TBT…

Posted on by November 13, 2016

Old gas stations… And some old brands that no longer exist… And some nice old vehicles too!

old-station-1 old-station-2 old-station-3 old-station-4 old-station-5 old-station-6

Comments

TBT… — 14 Comments

  1. Some of those photos remind me of a Texas road trip we took years back on our way to Brenham Texas (home of Blue Bell ice cream). A town preserved some of their structures that look just like that. Cannot recall the name of town – but it was pretty cool !

    Thanks for the pictures.

  2. Gulf Oil disappeared for a long time, but I see the name is making a comeback in some areas. My paternal grandfather was a distributor for Gulf, made enough money at it to retire to Florida.

  3. You, know….people like you and I can recall those gravity feed gas pumps not as a feature of a museum piece either. And service stations that actually offered service.

    Scary.

    Are we museum pieces as well?

  5. Regarding the gravity feed gas pumps. On hot days the attendants were trained to keep them full but to leave an the gas an inch or two below the full line. The sun would expand the gas and the station owner could make a little more money. Learned about this from a penny pinching aunt who would make the attendant drain the pump back in the storage tank and then pump fresh gas. She probably didn’t tip either.

  6. One gas station in that style is still in use as an ice cream parlor in Bowling Green, VA.
    At least it was 2 summers ago.

  7. My dad drove a Sinclair Truck for over 30 years. He was in a couple of TV commercials for Sinclair, too. I got to ride with him many times and help deliver the gas… before insurance put a stop to having ride a longs. He went from the single truck with the windshield that would open out from the bottom in the summer, and the heavy coats in the winter, to the stainless steel tankers.

  9. I worked at a “Standard Oil” Station in Central IN in 1964.
    Regular was $25.9. “Ethyl” was $27.9.
    “Gimme a dollar’s worth!”

  10. j.r.- Yep they are still out there…

    Robert- They did, and I don’t remember who gobbled them up… Maybe Humble/Exxon…

    LL- According to ‘some’ we are dinosaurs, so I guess we’re dead…LOL

    WSF- LOL, yep my mother and grandfather used to catch them at that…

    Stretch- Didn’t know that, thanks!

    CP- Wow, he saw it really change!

    Rick- Standard became three companies, Mobil in the NE, Chevron in the W/SW, and Amoco in the Cent US.

  12. Damn, I remember those!
    I can recall, as a child, going to Dallas with the folks, to visit our citified relatives, & seeing the big neon-illuminated Pegasus on the side of one of the big buildings. It’s one way I knew we were almost to the big city–when I could see the flying horse. I was going through Dallas in, I think, 2001, & saw it again: it’s well inside the city now, & you’d never see the thing from the Interstate coming from East Texas.
    I think some call it Progress.

  13. Ed- They must be a LOT bigger up there! 🙂

    TN Budd- Yeah, for ‘some’ version of progress… Sigh

  14. I used to work for Sinclair. Full Service for Self Service Price. I actually used to make more in tips a week than my paycheck was. When you were consistent and washed all of your customers windows and checked their fluids and tires if they asked, even if they only got 2-3 dollars in gas.

    After awhile I built up regular customers who would only come in on the days I worked and they would always tip me 3-5 dollars every time.

    It made a BIG difference when you were only making $2.85 an hour.