RE: Cost of gas vs. wages over the years
One big problem with the statistics being used.  They ignore the real
numbers.  The $750 a year wage in 1912 had risen to about $700 a month in
the mid 1960's but the 20 cent gas of 1912 had only risen to about 29 cents
a gallon.  And the cost of an automobile had risen to around $2,500 to
$3,000 in the mid 1960's.  And then in the mid 1970's all hell broke loose
on gas prices.  And by the time our Vanagons were first being built in 1980
proportions of wages to vehicle cost to gas prices was as totally different
from 1912 as you can get.
BTW, trying to express the value of any product in terms of
wages/salaries,  usually referred to as the "Labor Theory of Economics",
was discredited and dropped from any serious economic discussion by about
the mid 1800's.