People started lining up at 10 p.m. for free gas in Norwood this morning

Early bird gets the … free gas?

Drivers began lining up in Norwood around 10 p.m. Thursday for the chance to snag some free fuel offered up by local auto magnate Ernie Boch, Jr.

The deal, dubbed “April Fuels Day,” promised free gas at Irving Oil at Rojo’s Car Wash on Route 1 starting at 7 a.m. Friday — no joke.

And with gas prices hitting an average of $4.283 per gallon in Norfolk County, according to AAA, the offer for many was clearly too good to pass up.

Pumps started flowing ahead of schedule at 6:40 a.m., WCVB reports.

In less than two hours, Boch had given up the 7,000 gallons he’d promised, but he continued to let in about 150 more cars, putting the total past an approximate 8,500 gallons, according to the news station.

Boch told the outlet the idea for the gas giveaway came to him after he filled up a friend’s car.

“The numbers went to $107 — $107 to fill a car, and that is insane,” Boch said. “So I started thinking, and gas is going up. It always goes up in the spring and the summer, and I said, ‘Well, I think I should do something,’ and here we are April Fuels Day.”

The first 7,000 gallons was expected to set Boch back about $30,000, according to WCVB.

Boch said he anticipated that amount of gas would cover about 400 cars.

“But it depends,” Boch said. “Are people coming with a quarter tank or half a tank? Are they really, really low? And then is it 93 octane? Is it 87 octane? But we’re going to pump the 7,000 gallons.”

According to WCVB, Boch also paid for a police detail, and a traffic plan was in place to keep things orderly with the long line out on Route 1.

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