courtesy of a guy over on the 50's Pontiac e-mail list. http://hipspics.freewebspace.com/gas/gas.html
Thanks Bill! That's Americana at its best! For guys our age, it only takes one picture to flip the switch on the good old days when "dad did this or granddad said that". I've got a lifetime of great memories of growing up in the 50', 60's and 70's and every time I see pics like these, it takes me back to a happier place and time! Thanks! BTW Bill, a dear friend and I are taking our respective SHMBO's on a road trip tomorrow to La Grange to check out a couple of trucks for you! I'll let you know what we find! Ken
Thanks Bill. I can remember buying .26 gas, but not corn ethanol, I thought that was a recent development. Lots of great memories here.
Great Stuff ! I remember seeing one of those B17 gas stations out on Cape Cod , my father refused to stop , I thought it pretty damng neat . Those old gas stations littered America until the fake 1970's " Gas Shortage " was created by the big oil co's specifically to drive the independants who still ran them ,out of business . I know where a very few still remain here & there in So. Cal. , al are long abndoned and ony waiting for razing for the next mini mall abomination . Thanx for the memories ! .
Good memories from the 60 and 70 tees The genuine thing with those gas stations where that they expressed so much moore to the public , beautifull buildings with spesial colors and beatifull pumps and neon signs , the combined services of gasstation , repairshop/spareparts for cars , renting out trailers ect. People working at these places had a lifetime work they mostly liked because of the fact that they could do different work every day. Payment whas `nt maybe the best when working at these gasstations but i`ll gues there whas a difference there to. It would be intresting to know if some of you guys remember what a mechanic/worker or an station owner earned in that time. I`ll think its very said that modern gasstations have become what they are today. They dont really appeal to my taste but times have changed , maybe not to the better ? Thanks fore sharing your beautifull nostalgic photos , those where the days Martinius.
Fantastic photos, Bill! Good grief they remind me of my youth! As a very YOUNG youth, of course. The only time the drive was ever filled with cars like that was as soon as lunch showed up! I'll NEVER forget how well that worked! "Hey, Paul~ Got your lunch here." DING-DING DING-DING
Faked Oil depression in the 70 tees and so on. Remember that period very well Nate. My dad switched over from using his old NSU car to the Indian Chief cause shortage of petrol. We had "carfree weekends" a half a year period caused by the so-called oil depression. Kids played on the streets instead of the sidewalk and no car traffic of any kind where in the streets. Strange but smogfree experiences did the kids feel free. It did `nt had any effect on the independants here really but some where a bit in shortage of gas some weeks. Prices on gas went up quite much after the so called "depression" whas over and stayed up high quite a long time . I know this is a paralel theme and it is kinda political colored but in a way it has to do with buying and selling products like gas or trucks or any products what so ever ! Negativ or increasing consumer marked forces ar so easy to understand if you keep your eyes and ears open , and at the same time its difficult to ignore them because it effects all of us ! Capitalistic monetairy money systems makes us consumers slaves of the money cirquits and we are forced to live that way. Trying living in a moderate way helps ofcourse, or in the opposite way if we have millions on our bank account that helps a lot that to. Monetairy money systems do control and invades peoples daily movements all the time ! The way it works is that we need moore and moore money to survive and in this way the consuming acting is not easy to reverse. Look for exsample what has happened to hard working farm owners in the US the last decades. As a result of changing money standards it forces many to leave there farms and bank owners are smiling when they can sell famely propertees on a "for closures" status ( a one mans dead is the other mans bread ). Banks or big corn supplyer comp. i`ll think are only thinking profit and such clients are`nt profitteble at all when things are going down hill with the national euconemy ? Corn comp. like Monsanto are trying to manupulate farmers and forces them to deal with only there enterprise as they are one of the biggest in the US selling there gene "modified corn" and creating a monopoly . I know a farmer guy driving his old AD in Minnesota whom is`nt intrested dealing with Monsanto as he has dicided to buy his services from a local guy whom ownes a ambulatory cleaning station and cleans his corn each season wich gives better outcome for him and his friend. Monsanto has been putting him on a warning list of farmers whom are not intrested coorporating with them and summoned the cleaning station guy to court pressing him to give up his work of living , but he fights them back as long as he can efford it and continues his work. Its only a matter of time how long he can fight back , I`ll think i understand the future outcome of it ? Many farm owners are not able to pay for there loanes or crops any moore . Its a shame how these systems work and the way they ruin peoples lifes so they have to leave there homes and give up farming. A documentery named "Zeitgeist addendum" shows how these money circuit systems effects people and buisness all over the world. I found it intresting to watch this documentary and it opened my eyes a bit moore. But my big question after seing it is what alternatives do we ordinairy people have nowerdays to keep us selfs alive using something else then money and with the standards of living we have created around us , i really dont know ? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gKX9TWRyfs While driving my AD here safely in Norway i wanna give my thoughts and solidarity to all hard working farmers in your beautifull USA . Many of them provide all of us with good food products for reasonneble prices , ask yourself how Wallmart or Cosco ownerships manage and many farmers dont . By the way GM is back in buisness with there new car model range and the compagny reviews are positive so far , people are coming back to work again at the plants and thats good news right ? Martinius.
