Even in the early 80s in Omaha,NE,we still had our gas stations with bays and that was our regular meeting place..In fact,I was one of the last pump jockeys,working the full service island.Filler up,check the oil,and clean the windshield.We would meet up at my station or one of my buddies and talk about our latest speed part our last weeks runs in Scribner(the track of choice among Omaha racers).At one station,there was a guy selling Colt 1911 pistols that were US Army marked for 29.00 each.He bought a few barrels of them out at Offut AFB at their Milsurp sale.Nowadays,that would bring out the SWAT helicopters.Back then ,one of my teachers asked me to pick one up for him.Boy have times changed I feel sorry for little old ladies these days,having to pump their own gas.And for the kids that'll never know what it's like to go to work at a service station.
Would be so nice to still have the old hang out place and the street cruising that was the good old days, there was always some with a car on the hoist replacing a transmission/rear end or uncapping the headers to go race someone else. I went to Phoenix AZ right after high school in 1973 what a town of street cruising hot rods and you know all of the old cool places- drive-ins, gas stations, speed shops, couldn't wait for Friday and Saturday nights.
The 55 has Mariposa Shell on the deck, the 37 Furtados Chevron. Most of the time the sponsorship wasn't much but it all helped.
I grew up in North Delta, BC and there was a gas station (Chevron, I think) and the guys that ran it built a '36 Ford coupe for racing - full roll cage, Hemi engine. One time I was there they were working on a mini-stocker - Ford Anglia with dual side-draft webers and they asked me to get in and start the motor for them. That was a thrill for a 12-14 year-old (not sure what year it was but didn't have my driver's license yet). Would have been in the late sixties, early seventies, graduated from high school in 1973.
Just a natural place to build cars like that and hang out. I found and bought my '57 Nomad at a gas station. Also had a 76 station just a few blocks away from where I lived and my school mate worked there for awhile and did some "after hour" fixin!
Passed many an hour in the mid to late 80s hanging out at the local Chevron my buddies worked at. Because of it's location everybody would come driving by. At times on Friday/Saturday nights it'd be a mini car show with us all hanging out bench racing, putting our cars up on the lift, or matching up and heading out for a run. The owner was cool with it all so long as my buddies didn't neglect the customers. Fun times!
The gas station/hot car phenomena of the 50's/60's was as natural as ice cream on apple pie. Seems every town had one or two stations with this kind of activity. I have one very memorable after hours gas station experience to share. In 1970, I had just gotten my second car, a 57 BelAir 2 dr ht, as most car guys know, you tend to have radar when it comes to knowing all the local cars that are similar to yours. I had seen a real hot sounding 57 210 sedan around town but didn't know who owned it, one day I visited the guy that I had bought my car from and sitting in his neighbors drive way was this 57. Naturally, I'm all over this, so struck up a conversation with the guy and find he works at a Texaco station a couple miles away. A guy always needs a hoist once in a while, so when the offer was made to visit after hours and use the hoist, I took him up on his offer. Even though I did'nt really need it at the time I had him raise my car up to check the newly installed headers' collector bolts for tightness. The guy was finishing up a carb swap on his 57, and asked if I wanted to go with him to check it out. I did not know the details of this car other than it was a hot small block and a 4 speed. By todays standards this car would probably be just a street legal bracket racer, but what I was about to learn was this was a pretty serious piece of machinery. The test drive apparently was a planned after dark (11:30) bonzai pass to see if it was ready for 1/4 mile action. This thing was an absolute street legal race car, because the guy pulled the wheels up on launch and when he hit second gear the hood latch released and the hood flew up and left two small dimples in the edge of the roof from the 57's hood bulges. Quite an experience for a 16 year old car crazy kid.
I grew up in my Dad's station/garage/car lot, what a treat. Had my first hot rod at 13 and drove from 12 years old in our small town. We had a car club The Gear Grinders that met at my Dad's station and many times our local State Hiway Patrol officer was at our meetings and he came to the drag races and hung out with us also, that don't happen any more. What a cool more innocent time
In Pueblo, where I grew up, Phils' Conoco was the gathering place, the place where young guys like me could learn something about cars, and maybe earn a few bucks. Phil helped me in every way, loaning tools, giving advice, and trying to teach me to become a man.
We had a cop that used to run interference for us on Dodge Street(the best cruise spot on the planet)I think his last name was Walton.I even raced him a couple times,which freaked my girlfriend out.He was a slightly more adult version of John Milner
The entire premise of this little book, written by Cary Thomas and published in 2003, is about street racing and hanging out at the Beltsville, Md. Shell station. If you can find a copy, pick it up, it's a treat, especially if you spent any time in the D.C. Metropolitan area.
