“That quarter came close to paying for a gallon of gas that year – the average price per gallon was 30 cents. And the 1963 (or earlier) quarter was, shall we say, sturdier than today’s version: 90 percent silver, 10 percent copper. Today’s quarters, according to the U.S. Mint, “are ‘clad,’ which means layered. The inner core is pure copper and the outer covering is copper mixed with nickel.”
A quarter weighs about a fifth of an ounce. At today’s silver price of around $18 per ounce, the 1963 quarter had the equivalent of today’s $3.24 of silver in it. Thus, silver essentially buys the same amount of gasoline today that it did 45 years ago.
Gas isn’t getting more expensive; the government’s money just continues to be degraded.”
(source: http://www.lewrockwell.com/french/french89.html )
”… for twenty straight years, the price (and supply) of gas was actually disgustingly stable, only subject to the effects of currency inflation.”
(source: http://www.lewrockwell.com/olson/olson11.html )