That's the burning question! 1967 was probably the best year of my life. We had just got back from a 3 year hitch in Hawaii, compliments of Uncle Sam and i got to spend the entire summer with my grandparents in west Tennessee. Every morning, granddad and i would get up and drive 16 miles to the Kentucky Lake (in his freshly repainted red 1951 chevy 1/2 ton) and fish for catfish until around 6:30 then haul butt back into town to open up his garage/Gulf service station. I would do all of the oil changes, muffler installations, gas fill-ups, minor tune-ups, while granddad did the major overhauls or spent time on the bench in front of the garage with his cronnies swapping knifes and drinking 7 ounce Dr Peppers or 6 1/2 ounce Cokes! And after they got done drinking their Cokes, they'd look at the bottom of the bottle and whoever had the nearest Coke bottler had to buy. At 10 cents a bottle, you hoped that yours didn't have Paris, Tennessee on it. When i got to play, i'd cheat and find one from Minnesota before i brought them all their drinks. Back to my original question. Did we have credit cards back then? I don't recall ever being given a credit card to pay for services. I keep a ledger for those who didn't have the cash to pay for 10 gallons of gas @ 29.9 cents per gallon (33.9 if you wanted ethyl). If you were a farmer, you got a 3 cent per gallon discount. Did I mention fixing flats for 50 cents a tire because no one could afford to spend 25 bucks for a good, new Armstrong or Fisk tire? Oh, and BTW, did i mention that whatever we caught that morning, we'd eat for dinner or supper that very day! Just another 20 miles down "Memory Lane".... Thanks for cruisin' with me. Hope you didn't get carsick!
Man those days sound like it was so simple and laid back. I wish today could be more like that. Living in the city can really put your life in a rush and when things do slow you down you just get in a tizzy because you are so used to going fast. I was stuck in traffic yesterday afternoon for 2 hours and 15 minutes because a tractor trailor decided to explode in the middle of the interstate and I thought my life was gonna end because I was forced to set back in my truck and listen to the radio for a while. I guess I just need to slow down a little bit huh ? 29 cents for gas, are you kidding me!!! I cant find it for less than $2.20 per gallon now. The whole part about fixing a flat is still true for us. We do it for free because our customers are too cheap to buy a $150.00 -$500.00 tire. Tire prices I guess have gone up a little since then. The coke bottle part I can somewhat relate. When I was a kid we went to this old school barber and he had an old coke machine in there. The charge was only .10 cents for a 61/2 oz bottle at that. We said he wanted his barber shop to be as it was in the sixties. I really miss going there. Good thread Ken it gives us younger guys a glimpse into the better days.
Yep! I remember all the gas companies had credit cards. My dad ran a Sohio station in Circleville,Ohio in the late 60's and I worked there mostly for free LOL. Seems the first credit card that could be used for whatever you wanted to was called "Diners Club". Anyone remember it?
Old Daz Wow, Ken, you bring back great memories. I'd take another ride if you offered it. Weren't those the days. We only payed 5 cents per bottle of coke because after we drank it, we got 5 cents back. We would walk to town, pick up bottles on the way and pay for our candy and drinks and we never carried money because the walk always payed for it's self. I worked at a Texaco in 71, nope, no credit cards when I started, they soon came along though. Remember the machine (if you could call it that) snap to the right and walaa, an imprint. I remember selling gas for 19 cents. We had FULL service, tires, water, oil, trans fluid, brake fluid, windows washed and wiper checked with EVERY gas sale. That was standard. Now I don't guess you can even find a full service station. Oh, man I could go on for days with this kind of talk. Life is still great. We just have to slow down enough to notice it. Remember penny gum, matches, and other candy? And that penny got you a mouth full and candy back then even had REAL sugar, emagine that. Where do we go from here? TB'sD
Tubeless tires were a novelty back then! We catered to the farming community. The guys who ran the crap out of their trucks and spent more time off road than on road. Mr. Gallomore had come in for gas and an "over-due" oil change (every 2000 miles) with three tires almost on the rims and said, "Harvey, could you check the tires?" Granddad would say sure. Hey Ken...jack the front end up, take the tire off, break the bead, remove the tube, fill it up with air and take it to the tank. If it bubbles, mark it, patch it, and don't pinch it once you've patched it and start to put it back in the tire. And don't forget to get the rust off from around the valve stem or you'll be doing it again in another month! And tell him 50 cents to fix it! If he wants it balanced, add another 25 cents to his bill! Damn, i long for those days again! Another 10 miles down "Memory Lane"!
Diners club, oh yeah! Blue and white, IIRC! Now, here's one for you. Do you remember S&H Green stamps? The only thing that would get that taste out of my mouth was my grandmother's homemade blackberry cobbler! And that was only when granddad and I would go pick 2 three pound Folger's coffee cans full of fresh blackberries! Another 10 miles down "Memory Lane"!