When I was 15 or so, we used to hang out at a gas station where my buddy's older brother worked. There was always something cool on the rack. One night, a customer was foolish enough to leave a 4 speed, tri-powered 62 Catalina over night. Led by a worldly 18 year old, it was something too much for a couple of car crazy 15 year olds to resist. While we didn't put that many actual miles on the car that night, we probably put on 20 or 30 thousand miles in wear. Unfortunately, no one thought to disconnect the odometer. The older brother got fired the next day. Never did find as cool a gas station to hang out at.
Mid '60's I hung around the Standard station where my friend worked. Single bay with one lift; the owner/mechanic pretty much limited the shop to brake, muffler, and electrical work so as not to tie up the bay. Actually pumped a lot of gas, etc even tho I didn't work there. Friend had access after hours and we made use of the shop at night. Learned a lot at that place; on the mechanical end of course; but I think more importantly dealing with people.
I remeber growing up in Ohio alot of gas stations had some kind of Drag car ,be it the owner of the station or his head Mechanic rolled it out before normal buisness hours then roll it back in at the end of the day and spend some wrench time, one gas station owener in particular moved from Pro Stock to Funny Car ,I thought that was the coolest thing a Funny Car sitting in one of the service bays or out in front in a parking spot, rumor was he crashed it once and was never the same ,the car was restored but now he was scared of it ,moved away shortly after graduting and getting married don't know what ever happen to the car or him
I never actually worked at a service station in the 60's but spent a lot of time at the ones that friends worked at or owned and often helped out which allowed me the use of the hoist or tire machine. One local station "Central Shell" was run by a guy named Gary Fisher who had a nifty bobbed 36 Ford pickup and a 62 409 Impala and after he moved on it was run by a couple of guys who had drag cars and was next to the Safeway Grocery store I worked at. That was the local hangout for a lot of us for years.
Yep, after we took our dates home after a show, we met at a local gas station and told lies! got pretty deep sometimes.
My first job was at an Amoco station. The owner had LS6 Chevelle convert, SS396 Nova, Buick GS, Cobra (kit). Lead Mechanic had 63 Vette roadster and a 442. Tow Truck Driver had a show/race car Nova called "Chevy II Tuff" and he daily-drove a 454 Caprice. Pals used to show up in Hemi cuda, Dusters, etc. I bought a 1970 454 Monte Carlo from one of the mechanics. I was a total punk kid with that thing. Ran figure 8's around the gas pumps. Police station was across the street. Learned about posi rear ends on wet pavement + big block torque one time when I spun out on to the parkway of the police station. Ended up with suspended license after not very long behaving like that
Bud's Auto Supply was a single island station on Foster road in Portland. Bud and Newt started it after they came back from WW2. My memories start from the mid fifties. The place was always a mad house. The parts counter was always busy with Bud and Newt working the counter and the customers that could, getting their own parts. If you needed gas many times you pumped it yourself, Bud's son Danny pumped gas after school. They had a single hoist in one stall and an old style manual tire machine that anyone was free to use (and I did). When you bought parts from Bud he'd say "that's $6.25 give me $5.00" or if it was a nut, bolt or wire end "I'll catch you next time". When Bud died, the funeral parlor had people out into the parking lot. I think my time at Bud's had a lot to do with my becoming a partsman. Norm
My father ran a Gulf station in Greenwich, Ct between WWII and the Korea War (he was in one and got was recalled to the other) and he would say, you really have to have a passion to work on everyone's cars and trucks from 0600 to 1800, then eat supper and go back and work on yours, every night. He never had a race car, but always a good looking street/custom car.
The cool thing to me is although we no longer sell gas , there is great local history in our shop, generations of family's still come here to have their cars repaired. I take pride in being at a small independent shop in a world that has gone to commercial establishments....there's been quite a few dirt cars built here...we get to work on the occasional classic car witch really makes my day...and with the knowledge that I've acquired here I ended up building my own. I've been here 16yrs and wouldn't leave for anything...
No photo archive in my possession to prove it, but learned something about Gas Station cars in my street racing days. No matter what the car looks like, if it is parked at a gas station, you probably didn't want to tangle with it.
Here's where I hang out . I hung out at a local gas station as a kid, and wash vettes and hot rods for free just to be around them.
The Jalopy Journal
