So, what do you think a gallon of gasoline cost on Oct. 8, 1952, in Chattanooga?
Hint: Inflation alone has accounted for a 991% increase in overall prices in the U.S. in the 70 years between 1952 and 2022, according to a government calculator.
If you zoom in closely on the digital version of this photo online, you’ll see that gas was 30.9 cents a gallon here in the fall of 1952.
With the price of regular gas in Chattanooga well over $4 a gallon this week, it makes one nostalgic for a time when you could fill up the 18-gallon gas tank in a Chevy Deluxe sedan, like the one in the photo, for less than $6. Ditto the Oldsmobile Futurmatic 88 sedan being topped off in the picture.
Non-inflation-adjusted gasoline prices in the United States first topped 50 cents a gallon in 1974, $1 a gallon in 1980 and $2 a gallon in 2005.