Gas station memories...

[Archae]

This guy has a whole bunch of old photos here, of gas stations in decades past.

http://hipspics.freewebspace.com/gas/gas.html

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

1. When I was a little kid in the 50s

and my parents went to Texaco, they'd get me a free plastic Skychief fireman's helmet, in addition to free dishes and free drinking glasses. Maps were free if they were traveling. They'd also get the windshield cleaned by the service attendant, the tires checked, the oil and water checked, and gas pumped into their car at about 17 cents a gallon. In addition, they'd get a smile and 'thank you' for stopping by.

[Archae]

2. It was like that in the 60's too.

The self-serve stations began taking over in the 70's.

[Auggie]

12. I remember getting an inflatable dinosaur from Sinclair ...

early 60's probably. They had a great logo too.

[malthaussen]

14. "Sinclair puts the nickel in!"

Somehow, though, I never found it. And I could have used a nickel.

-- Mal

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

19. I had one of those!

A favorite toy til it sprung a leak.

[Brigid]

23. Hey, I never got one!

[Auggie]

25. Here you go, Brigid ...

[Brigid]

26. Aw, thanks Auggie.

You're too kind.

[awoke_in_2003]

3. Marked for later viewing...

my first job (besides a paper route) was at a Sunoco in 1984, when you still had full service and a garage.

[cyberswede]

4. This one surprised me

Is this the same thing as ethanol?

[eppur_se_muova]

18. Yes it is ! Alcohol in gasoline predates lead in gasoline ...

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/eppur_se_muova/5

(Ethyl alcohol = grain alcohol = ethanol regardless of the grain or other source of sugar. Contrast with "wood alcohol" = methanol. "Alcohol" *almost* always means ethanol.)

[LongTomH]

5. I remember drives in the country with my Mom and aunts back in the 50s

This was in rural Oklahoma. We'd stop at gas stations, with those glass-top pumps. They always had those old-fashioned soda vending machines with really interesting flavors; I especially liked one called "Chocolate Soldier."

[Marie Marie]

6. Very cool Archae.

Thanks for posting these.

[Art_from_Ark]

7. My fondest memories of the old gas stations

are the snacks, and Coke machines with the lift-up top where I would put in a dime and slide out a bottle of whatever drink I wanted. I especially liked Tom's snacks and the nut dispensers which were like gumball machines-- put in a dime, turn the handle, and get a handful of roasted cashews

I also liked the kid-oriented freebies that they would sometimes give away. DX, for example, offered a small booklet which listed all the Major League teams and their rosters for 1967, as well as brief descriptions of each team. Gulf offered free copies of a Disney magazine. I can't remember the name offhand, but the issue I got featured articles on the Winchester Mystery House, and Ted Sizemore, Rookie of the Year.

[grasswire]

8. look at this Signal station still existing as is in Portland OR

It's a pizza takeout place now, but looks just as it did last century.

[Kingofalldems]

21. Gas station pizza, the finest in the USA.

[Skittles]

9. my dad moonlighted at a Sinclair in Madison

with the green dinosaur logo

[Archae]

10. Back in the late 70's...

I worked at a Clark full service gas station.

The Clark station is still there.
But it's entirely self-service now.

-Ross

[awoke_in_2003]

11. Being from Ohio...

I felt the nostalgia with the Sohio and Sunoco signs.

[llmart]

17. Me too.....

On seeing the Texaco picture I immediately started singing "You can trust your car to the man who wears the star; the big, bright Texaco star." Or something to that effect.

My first car was a used VW bug which I bought without ever having driven a stick. LOL. I just wanted to be a hippie chick and I put flower decals on the hood. First time I went to fill up I didn't even know the tank was not in the back. I do remember it cost about $3.50 to fill up.

[Art_from_Ark]

20. Now I've got that full Texaco jingle in my head

You can trust your car
To the man who wears the star
For the finest products
That can take care of your car
At every Texaco station
Clear across the nation
You can trust your car
To the man who wears the star
The big, bright Texaco star!

[marked50]

13. Lots of giveaways

Back in the 60's our local Mobil Station gave away free baby chicks at Easter time. We ended up with quite a few and had to "give them away" when they got full grown-little did we realize as little kids what that really meant.....

[malthaussen]

15. Nostalgia overload warning!

Some interesting pics there. The woman pumping her own gas c 1950 surprised me.

-- Mal

[Jetboy]

16. There are a lot of hobby gas stations popping up these days.

They will restore an old gas station with the visible pumps and old metal signs up everywhere. Hobby drug stores and even hobby hardware stores have popped up.

[love_katz]

22. The Bomber...

I remember that station. My dad took me there, a long time ago.

The plane is still there, but I think the gas station is long gone?

[grilled onions]

24. Oh What Memories

As a kid in the fifties most service stations seemed to have four or fewer pumps. As we traveled in the summer it was always the job of those in the back seat to spot one. Many towns had little more then a cafe. Bathrooms were scarce enough that service stations were a necessity on the open road.
The best soda one could get came from those soda machines that chilled the bottles in water. You could never get a colder bottle than those covered in that chilled water.
I have not seen a picture of the Oklahoma service stations. They had them, here, in Illinois and their mascot was a tiger and they sold stuffed tigers in his honor.

[Omaha Steve]

27. Did anyone have the Standard Oil 007 race set from the early Bond films?

It was awesome.

[trof]

28. 1950 road trip:

I was 10 and we were headed from Birmingham, Alabama to a small town in central Kentucky to spend Christmas with my uncle and his family.
Me and my mom, granny and grandpaw.
Grandpaw's big Buick.
I got car sick early on, as I always did back then.


It began to snow in Tennessee and traffic on the 2 lane federal highway slowed to a crawl and then stopped.
It was my first snow.
I got out of the car and got into a snowball fight with some truckers.
FUN!

Eventually we moved on and then stopped for gas.
"I need to go to the bathroom."
Grandpaw said "Yeah, me too."

The guy pumping the gas said "Around back."
It was what I now know was a 'two station' outhouse.
Grandpaw and I stood, side by side, peeing into holes cut into a wooden board.

When I finished I asked "How do you flush it?"
Grandpaw laughed most of the rest of the way into Kentucky.

[Jenoch]

29. Not too long ago I found a photo

of my dad and his older brother leaning on my uncle's 1957 Ford. The car was in front of the pumps at an Esso station. The round glass sign was on top of the pump. My father was 25 years old wearing a suit with a bow tie. He was quite surpised when I gave him a framed 5 x 7 of that picture. On March 20th it will have been 17 years since his brother died.