WW2 US gasoline rationing

My father was the Plant Engineer at two oil refineries, one in Corpus Christi and the other in Port Isabel, Texas. That got him a C Card. He had to drive between the two regularly each week. The Kleburg family maintained control of all the King Ranch Property during WWII so there was no road that lead directly from one to the other. You had to drive to the west side of the ranch and then South then back east to get from Corpus to Port Isabel.

I also believe that the biggest problem was not gasoline, but pipelines. I believe that they could not pump enough to the East Coast to handle all the tankers sailing to Europe.

While there was sufficient pipelines to pump oil to the West Coast (and oil wells there too) to handle all necessary civilian and military needs.

But the government figured that people would not understand rationing only in the MidWest, East, & South so the rationed everywhere.

- David Thielen Enemy Nations

I seem to be the only one so far in this thread who had a gasoline rationing sticker during WW2, so herewith a few remembrances:

As a Naval officer, when assigned to a shore base stateside I rated a 'C' sticker for my 1941 Nash (bought new before Pearl Harbor). I don't remember any problems getting enough gasoline for commuting and normal use of the car around town, etc. However, what may be forgotten is that rationing of gasoline was first started because of a rubber shortage for tires rather than a gasoline shortage.

Rubber came primarily from Africa and the Dutch East Indies and soon became unavailable due to enemy occupancy or lack of transportation because of U-boat activity. So as not to suddenly shock the wartime economy, gasoline rationing was gradual, starting on the East Coast in May of 1942 and extending nationwide by December of 1942. A speed limit was set at 35 miles per hour nationwide. New tires were just not available and recapping was done but the recaps kept peeling off. Synthetic rubber became available later but practically all of it went to military usage. At first people were more worried about their tires wearing out than about getting enough gasoline, but before long both became equally worrisome.

For months after Pearl Harbor oil was available from domestic and Latin American sources and brought by tanker to refineries on the East coast. But as more and more tankers became victim of U-boats, gasoline became in short supply for civilian use. OPA set up what was called a 'mileage rationing' program and upon application at the local rationing board (made up of civilian volunteers from each community) one was issued a rationing book and a sticker for the windshield depending on one's occupation or vehical usage. A, B, and C were not the only stickers, although those were the most common as they were for private vehicular use. The A coupon was good at first for 4 gallons per week, later reduced to 3. The B and C were good for a couple of gallons more, with C being good for the most. As I remember, each book contained enough coupons for a month or two and when the book ran out one had to re-apply for a new one. The coupon books were not transferable and had to be surrendered if the car was sold. Nobody ever traded for a new car as there weren't any new cars.

There were also stickers in category D, E, R and T for commercial, agricultural, industrial, fleet, etc. usages. Rationing really cut down automobile use and public transport became a critical factor and was overstrained. Anyone who had to ride a wartime train for any distance and had to stand up in the aisle for a couple of hundred miles or more did not find it a pleasant experience. Also car-pooling was a MUST.

As a final thought, in my personal experience and recollection, people adjusted to the WW2 gas rationing and, although it went on much longer, I don't think it created as much turmoil as the gas shortages we experienced in the 1970's and early 80's when OPEC was trying to blackmail us. But in WW2 most of our oil came from domestic sources.

Instead of pipelines, I have always understood the problem to be a limit on the amount of rubber for replacement tires. Although synthetic rubber was already a reality, natural rubber had to be added to the carcass and tread to provide certain qualities for a good tire. Also, other weapons of war need a lot of rubber, and US armored vehicles largely rolled to war on tracks made up of massive rubber blocks (the only nation to employ such tracks, excepting only the rubber rich French with their baroque halftracks and rubber tank suspensions). I've heard figures of two tons of rubber for a M48A3 tank, and having changed tracks on them a few times, I'm inclined to believe that. WWII vehicles had less, but still a lot.

With a large part of the natural rubber supply in the hands of the Japanese, rationing was instituted to eliminate the need for new tires, or at least to greatly extend the date when they would be needed.

The US had the lion's share of the world's refining capacity in 1939, and close access to the majority of the developed oil production sites (although there was anxiety about South American sources, and pipelines were increasing employed domestically, both to minimize the tanker needs for shipment in the western hemisphere).