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"What Englishman will give his mind to politics as long as he can afford to keep a motor car?"

-- George Bernard Shaw

Fuel

     The British usually purchase petrol in 2 gallon and 4 gallon rectangular cans. The larger cans, called "flimsies", will lose up to a quarter or a third of the fuel in rough travel -- not necessarily "per can", but over a number of cans. British cans usually don't have carry handles, the edges and corners are easily dented, and they don't have an air vent ...

     The Germans military developed the 20 liter Wehrmacht-Einheitskanister (now known as the 5 gallon "jerry can"), introduced circa 1936-37, far superior in durability and utility to the "flimsies". It weighs 11.5 pounds empty.

     The effect of cartels, transport, etc. led to fuel cost in Europe being more than 50% higher than in the United States, before taxes. Taxation on gasoline increased notably in the 1930s:  the British petrol tax had been 4d per gallon since about 1928 to 1930, then rose to 7d per gallon in 1931, then 8d per gallon in 1932. Petrol not used in "private motor cars" is subject to lower duties; diesel and kerosene were not taxed until 1933.

     Prices and taxes elsewhere in Europe were not lower than in Britain -- there was a brief protest by taxi drivers in Paris about the high price of motor fuels in February of 1934. The tax on petroleum at the pump in Germany was 2.85 pfennigs per liter in 1930; and that's after an import duty of 12.7 pfennigs per liter (pump price before tax is about 20 pfennigs per liter - around 30 cents per gallon); and plus from 1931 onwards Germans must pay a 2% general sales tax.

     In the United States, after the summer of 1932 there's a 1 cent per gallon Federal tax on gasoline (briefly 1.5 cents from June of 1933 to the beginning of 1934). In addition, each state has its own tax paid at the pump --  these are mostly well under 1 cent a gallon, through a few (such as New York) are at 2 cents a gallon, and the national highest rate is 7 cents a gallon in Florida and Tennessee.