I have an old can of R12 from back in the day somewhere in this garage. As I recall it has a price tag that says $1.99! Now the stuff sell for over $400 for a 25 gallon tank, when you can find it.

I have a case of R12 from 1998 that sold for 198 Yen. The next summer, the same can was 498 Yen - if you could find it. I wonder what the stuff would sell for today? Last year, I had the Skyline charged for $55.00, R12, and it was completely empty of gas. The mechanic said there were no leaks, but the compressor rear seal may be going bad. It's still pumping out cold air today.

So you paid roughly $27.50 per lb. since the average system takes roughly 2 lbs. give or take. That's actually not bad considering most shops over here add the labor to the cost and I've seen it go for as much as $90 for a charge or roughly $45 per lb. incl labor. I no longer use R12 in the older cars since the alternatives that are available cost much less and actually cool better. Let's see, it costs me about about 10 bucks to charge an R12 car and about $7.50 to do a R134a system. That's why I became certified. It's hard enough to find a tech that really wants to work on older cars.