Gas Station Wages No ; The wages were not good , in 1971 I *think* I earned $65 / week , doing LOF's , brake jobs , rebuilding generators and carbys , fuel pumps and so on , plus running out to the gas island every time the bell rang DING DING DING DING . I was still young then and learning as much as I could , I moonlighted at an Auto parts Store right down the street , repaired VW's on the side , as rents in L.A. were $45 ~ $65 monthly for a Duplex including water gas and electric , I had no complaints . Things began to change rapidly though , I really shoulda bought that 2 BR house across the street the owner offered to sell me for $1,000 down and $125 / month ~ I was too young and inexperienced to see the long view then and passed on it . Sometimes late at night , I'd drive to San Pedro and watch the full oil tankers anchored off shore all the way to the horizon , they weren't allowed to unload to keep the illusion of a ' gas shortage ' alive .
tRUE sTORY In 1975 I relocated to Virginia from Florida. At 15 years old; all I wanted was to work at a service station. Got my wish and worked the night shift. I think it was $2.65 per hour and gas was I am guessing .64 cents. I would put the snow tire chains during snowy nights on the virginia state troopers. But by biggest event was not the greyhound busthat broke down and all the people were in the station at 2 A.M. in the lobby (Exxon) drinking 25 cent coffee from the coffee machine, (they did not know it would work off a penny). But the biggest moment was when a single axel propane truck came in with flames coming from the engine compartment, it was on fire and the driver is pulling into a gas station (come on man) (one of those GMC five star or something) took me three fire extinguisher before I got one to work. I could go on with stories, as well as many of us can, the good old days. But I do share them with my son; a paid fire fighter.
Stories from daily life are great to hear ! Thank you Steve and Nate for both your stories , i love hearing and reading stories , looking at illustrations and photos that represent peoples daily life. I have learned to have respect for all generations of people listening to what knowledge they have about the world . Most of them are very intresting and insightfull. Martinius
Steve, Where is your son a fire fighter? I'm a paid fireman as well, love hearing old stories. Tell your son "hi" and "be safe" from me. Damon
Stories The deal is ; Back then it was just day to day life as a Service Station Attendent . Me , I too wished and prayed for this life I have lived so I have very few regrets ~ no shoveling sh*t & pulling tits on the farm was a great improvement believe me . This particular service station was an Atlantic Richfield built in 1923 (same year as my house only a few miles distant) , we had three crappy late 1940's pumps that only went to .49 CENTS per gallon so we had to charge per HALF GALLON and many of the poorer folks only saw the $4.00 sale , not the 15 gallons @ 0.25 on the pump..... they'd whine & cry when asked to pay 2 X the pump price, I tried to be polite but it was madness in those days . We had , IIRC , 9 full bays and two hoists , 5 full time Mechanics plus those two grumpy French Teboul brothers who owned and ran the place . Much learning went on there , good service too as we'd fix pretty much anything that came in and for a while , the under construction Interstate 210 freeway stopped one block away . Many of the stories were real eye openers for this young kid , wild Women coming in with Fu-Bar Imports and offering , well , you know , this is a family site so I've been asjed to not be to descriptive . The tiny island was fully equipped with old tymey oil can racks so I cleaned them all up and filled with empty oil cans and so on so it'd look nice , everyone else thought I was crazy but I really did enjoy doing the full job , Service With a Smile !
