how often I drove. Maybe you guys should think about doing a fundraiser.

Steve

392cobra · #18 (**permalink**) 03-23-2004, 10:01 AM

NOT A CHANCE.

It would have to go a whole lot higher before I would even think about driving it less.

Compared to the overall cost of owning one of these toys ,gas is nothing to worry about.

You have to pay to play.

rms427 · #19 (**permalink**) 03-23-2004, 10:05 AM

It's interesting how Americans get so upset about "high" gasoline prices. When I bought my Cobra in 1968 gas was 36 cents per gallon. A new cobra was $7800. A 427 engine was $700. So now folks are upset that gas is around $2.00 per gallon. A rebuilt 427 engine is about $12000. The Holley 780 carb I purchase in 1968 was $35. I just bought another for over $400.

So why do folks get so upset?

RedBarchetta · #20 (**permalink**) 03-23-2004, 10:44 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by tonyvda

My heart bleeds for our USA bretheren......

Cheap 95 Octane ( equivalent to USA 92) is $6.54 per gallon here, and is even more if you buy it on the motorways......

Tony

So long as I can still buy Sunoco 110 octane racing fuel for under $5.00/gallon (last purchase was $4.85), I'll continue to drive the wheels off this car. Plus, I mix some 91 octane "California water" in with it (@ $2.25/gallon), so the total hit to the pocket is still palatable.

I used to work for an oil company. Just a bunch of money grubbing opportunists!