primitives reminisce about old-time gasoline stations

[franksolich]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1018578334

Oh my.

Archae (28,953 posts)    Sat Feb 22, 2014, 09:10 PM

Gas station memories...

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 (19,494 posts)    Sat Feb 22, 2014, 09:20 PM

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 (28,953 posts)    Sat Feb 22, 2014, 09:26 PM

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

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

Well.

Let me say this about that.

I'm assuming the primitives are waxing nostalgic about the way things were back when the minimum wage was $1.25 or $1.40 or $1.60, and one got all this service and all these freebies.

Back then, besides the hourly wage paid employees, employers had to pay only another dime or so in taxes and benefits, making it profitable to hire a lot of people and offer a lot of services and freebies.

Nowadays, with the minimum wage approaching eight bucks, and employment taxes about half again as much, one can go broke hiring a lot of people and offering a lot of services and freebies.

And there's the plaintive primitive cry for cheap goods.....

Trust me, gasoline station owners are breaking their necks trying to keep down costs to their customers.

But the primitives never think of things like this.

Auggie (17,929 posts)    Sun Feb 23, 2014, 09:21 AM

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

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

after which the Sinclair logo

awoke_in_2003 (22,154 posts)    Sat Feb 22, 2014, 10:36 PM

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.

Back in 1984, your then-employer could afford to have you on the payroll, offering full service.

Not so these days.

cyberswede (14,801 posts)    Sat Feb 22, 2014, 11:48 PM

4. This one surprised me

Is this the same thing as ethanol?

after which a photograph, maybe early 1930s, showing "corn alcohol" being dispensed

LongTomH (4,748 posts)    Sat Feb 22, 2014, 11:53 PM

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."

after which a photograph of some sort of.....bottled drink

Art_from_Ark (19,358 posts)    Sun Feb 23, 2014, 12:57 AM

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.

Ooops.

Judy's apparently not in the nursing home yet.

grasswire (39,296 posts)    Sun Feb 23, 2014, 01:02 AM

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.

after which a photograph

Archae (28,953 posts)    Sun Feb 23, 2014, 01:19 AM

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.

llmart (3,686 posts)    Sun Feb 23, 2014, 01:33 PM

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.

marked50 (147 posts)    Sun Feb 23, 2014, 09:35 AM

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.....

Alas, franksolich's memories of gasoline stations are not happy ones.

When I was a lad, I used to short-cut my bicycle past a gasoline station, thinking nothing of it.

But to my confusion, it incurred the wrath of the old guy who sat inside the station.

He was always really pissy to me.

As it turned out--I learned this much much much later--there used to be a hose running across the aisle between the pumps; whenever it was run over, it buzzed or rang or blared, whatever, alerting the attendant inside that a vehicle had just pulled up, and he was needed.

<<<has made more faux pases unknowingly, than knowingly.

[JohnnyReb]

Most around here were more of a country store than filling station....old men sat around playing checkers, chewing tobacco and discussing how things used to be. JohnnyReb enjoyed listening to the old men at his daddy's country store.

In one gas war the price got down to 12.9 cents a gallon. Bread was 17 cents for a small loaf and 19 cents for a king size loaf. Cigarettes were 19 cents, soft drinks were 6 cents to the old folks and 7 cents to everyone else. A pack of LANCE crackers were a nickel, Baby-Ruth and butterfinger candy bars were a nickel and the big ones were a dime. JACK'S cookies were 2 for a penny or a penny a piece for the better ones. The candy counter was full of 2 for a penny candy and you could get a small brown paper bag full for a dime. Bottle deposits were 3 cents each and you could pick them up along the road and sell to the stores for 2 cent each.....6 bottles got you an RC COLA and a pack of crackers or a MOON PIE.

[freedumb2003b]

My dad owned a gas station in the 70s during the Gas Crisis.

I was the lucky guy who got to put the "last car for today" sign on the last car for today.

I rode my 10-speed for 1/2 hour each way for $1.65 an hour.

But I also ran the whole place at 14 years old so I learned a lot about responsibility and how to deal with bad attitudes. If you can't arm yourself with a .45. arm yourself with a VERY big, mean and loyal German Shepard named "Spike!"

Nothing scares a big bully more than a dog who bares his teeth and raises his hackles.

God I loved that dog!  He hung in there for about 16 years then passed while jumping to greet my dad.

Somehow fitting.

[JohnnyReb]

My dad owned a gas station in the 70s during the Gas Crisis.

I was the lucky guy who got to put the "last car for today" sign on the last car for today.

I rode my 10-speed for 1/2 hour each way for $1.65 an hour.

But I also ran the whole place at 14 years old so I learned a lot about responsibility and how to deal with bad attitudes. If you can't arm yourself with a .45. arm yourself with a VERY big, mean and loyal German Shepard named "Spike!"

Nothing scares a big bully more than a dog who bares his teeth and raises his hackles.

God I loved that dog!  He hung in there for about 16 years then passed while jumping to greet my dad.

Somehow fitting.

I was 12 and ran the store by myself a lot in the afternoons. Pistol was under the counter but really wasn't necessary back in the mid 50's. Every old man hanging around the store had a pistol in the bib of his overalls and a robber would have been leaking blood like a sieve if they tried to rob the place.

Funny how that is or was. Back then almost every man carried a gun and a lot of women did too but you seldom heard of any shootings or trouble. Now most people don't carry a gun and we have more shootings and trouble than ever before.

[I_B_Perky]

I was 12 and ran the store by myself a lot in the afternoons. Pistol was under the counter but really wasn't necessary back in the mid 50's. Every old man hanging around the store had a pistol in the bib of his overalls and a robber would have been leaking blood like a sieve if they tried to rob the place.