Green Stamps I don't know how I let those wonderful little jewels slip my mind. My grandmother and mother collected those things by the sack full (paper sack that is). Then we would make a trip once a year to Tyler, it was only an hour away. We would go to the green stamp store, eat at Luby's, shop at Monkey Wards and go home on the two lane HIGHWAY. We would go in grandad's old f**d station wagon. I think it was a 70. The only other ride he had was his old hoopie as he called it. A 1947 AD, Black with 3spd. He would kick er out of gear and turn off the key on down hill runs to save gas. Of course 1 dollar would fill him mostly up but that was a hard earned dollar. There wern't no malls, wal-marts, k-mart or nuttin. Just Hogly Wogly's as we called Piggly Wiggly's, and your mom and pop businesses. You just didn't go anywhere cause you didn't know you didn't have everything you needed. Mamaw and Papaw came to town the first day of every month to buy staples (thats flour and sugar and such for you younger folks) and they never cranked the old truck till then. I remember Papaw would always have to get the neighbor to come jump his old truck off cause the battery was dead. (I guess I should mention that the nearest neighbor was 1 1/2 miles away, he'd ride the mule "ol Bessy". True story... Said, gas cost to much to crank it up in between and let it run. Matter of fact, they didn't even have in door plumbing until 69. Remember the old pee pots for the cold nights so you didn't have to walk to the out house? Man that pot was low down to the floor at 2 am but it was better than the cold out house Those were GREAT days. I am glad to have some of the conviences of the day, but to put all that aside and walk out to a machine I cant work on is wonderful... TB'sD
Picking those black berries brings back a few memories for me. Me and my dad and his dad would go out to the farm and pick black berries and raspberries and just eat them by the bucket fulls. Then papaw would fire up the old tractor and take me for a ride with him. I had to sit on the fender and hold on real tight. If he didn't get out the tractor then we would ride the horses down to the rock quarry and throw rocks for a while. I'd always ask dad about the old 50 ford truck that was upside down in the field. It's still there as far as I know. I really miss getting to hang out with dad and papaw together.
Tractor, did someone say tractor! Nothing better than a Ford "Red belly"! I still putz around on the family red belly every time i go home! What an awesome machine! Box blade, bush hog, you name it we got it! Ball mason jar air filter. It don't get no better than that! 10 more miles down "you know what"!
Tissue please? Reading some of this got me all misty-eyed... Where has time gone? Full serve stations were the best! The "ding-ding" of the bell alerted you to the fact that a car had pulled up to the island. It was on you to get out there QUICKLY and offer the customer your best service, Be polite. Check under the hood for their safety company $$$. "It looks like your alternator belt really needs to be replaced." ONE WRENCH DID THE TRICK!!!! Where did THOSE days go??? 32 cents per gallon. Credit cards with those hand held things and the tripple sheet piece of #@*% that would never stay put... For those former (or current) smokers. Machines that sat OUTSIDE stores. Drop in 50 cents, pull a lever, and get a pack of (your favorite brand). But Ken- you got me with the fishing trip to Kentucky Lake. That- big brother- is how life should be! Thanks all, for the memories.
Ken: Summer of 1961 I was 14 years old. My first job was gas pump jockey at Frank Dallas' Gulf station in Houston on Memorial Drive one block east of Wilcrest (which wasn't there yet). Definitely had Gulf credit cards then. I made 75 cents an hour working 12 hour days (6a to 6p) six days a week. Lube job, oil & filter change, hand wash including cleaning up the inside and a 10 gallon fill up of gas was right at $10.
Credit Cards Been thinkin about the credit card use in our little town. I guess we did have them in 71, but most of our customers were cash or credit. Not many passers by would catch that our little Texaco was even there. We had a load of pay by the month customers. We would always be cleaning it seemed. Everything had to be up-to-par, painted curbs, washed driveways, etc. Then we could sit out on the bench in front and watch the cars go by, visit with the old men who would just come by and chew the fat. Or, the good things like visit with the girls who thought it was cool for us boys to have a job. Oh, remember when kids were taught to work even at a young age. I thought that was the way it was suposed to be. So I taught my son. He had a 6 hour a day job at 13 and 8 hours a day by 14. Of course he could do that since he was home a home school kid. It must have worked out ok. He got his GED at 16 and is now in his 2nd year of college, works full time at night and has a 4.0. We wouldn't let our little Boop work accept for cleaning houses and baby sitting. She's in her 2nd year of college doing home school work as well and holds, yep, a 4.0... how did I get from the old days to bragging? Oh well, it's all been fun and blessed. TB'sD
We gave away Top Value stamps at the station. It sure was a pain handing those out on rainy or snowy days.LOL
Public jobs You guys were able to get to civilization. When I got home from school that is where I had to stay till I went back in the morning. My work consisted of herding cows and helping Dad doctor them when needed, fixing fence, cleaning out the barns, etc. When I could get a ride from a neighbor that needed to put up hay I would word for about $1.00 to a $1.50 an hour in the late 60's and early 70's. I would come in past dark completely exhausted but that 8 or 10 bucks was mine and I was proud of it. I always worried that I wasn't doing enough. By today's standards I was burning it up. Gator
Hauling hay was the worst job i ever had! I will never do that again. And I never say never! Hot, sweaty, itchy work! Did I mention itchy! My hat's off to farmers, their life is a tough one!
