Gas Stations in the 1950s

I can remember the days of uniforms but only one guy at the pumps. And full service, windows, oil check and tires.
There was an old guy that ran a Texaco station that did wear the full Texaco uniform though, ran that station into his 80's until he died and the station was sold out for other things.
Yep,,, remember the S&H Green stamps,,,and the glasses that were given out as freebies. Every now and again something for the kids! Remember the Atlantic Red Ball? How about the Tiger tail in your tank?
When I started driving in 1970 I was paying .50 cents a gallon for Sunoco 260, only thing my 442 would run on! :rolleyes: If I bought it where I worked at the time I would pay .36 cents employee price. The company I worked for was a Sunoco distributor.
Then the gas shortages hit! :confused: I can remember when it hit $1.00 a gal. and you thought the world was going to end. At that rate I would buy from my employer and pay .50 cents and there were no shortages.;)
Now where are we today? :cool:
 
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We had a small one pump gas station near us, I dont remember what kind of gas he sold, it was in his front yard and he sat in a little shack about four times the size of a phone booth, with a little wire rack outside that maybe held a dozen oil cans.

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Rustyt1953 said:
My little brother had one of these:

Click to expand...


I think I remember that company. I think they were the ones that had machines at the Ohio State Fair that would mold little plastic dinosaurs for @ 50 cents (IIRC) that had the company logo on them in the early 60's. Can't remember if any of the service stations in my home town sold their gas though.

Dad always went to the local Sohio station, the owner was a WWII vet (B-17's) and a friend of dads. He also did all the regular service on our car. Usually had someone to pump gas and clean windshields back then as he did quite a bit of car service work at his station. There was another station in town that did car service also as well as a couple little independents that didn't have any auto service but still pumped your gas and cleaned the windshield. All are gone now but there is a little mini mart gas station where the second service station was. A local mechanic does car repair out of the old Sohio station but doesn't sell gas anymore............ Time moves on...
 
When my Dad passed away 10 years ago I came across a bunch of 12 oz. aluminum anodized drinking tumblers (different colors) that he got from one of the Gas Stations back in the day. We also had a few of the green Dinosaurs from Sinclair.

While much of the customer service ethics might still pay off today - most Stations are now self serve. At least around here - most of the large Stations don't even have a Mechanic or offer any services other than fast food and candy. The better Mechanics have their own repair shops and don't pump Gas any longer.

Those old video's are GREAT!
 
Worked at a Sohio gas station for a few years while in High School. Wasn't a bad job, and I liked cleaning the windshields of pretty women with short skirts or dresses on:D.

Ahh, the rampant hormones of a teenager.;)


After graduating from High School, I went to Phoenix, AZ to live with my Aunt & Uncle, supposedly to help him with his mobile lunch wagon business. Turned out he didn't really need any help, so I went to work at a Shell station, where my Uncle did business.


A new station went up across the street and a "gas war" ensued. We got down to 16 or 17 cents a gallon, and my boss was pulling his hair out. Things finally leveled out though.
 
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There are only two things you can't get at todays "gas stations", your car fixed or any kind real service!

Ivan

The guys that work on my car and truck all have college degrees ( some are 2 year, some are 4 years and at their other shop is a guy with a masters in Auto Mechanical Engineering, He fixes what baffles the dealerships!) The only gas pump they have is, an antique Sinclair pump in the waiting room. (Color flat screen TV, 5 flavors of coffee, No magazines, but coffee table books about classic cars!) Sounds expensive, but they are good and affordable! But you need an appointment about a week ahead to get an oil change!

With 20 to 30 computers inside a car now, you need more than a shade tree and a set of wrenches to work on them!
ITB
 
I'm an old fart. About 54 or so I worked in a Richfield station. No uniform but I did clean their windshield, check the oil, ask if they wanted me to check the tires, and try to sell them an oil change or lube job. ( I got a commission on those jobs) I was 16
 
I never remember more than one man out to pump the gas, check fluids and pressures and clean windshields.
I remember a lot of Sinclair oil, Texaco, Mobil stations and some independent ones. Stinker, Husky and Utoco?.
 
Rusty, Marathon is my non google guess, but could be Sinclair if that's a dinosaur on the glass.

I've made fruit stands out of 2 retired gas stations from the late 40s. One I rented for 18 years and the other I still own and have since 1981. I never sold any gas but I got the pleasure of paying to have the tanks removed and the surrounding dirt disposed of. Took $18,000 1989 dollars to do that and there were no tank leaks. Today remediation can run ONE MILLION DOLLARS ( my Dr. Evil keyboard impression :eek:)
 
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I still have a few of these key chains.
95ae76aa42529a0080796c36a6cb50ab.jpg


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It was interesting then, having people who really cared about helping you maintain your car. I used to have fun, because I sometimes drove my dad's '66 VW type III when he was on vacation.

