What’s wrong with this 1933 photo? The price on the sign is a recent retouch job, of course. Actually, gasoline cost about 15 cents a gallon back in those Depression days. A bottle of Coke was a nickel, and a four-course steak dinner was 50 cents. Whatever the price of gasoline then, most people couldn’t afford it anyhow, nor even buy a brand-new $700 Ford sedan.