Credit cards I did some research today and found some very interesting things about credit cards. Diners Club came out in 1950. American Express, 1958, followed later in that year by BankAmericard, later to be known as Visa. Funny part, the big Oil companies had credit cards as far back as the mid '20's. Who doesn't remember having, or at least their parents having, a Sears Roebuck & Co. "Revolving" charge card?
Well I never! I never messed with hay, but I bet this job has gotta rank right up there with it- Roofing! Especially tear-offs, Hey, I was talking with my dad about this credit card thing. He work at a Gulf station in Orlando and remembered them back as far as 46-47. Your options were cash, tab, or credit card. The only thing was, instead of plastic, it was probably stamped steel!
Old Credit Cards Paper actually . 1967 was the year I left Boston for the dairy farm in East Rindge New Hampshire . we also had hay and yes , it certainly was hard work but it never killed me . We could always tell the rich farmers : they had less than 10 year old pickup trucks ~ the one I was given was a $50.00 1959 F-100 runway crash truck from nearby Ayers Air Force Base , it was all rusty and had a Leece-Neville alternator on it that looked like a _welder_ , it was dead (of course) so I cobbled up a 12 generator using parts from a 1959 Nash station wagon that wouldn't go backwards (not even when pushed) as the auto tranny had some fault , the end plate from a 1937 John Deere tractor's generator and I dunno where I found a 12 volt regulator but it worked after a few false tries . I made a new floor out of old license plates I took off junkers down in that lower field that was always muddy . Going to the dump was always my big fun since I'd find good stuff I could use and often we'd get to stop in the gas station out on Rt. 109 (! TWO pumps !)and have a Coke , that was indeed , a BIG deal for farm kids . I also always offered to load up the milk cans as once in a while I'd be allowed to ride in to the dairy and unload them and the dairy man would let me have a bottle of coffee milk ~ I've never seen it anywhere but the dairy in Winchendon , Mass. You're bringing back some really old memories here with this thread . many good folks gone and died now . We hayed too and we had an elderly Cornbinder L series bob tail with no roof on the bed , we'd try to toss the hay bales up over the sides faster than Bobby Bobberdo could stack them.... Tommy got his hand stuck in the drillpress one day , almost ripped his thumb off . Fixing fences and mending things since we never had any $ to spare for anything new , sigh . Push starting our old J-D's after they told us not to hand start them by spinning the flywheel anymore (guess someone on t'other side of town got his fingers ripped off) Sapping in the winter , that was some fun although coldern'ELL if you know what I mean . who could resist sucking on the frozen chunks of ice floating in the sap buckets as we dumped them into the tank on the back of the old K-10 Chevy pickup , we used a big old fuel oil tank that had getten rusty so we cut a trap door in the side of it and used that to ferry the fresh sap to the boiling stove . I bet some Gob'mint weenie would crap if he ever saw that but no one ever got sick back then . Going to The Cathedral In The Sky on sunday for outdoor church services , looking out over the Contoogook Valley , Lord that was beautiful . Geeze , I could go on for pages rambling about those halycon days . I'm one of those old farts now I guess .
I hated putting up hay, because I was barely big enough to pick up a bale! In our part of the country you either detasseled corn or planted and then picked watermelons. My friends dad had a gas station that we spent a lot of time at. There weren't very many stations around, so if we all sat around long enough one of the older guys with a hot car would come in for some ethyl. Great times!
Good memories Those are good memories from a much simpler time. You reminded me of one that has to do with my old truck, or at least part of it. Some of my truck came from the 48 1 ton flatbed that my grand dad bought new. We had a big ol cattle rack on it and my Dad would always laugh at us kids cause we would climb over the rack to get in. He'd say, "You boys will climb 10 feet to ride to the end of the driveway!" Every once in a while we sould get out on the road and get up to speed. We would stand up on the front rack like it was a ladder and hold on and let the wind whip us. That is where I learned what they meant by, "Don't spit in the wind!" I can still remember all the smells associated with the cows and burning sagegrass and brush. I wonder what kids today will remember since they are pretty much isolated from the outdoors. That is, unless we make sure they aren't. Gater
