Carless days.

**MSTRS:Me** · 17th August 2005, 12:52

Originally Posted by Motu

They had petrol rationing back then too...gas stations shut mid day saturday,it was always a pain getting your fuel sorted for the weekend...a mad dash from Wellington friday night to see how far you could get.We used to carry fuel on a ride,drop some on the side of the road and refuel to get home.....buying fuel from farmers...oh dear,the dramas.

I seem to remember it as being 7pm Friday until ?am Monday

**Ixion** · 17th August 2005, 12:53

Originally Posted by k14

Sorry to tell ya mate but motonui (Methanex) closed down last year, now its just a big pile of dormant machinery. Also I was under the impression (worked in the oil industry from time to time) that all NZ oil goes overseas to make plastics. The oil that marsden point uses to convert to petrol is imported from overseas. Apparantly the oil we get out of the ground in taranaki is too good for using to make petrol so is used to make higher grade petrochemical products (I have no idea what they are).

In regards to the shortage, aren't the oil prices governed by the old Supply/Demand theory. At the moment supply cannot fill the demand thus the price has gone up, so yes there is a shortage, although I don't know how short the supply has to get before there is an official "shortage", depends what the definition of a shortage is.

Carless days wouldn't affect me, only use my van in the weekends to transport my bikes around. Use push bike to get to uni

How very surprising. Surely the Six Sisters would not object to something that could break their nice cartel. I've a nice wall being kept warm for the traitor who sold that plant out of public ownership.

And they send OUR oil offshore, to sell for big profits for THEM, then import oil back in again at artificially inflated prices and make more profits exploiting us .

Simple solution. Nationalise the lot. New Zealand has more than adequate energy supplies for centuries if it were used for the benefit of the public , instead of to enrich a lot of foreign bloated capitalists.

Join the revolutiuon and ride forever !

**scumdog** · 17th August 2005, 12:53

Originally Posted by Motu

They had petrol rationing back then too...gas stations shut mid day saturday,it was always a pain getting your fuel sorted for the weekend...a mad dash from Wellington friday night to see how far you could get.We used to carry fuel on a ride,drop some on the side of the road and refuel to get home.....buying fuel from farmers...oh dear,the dramas.

Yep, Labour weekend '79, off to the West Coast in the F100, stock fuel tank only held 10 gallons (about 45 litres) and it's a 3 day weekend, - no petrol sales from 7pm Friday to 7am Tuesday.
Had half the deck loaded with 4 gallon drums full of petrol AND a jury-rigged tank from a '55 De Soto.

Got me through the weekend - JUST.

Cured that problem, now have twin tanks and can carry 150 litres.

**Lou Girardin** · 18th August 2005, 13:28

I don't remember Friday to Sat rationing, when was this?
I was on our honeymoon in the South Is. in '73 and we had to fill before midday on Sat to have enough till Monday.

**Hitcher** · 18th August 2005, 16:46

In 1976 I was a Massey student with a Volkswagen 1302S. Limited range meant having to cart two five-gallon cans of gas around, particularly if we went skiing of a weekend when the pumps were closed. The Dub could manage Palmie-National Park return on a tank of gas. But if you wanted to have a couple of days on the piste, then you were slightly fucked unless you carried extra gas around.

I had to get a Police exemption to drive up to Taranaki on my carless day (Tuesday) to go to my Grandma's funeral.

More worrying than entertaining thoughts of carless days are notions of reducing the speed limit to 90kmh...

**TonyB** · 18th August 2005, 16:53

Originally Posted by Ixion

Join the revolutiuon and ride forever !

Vive a la Petrol!
Où est mon guilotine?

**Wolf** · 18th August 2005, 16:58

Originally Posted by TonyB

Vive a la Petrol!

"Live to the kerosen (sic)"?

Surely: "Vive l'essence"

"petrole" is kerosene

**Wolf** · 18th August 2005, 16:59

and guillotine is feminine...

**scumdog** · 18th August 2005, 17:04

Originally Posted by Lou Girardin

I don't remember Friday to Sat rationing, when was this?
I was on our honeymoon in the South Is. in '73 and we had to fill before midday on Sat to have enough till Monday.

I think it was 1978-79, could have been longer.

You could get exemption for travelling to/from work if outside certain hours and no public transport.
ALL my vehicles had an exemtion

**Motu** · 18th August 2005, 17:13

Originally Posted by MSTRS

I seem to remember it as being 7pm Friday until ?am Monday

I think some were able to open on sat morning,but not all.I remember towing a caravan north with my Dodge AT4 on a friday night,but only able to make it to Pokeno by midnight,we slept in the caravan at the rest area before Pokeno...and in the night were visited by a bike gang and later a bike cop,I looked out the window as they circled us....in the morning the battery was dead,and I had to walk to Pokeno with a tin before they shut at midday....and wait for a helpful motorist to stop in the rest area so I could grab a jump start.

**Ixion** · 18th August 2005, 17:19

Originally Posted by Motu

I think some were able to open on sat morning,but not all.I remember towing a caravan north with my Dodge AT4 on a friday night,but only able to make it to Pokeno by midnight,we slept in the caravan at the rest area before Pokeno...and in the night were visited by a bike gang and later a bike cop,I looked out the window as they circled us....in the morning the battery was dead,and I had to walk to Pokeno with a tin before they shut at midday....and wait for a helpful motorist to stop in the rest area so I could grab a jump start.

Servos could apply for exemption to stay open on Saturday. Can't remember what the criteria were, but it was something to do with servicing commercial users. The servo in Fanshaw St was one of them

**James Deuce** · 18th August 2005, 17:54

The worst thing about carless days was my Dad nicked my bike to get to work on the day I had a paper run.

**MSTRS:Me** · 18th August 2005, 18:17

Originally Posted by Wolf

and guillotine is feminine...

Oui - aka Madame Guillotine

**sir.pratt** · 18th August 2005, 19:10

stolen from google:

Acting in concert with the Minister to give urgency to the investigations was the oil market. Towards the end of 1978, OPEC (the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries) announced a further 14.5 percent rise in the term contract price of oil. Then a political revolution occurred in Iran, its oil industry was paralysed and 5.7 million barrels per day of production were withdrawn from world supply. The multi-national oil companies declared force-majeure, and it appeared likely that New Zealand would suffer a shortfall of 18 percent in its crude oil needs.

A Gasoline Crisis
Weekend sales of gasoline were banned and, on 30 July 1979, carless days were introduced. OPEC raised its prices again in July and New Zealand was paying $19 a barrel, compared with $12 at the beginning of the year. These increases in oil price contributed substantially to the continuing worsening of the country's terms of trade. The cost of oil was the major component of the balance of payments deficit.