I finally got my old muscle car back in running order a few days ago and one of the first things I did after getting it running again was to run down the road to the gas station, to put some fresh gas in the tank – because the gas in the tank had been in there for more than four months, during the downtime it took for me to convert the car from factory automatic to (much more enjoyable) manual.

I wanted to get fresh gas in the tank, because old gas that's been sitting for months can sometimes be harder for an old, carbureted muscle car V8 engine to digest easily. Hard starting/rough running, etc. But I also wanted to top off the tank because – thanks to Trump's stupid, evil war – it is not inconceivable that gas might soon become hard to get. Especially gas that's still gas – as opposed to ethanol-adulterated "E10" (and now – soon – E15).

For now, it is just expensive.

It cost me just shy of $60 to pump about 13 gallons into the tank. The Trans-Am's tank holds about 22 gallons. A fill-up would have cost more than $100. I am struggling to be able to afford to drive my old car – which is quite something, because when I was a young guy I could easily afford to fill it up.

I have owned my Trans-Am since 1994. I bought it when I was a young guy not making much money as I was only recently out of school and just starting my adult working life but I was able to afford the car and the gas. Back then, I drove the TA regularly. I used to regularly drive it to work in DC, at The Washington Times. The car still has the blue TWT parking lot permit in the corner of the windshield. I was able to do that because a tankful of gas cost about $20. Here I am, more than 30 years later – no longer a young man and no longer able to afford drive the TA except occasionally.

It is a measure of what's been done to us – not just me.

And especially to today's young.

My old college buddy's son is currently only a little shy of the age I was when I bought the TA. Owning a car like my TA is an inconceivability for him – unless his dad is willing to buy it for him and buy the gas for him (which he can't afford to do anymore than I can). I wonder whether my buddy's son and others of his cohort appreciate just how badly they've been gypped. If he wanted to buy something analogous to my TA today – something like a 16-year-old Mustang GT, let's say (my TA was about that old when I bought it back in the early '90s) he'd have to come up with something in the vicinity of $10,000 for the car – which is what it'd cost to get a nice one in condition comparable to the condition of my TA, back in the day – and then the $80-$100 it takes to fill the thing up. Then there's the insurance.