A light hearted post for the older members amongst us

[geraldrobins]

And for the kids out there 3/6 old money equates to 17 1/2 p per gallon

I might be old definitely not daft!!!! And I still do mental arithmetic without minutes finding a calculator or phone.

 

[renault12ts]

No you are wrong, most definitely.
We went metric in 1971 and fuel was 35 new pence a gallon previosuly 7 shillings.
I remember atwork because as a building professional we had some older contracts in feet and inches and the new jobs were in metres and millimetres.
In our site canteenthe price of a cup of tea rose from 3 old pence to 1 new pence. A little saving.

Yeh but, no but...you said 35p a litre...confused??

 

[skyline pete]

Who has still got the Esso World Cup coins from 1970?

omg i have at my mums house somewhere..lightbulb in head moment.

i was 7 at the time and cheated nextdoor neighbour drove a tanker for esso he used to get me them if i washed his car....think it was a mk3 cortina
going to mums in morning ...in the loft

 

[geraldrobins]

Yeh but, no but...you said 35p a litre...confused??

Apologies not confused just an error I ought have said 35 pence a gallon.

 

[Howard]

No you are wrong, most definitely.
We went metric in 1971 and fuel was 35 new pence a gallon previosuly 7 shillings.
I remember atwork because as a building professional we had some older contracts in feet and inches and the new jobs were in metres and millimetres.
In our site canteenthe price of a cup of tea rose from 3 old pence to 1 new pence. A little saving.

We still take water level readings at work in feet and inches !

And we record them on a sheet that was bought in the 1920's ! Each sheet has 192... and you were meant to fill in the final year.

I guess they must have ordered too many as we have to cross it out now and write 2014 on it.

A little piece of history mind. I gave one to a museum not so long ago as they are all pristine , having been stored out of the light for the last 90 years.

I'll get a picture if anyone is interested ?

 

[nigel cross]

Show us your picture...Cheeky
I think I got confused with the petrol price .....dam
but 20 No 6 was 3/11

 

[geraldrobins]

Funnily enough we changed to metric in 1971 but not everything. fuel was sold in gallons for a considerable time afterwards, If I remember correctly!!

 

[NOMONEYBUTAMERC]

I worked part time in a petrol station in 1968 . Fairly sure that 101 octane fuel was 6s8d a gallon. Used to get 4 guys in every friday night in a mini traveller , always bought 10 shillings worth of 101 , and added 2 shots of redex.They each had to chip in half a crown for the fuel. Every saturday i used to fill up a portable petrol pump that dispensed 2 stroke . Oddly enough that was the same day i used to fill up my Lambretta. The petrol station was owned by well- known rally driver Ian "Tiny " Lewis , and Ted Bush .

 

[janner]

I'll get a picture if anyone is interested ?

If it's not too much bother Howard

 

[Howard]

Go on then , as it's you !

 

[artyman]

I remember the switch to decimal in Feb 1971, masses of preparation at the Bank I was working for, it was the biggest non-event ever. I think petrol was 4/9d a gallon when I was first motorised on a Norman Nippy moped, 35mph downhill with a following wind

 

[baxlin]

Funnily enough we changed to metric in 1971 but not everything. fuel was sold in gallons for a considerable time afterwards, If I remember correctly!!

What "we changed to metric" in 1971, Feb 15th or 16th IIRC, was only our currency, from £sd to £p. It was the day I came back to UK on leave from the Gulf, so I had to convert from Dinars to £sd to £p......

Again, AFAIK, we STILL measure distances in Imperial units - signposts in miles - fuel consumption in mpg and tyre pressure in psi.

Has the UK formally changed anything to metric apart from our currency?

Malcolm,
(height 5ft 9in weight 14stone 8lb)

 

[geraldrobins]

I can only quote from my experience in the construction industry and in 1971-1972 drawings were being produced be Architects and Engineers in Metric. In my opinion this was easier after the initial learning process. Previously dimensions in feet and inches had to be changed to feet for use with some surveying instruments. eg 1ft 5 inches was 1.42 feet. And for costings £sd also being changed to Pound units for use in our basic comptometers etc. eg £1 10 shillings and 6 pence was converted to
1.525 pounds. Sorry getting too OCD.

I think regarding miles the majority of brits prefer to keep them. Fuel consumption figures are still given in mpg and lts/100 miles, I think.

 

[def90cars]

I think some are mistaking going metric with decimalisation.

 

[ioweddie]

I remember 6d (tanner) chips 2d cornet 1d lolly off the ice cream man.
I also remember 10 bobs worth of petrol in the Anglia in which you had to carry a gallon of oil, a gallon of water, set of plugs and points, full toolbox, to keep it going for the journey no matter how short (that's if it ever started). On a cold morning down our street every other bonnet would be up after the batteries were drained flat trying to get all the old bangers started. Oh! the good old days

 

[geraldrobins]

True, metric and decimilisation are different. We havent gone fully metric yet but started in 1971.

 

[Deleted member 6183]

All I can remember about old money was that everything seemed, to an 8 year old me, to cost 2and6.

 

[geraldrobins]

For sure we have had a lot of inflation, but most of us are better off. INMHO.

 

[Palfrem]

What "we changed to metric" in 1971, Feb 15th or 16th IIRC, was only our currency, from £sd to £p. It was the day I came back to UK on leave from the Gulf, so I had to convert from Dinars to £sd to £p......

Again, AFAIK, we STILL measure distances in Imperial units - signposts in miles - fuel consumption in mpg and tyre pressure in psi.

Has the UK formally changed anything to metric apart from our currency?

Malcolm,
(height 5ft 9in weight 14stone 8lb)

Only the biggest con of selling petrol in litres not gallons.

Smaller units allows a "few pence a litre" to turn into much more per gallon without the fuss from the bigger number.

 

[janner]

Go on then , as it's you !

I guess, if it ain't broke....