Gas War: Motorists Win, Stations Lose

Dan Van Slogteren and his wife Winnie filled their recreational vehicle’s 100-gallon fuel tank at a Diamond Bar service station Friday, and it cost them only a dime.

It also cost them a four-hour wait, because a mile-long line of other motorists had heard the same news over the radio: that until 10 a.m. today the station would sell regular gasoline for 1/10 of a cent per gallon. Before the day was over, the price had slipped to 1/1000 of a cent.

Prizes Offered on Radio

The scene was repeated at two other Southland service stations--one in Garden Grove, which sold regular and, later, unleaded for half a cent per gallon, and one in Santa Monica, where the price was 9/10 of a cent.

The miniature gas war was set off by KIIS-FM morning disc jockey Rick Dees, who all week had been broadcasting his offer of $1,000 and a free trip to Hawaii, among other prizes, to the service station owner who would sell gasoline at the lowest price for 24 hours.

Dees said that he did not expect the reaction he got. On Monday the best offer to sell regular was at 78.9 cents per gallon from a Mobil station in Long Beach, but by the 10 a.m. deadline Friday, George Benitez, owner of a Shell station in Diamond Bar, promised to sell for 1/10 of a cent a gallon--and he said he’d throw in a free lube job, too.

“Can you imagine, you give this guy a dime and say, ‘Give me 10 gallons of regular,’ and he gives you back nine cents?” Dees said. “I think we’re in the twilight zone.”

Later in the day, Benitez stopped collecting any money at all.

Dees awarded the prize to Benitez, but he gave $1,000 runner-up prizes to Abdel and Betsy Aziz, owners of a Mobil station in Garden Grove, and to Jeff Gotlieb, owner of a small independent station in Santa Monica.

Owners Certain Losers

Gotlieb said he thought he’d have $500 of the prize money left after figuring his losses.

But long lines of eager buyers Friday made it certain that the station owners in Garden Grove and Diamond Bar would lose far more than they had won. Abdel Aziz in Garden Grove said he was losing about 88 cents every time someone pumped one gallon of regular. He said he expected to lose $6,000 Friday, but he said it was worth the money to attract potential customers.

Benitez guessed he’d lose $20,000.

At Benitez’s station, traffic had to be rerouted onto a side street because of a mile-long line of customers waiting to fill their tanks.

In Garden Grove, the station is located at Brookhurst Street and Chapman Avenue, which have no room for street parking. Police at first tried to keep the line of cars from extending onto Chapman Avenue but finally set up traffic cones in the right-hand lane, allowing the line to back into the adjoining residential neighborhood. The wait during the afternoon was about 1 1/2 hours, during which most of the motorists in line left their cars idling.

Police said there was some hostility in lines toward people cutting in but that so far nothing other than shouting had occurred.

Most of the vehicles were big, older-model cars, station wagons, trucks or recreational vehicles.

“A friend called and woke me up,” said Mike Lee, 18, of Garden Grove, who estimated that his 1969 Ford Ranchero gets about eight miles to the gallon. “I’m gonna fill up for five cents!” he grinned.

Others filled their tanks, then filled their gas cans. Aziz tried to restrict recreational vehicle owners to 20 gallons, but many simply pumped gasoline until someone told them to stop.

By early afternoon, there were puddles of gasoline on the pavement beside the pumps, spillage from customers trying to fill their tanks to the gas caps.

Customer Walks Away

Aziz set up a snack stand near the pumps, offering 12-ounce Pepsies for 50 cents, but his first customer walked away when he discovered the drinks were not free.

Two clerks from a nearby auto parts store walked down the line of cars and handed out sales leaflets. “There’s no business at the shop,” said Jerry Duncan, one of the clerks. “They’re all over here.”

Across Brookhurst Street at the Union station, Rudy Kaul, its owner for 30 years, said the ruckus was “to me, kind of a joke.” He had not lowered his prices in response.

“We’re doing good this morning,” Kaul said. “We were busy. All we’re losing are the coupon clippers.” Bob Beebe, who has worked for Kaul for 29 1/2 years, grinned and shook his head. “All those cheapies over there, he won’t see them when he goes back to his regular prices,” Beebe said.

At the new, company-owned Chevron self-service station on the other corner, there was outright hostility. “We’re Chevron, and we don’t have to play games,” said manager Steph Thatcher. “We’re bigger than they are. They don’t seem to realize that.”

Nothing Else to Do

Thatcher said business was as good, perhaps better, than normal, although there was only one customer pumping gas at that moment.

A sample of those waiting in line found no one who thought the object not worth the wait.

“We don’t have anything else to do,” said Leo Hordyk of Norwalk, who was driving his truck to a dump when he heard the news over the radio.

Marvin Jensen of Garden Grove, who was behind the wheel of his RV, figured that even if the traffic cop at the curb had given him a ticket for blocking traffic, he still would have been ahead.

Danny Roque, 26, of Lawndale summed up the tenor of the day’s buying. Roque drove all the way to Santa Monica for his low-price gas, and “I almost ran out of gas getting here,” he said.

Times staff writer Alan Maltun in Los Angeles contributed to this story.