I'd pull up to the pumps over the "ding" cord and when a guy came out, I'd tell him my engine was missing. He'd invariably ask me to pop the hood - and I'd pull the trunk release (the trunk was in front). They'd look there, and I said again that my engine was missing. They then wanted to look in the back, laughing at the joke. I opened the back lid, they'd look in - and guess what? No visible engine! Unlike the VW "bugs," the type III had a" pancake" engine located under the floor mat in the back compartment. The car was new enough that not many had encountered one. They'd say "Where's the engine?" and I'd tell 'em again that it was missing....

Had fun with that, but I'd then pull up the back floorboard - "Oh, there it is!" and they'd learn where it was in that strange car. :)

John
 
doublesharp said:
Rusty, Marathon is my non google guess, but could be Sinclair if that's a dinosaur on the glass.

I've made fruit stands out of 2 retired gas stations from the late 40s. One I rented for 18 years and the other I still own and have since 1981. I never sold any gas but I got the pleasure of paying to have the tanks removed and the surrounding dirt disposed of. Took $18,000 1989 dollars to do that and there were no tank leaks. Today remediation can run ONE MILLION DOLLARS ( my Dr. Evil keyboard impression :eek:)
Click to expand...

Some states provide insurance for pulling leaking USTs. No one knows how many abandoned old tanks are still in place. I remember a situation near Corpus Christi where there was a major highway widening project over 20 years ago. The estimate was that they would find something like 15 or so abandoned USTs in the work area, turns out it was more like 10 times that.
 
Well, I was around in the 50s (and the latter 40s) and my Dad bought a Mobil Station in the late 50s and, guess where I spent my spare time?

Pump the gas, check the oil, the water and the fan belts ( did I ever tell you about the time I was checking one when the guy behind the wheel started the engine?), clean the front and rear windows, AND, from time to time when my Dad felt like it, armed with a whisk broom and dust pan, clean the floorboards (way before shop-vac types of cleaners, at least as far as I know).

I loved the era, hated the work and determined never to do it again.

So, fresh out of the Army in November '68, still too young to join the Police Department for another month, what'd I do? Yep, took an evening job at a local gas station. But only for a month.

Bob
 
I too worked part time in a service station in high school and college. Full time in the summer. Jeans and a company shirt tucked in and no low cut stuff.

Right off old route 66. Close to a large Army base. You ran out did all the service while the gas was pumping, took the money in and brought change back.

My bst friends brother was a year older than us. He had graduated and bought a brand new 1963 Chev SS, 327 300 hp. He wasalso in deep love at that time. He was servicing a car and i wasnt. Went over to help. The car was a qt low on oil, he showed the guy and was told to put a qt in. By the time he got back from the station he was already lost in love thoughts. I had finished all else, Billy went to the front of the car opened the radiator cap and dumped it in. Im quietly saying Bill quit. He woke from the girlfriend dream and said an unprintable. He buttoned all down took the money in and brought back the guys change. I always wondered what happened when someone told him he had oil in his radiator. Rebuilt motor?
The young guys whose families had pull sacked groceries in nice shirts and Levis starched and ironed. Bills best friend worked at the bigger grocery store, he too bought a new 63 SS 327 300hp. Both were drafted, had to sell their cars and got to wear Army green. Neither one had a grocery store service station MOS.
 
I've several times heard that a petty swindle back in those days by the attendants was to short-stroke the dipstick after wiping, and show it to the driver - "Sir, you are down a quart, better let me add some."
 
crazyphil said:
After WWII my Dad had a big old Buick Roadmaster with a straight eight
engine. I remember him saying it would pass anything on the road except a gas station.
Click to expand...


My 1st car was a 36 Buick with a straight 8 and it had a rumble seat too. Tall gear shift on the floor, mohair seats. Whoever had it before me had painted it with a brush:eek:. Built like a tank too.
Sold it and later found out the kid who bought it was the son of a Buick dealer in a nearby City.
 
Back in those days we always showed the customer the dipstick if the engine was low on oil and most of the time the customer exited the car and stood there, watching, while we dipped it again to make sure it was really low on oil.

I never knew anyone, or heard of any of the gas stations in my little town, that cheated on such things.

But it was a small place and such antics would have gotten around and hurt the station that pulled something like that.

I forgot to mention that this was NE Missouri and it got cold in the winter. The old farmers (it was a farming area) would have a flat tire on their wagon during the nice months, put on another wheel and tire, and leave the flat leaning against the hen house (or some place similar) till it was 20 below, then bring it in to be fixed.

All the while that tire was laying there, the chickens would poop on it and the old poop froze when it got cold. When the tire came in for repair, I got the job. I could not break the tire down till it thawed and the poop thawed with it.

Oh, what a nasty, stinking mess! As soon as the tire was even a bit thawed, I'd take it outside, and hose/brush it off to get rid of the poop so I could stand to fix it.

I know it was wrong, but I hated those farmers.
 
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