Funny how that is or was. Back then almost every man carried a gun and a lot of women did too but you seldom heard of any shootings or trouble. Now most people don't carry a gun and we have more shootings and trouble than ever before.

That was back before welfare became the norm. When you work your ass off for something you respect other people's property.

[98ZJUSMC]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1018578334

Trust me, gasoline station owners are breaking their necks trying to keep down costs to their customers.

The profit margin for gas stations is very thin.  One guy told me recently that he was down to 1-2 cents/gal.

The biggest profiteers of gasoline products?  State and Federal government.

God I loved that dog!  He hung in there for about 16 years then passed while jumping to greet my dad.

Somehow fitting.

 

[USA4ME]

aint_no_life_nowhere

1. When I was a little kid in the 50s..... and gas pumped into their car at about 17 cents a gallon.

17 cents in the 50's? My Dad told me in the 30's when he was a kid it was around 15 cents, and the cheapest he ever saw it was on a trip he made to Texas in 1935 and it was 9 cents.

In the 60's gas was in the high 20 cent to 32 cent range most of the time. 17 cents in the 50's sounds a little too low, but maybe some others here remember a price like that.

.

[JohnnyReb]

17 cents in the 50's? My Dad told me in the 30's when he was a kid it was around 15 cents, and the cheapest he ever saw it was on a trip he made to Texas in 1935 and it was 9 cents.

In the 60's gas was in the high 20 cent to 32 cent range most of the time. 17 cents in the 50's sounds a little too low, but maybe some others here remember a price like that.

.

At our SHELL station it was usually 22 or 23 point nine in 1957/58.....and motor oil was in tin cans. Oil cans got recycled, wrapped around a leaky exhaust system, spit can, all kinds of uses for them but not so much for today's plastic ones.

[Chris_]

I miss the oil cans.  They were a lot easier to deal with than these ridiculous plastic bottles that damn near require a funnel every time you use it.

[JohnnyReb]

I miss the oil cans.  They were a lot easier to deal with than these ridiculous plastic bottles that damn near require a funnel every time you use it.

YEP, me too. Just poke that old metal spout in it and pour without getting oil all over the engine.  ....but I did hate the paper cans with the metal ends. You couldn't poke the old metal spout in to them without crushing the can and getting oil all over yourself.

[BlueStateSaint]

YEP, me too. Just poke that old metal spout in it and pour without getting oil all over the engine.  ....but I did hate the paper cans with the metal ends. You couldn't poke the old metal spout in to them without crushing the can and getting oil all over yourself.

Even I remember those.

But, you've got to admit--the plastic oil quart containers are easy to 'return to the environment.'

[Ralph Wiggum]

I miss the oil cans.  They were a lot easier to deal with than these ridiculous plastic bottles that damn near require a funnel every time you use it.

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tcwz8-EfFYE[/youtube]

[Purple Sage]

17 cents in the 50's? My Dad told me in the 30's when he was a kid it was around 15 cents, and the cheapest he ever saw it was on a trip he made to Texas in 1935 and it was 9 cents.

In the 60's gas was in the high 20 cent to 32 cent range most of the time. 17 cents in the 50's sounds a little too low, but maybe some others here remember a price like that.

.

My grandfather would pick me up every Friday to take me home to spend the weekend with him and my grandmother.  Every trip he would comment without fail on the high cost of gas.  The lowest I remember him complaining about was "17 and 9."  Without fail, he would gripe about the "and 9" and the thieving government.  This had to be early to mid-sixties in Texas when Texas still had cheap gasoline.  Brings back fond memories of the precious man.   

[BlueStateSaint]

My grandfather would pick me up every Friday to take me home to spend the weekend with him and my grandmother.  Every trip he would comment without fail on the high cost of gas.  The lowest I remember him complaining about was "17 and 9."  Without fail, he would gripe about the "and 9" and the thieving government.  This had to be early to mid-sixties in Texas when Texas still had cheap gasoline.  Brings back fond memories of the precious man.   

I vaguely remember seeing 29.9 cents a gallon in NY.  I twas a long, long, long time ago.

[obumazombie]

Nice Steve Martin reference, Ralph Wiggum !
Did you know he was born a poor black child ?

[Zathras]

I remember when gas stations used to give away things like drinking glasses with a fill up. In fact my mom and dad still have some to this day they got from Shell that celebrated the bicentennial of America back in 1976.

[Ralph Wiggum]

Nice Steve Martin reference, Ralph Wiggum !
Did you know he was born a poor black child ?

Don't trust whitey! 

[NHSparky]

The profit margin for gas stations is very thin.  One guy told me recently that he was down to 1-2 cents/gal.

The biggest profiteers of gasoline products?  State and Federal government.

It's not quite THAT thin, but it's certainly not the "record profits!" screeching the libtards like to put out.

10-15 cents is more the average at the consumer end.  Most oil companies make about 10 percent profit from ground to gas tank.  In the case of Exxon-Mobil, that comes to about $40-45B on revenues of $450 Billion.  But they paid over $110 Billion in taxes.  Amazing how that works.

The people who just sit there with their hands out get all the money.

[GOP Congress]

Hmmm...what on earth would have DUmmies reminiscing about the good ol' days when there was full service at these solar-panel-filling or windmill-tuning stations? ...

.... oh...he said.... "GAS" stations???

You mean that planet destroying, climate changing, angst provoking dealers of a product that most DUmmies think is more destructive than pot?

Yeppers, I remember those days too, of real gas with real lead, no vapor controls, attendants with temporarily unlit cigarettes in their mouths.

Yep, the good ol' days... I wish we could go back to them myself, when liberals were in asylums rather than Congress and the White House...