Actually it WAS the beginnings of a genuine effort, and was torpedoed by the weaknesses of the Ford/Carter era. Shell was not only converting mechanical pumps, which had the $1 limitation, but electronic pumps which did not. Shell tried to get the US Metric Board to endorse an industry-wide conversion, but an anti-metric Carter appointee put on the board for "balance" vetoed.
I remember my disappointment seeing the tiny newspaper article "Shell Abandons Liter Plan"... Nat -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Joseph B. Reid Sent: Sunday, 20 July 2003 10:18 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:26432] Re: Has benzine ever sold by liters in TX? Brian J. White wrote in USMA 26427: >Maybe it was set in Canada? > >At 16:46 2003-07-19 -0400, Paul Trusten wrote: >>The time must have been on or before 1973, and the unit the gallon. >>> >>> From: "Michael-O" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >>> Date: 2003/07/19 Sat PM 03:34:11 EDT >>> To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >>> Subject: [USMA:26425] Has benzine ever sold by liters in TX? >>> >>> Hi, >>> >>> just seen a movie on TV, guess 15 years old. >>> >>> They drove to a gas station where prices showed 33,9 Cent and 31,9 >>> Cent. >>> >>> I guess it is price by liter, isn't it? >>> >>> bye >>> >>> >> >>Paul Trusten, R.Ph. It was in 1979 that gasoline pumps in Canada were converted to dispense in litres. So the site may have been Canada, although the price of 31.9 cents seem to me to be a bit low. Bill Potts asked in USMA 26430: Bob Price wrote: >In the early eighties I though some gas companies were selling gas in >liters for awhile. Unfortunately, the effort failed. It wasn't a genuine effort. At the time, many gas pumps were designed for a maximum unit price of $9.999. When gas went over $1 per gallon, they had to adjust the size of the unit, so they chose liter, rather than, for example 0.5 gallon. That was a good thing. (I think it was Shell that chose liters. Some oil companies may have used half gallons. Can anyone remember?) My memory confirms that. Shell is an Abnglo-Dutch company. -- Joseph B. Reid 17 Glebe Road West Toronto M5P 1C8 Telephone 416-486-6071
