The gas station attendant tells two different customers he can only sell then 10 gallons of gas. The reason for this is that it was during the OPEC oil embargo when gasoline supplies to the U.S. and other countries were dramatically curtailed and prices spiked. Many stations would only sell five gallons at a time. This was due to state anti-hoarding laws enacted to prevent people from filling extra gas cans. Also, many cars at the time, like Cannon's, had enormous gas tanks since they got such poor mileage (Cannon's car would have gotten about 12 miles to the gallon).