The Secret is in the Slant!

Also there's another factor to consider: We can't get a gallon of gasoline for $1.92 (1960 price in today's dollars) but we also can't get a gallon of 1960 gasoline. We get a gallon of 2012 gasoline which is vastly better in every respect except one (adulteration with alcohol due to the corn lobby having bought more congressmen and-women than you or I did). So that needs to be considered when comparing how things used to be vs. how they are now. The real unit price of gasoline is higher, but we spend less on spark plugs, we spend less on periodic manual decarboning of combustion chambers, etc.