Do you remember buying motor oil, and it came in metal cans,you got 24 in a case, and a whole case only cost $12 Oh! where have the last 40 years gone? Dave
Yes I do! I still have a metal "plunger" that you would use to pierce the can and use the plunger as a spout for pouring the oil into your engine.
Y'all must be young, When I was 16 I worked at a 76 Union Station in Lompoc California. I remember selling it for 30 cents a quart or out of the bulk machine which you had to turn the crank and fill a glass container then attach a pour spout, a quart was 17 cents.
Yeah,I remember .18c gal gas...05c Cokes and nickle candy bars....10c loaf of bread...but I also remember .75 per hour pay..
Yep .75 cents an hour and no benefits at all not a sick day or vacation or anything else. We always seem to remember the good stuff and shove the bad stuff into the back of the brain. I'll take some flack for this one but $5.00 gas isn't bad compared in percentages to other stuff, I don't like it but over all it's cheaper than the inflation of a allot of other stuffover the last 50 years
Now some of the oil cans are worth big money.I wish we would have some gas wars now to see who sold the cheapest in town.
My friend that worked at the Shell stationb had to hand out water Glasses one for every fill up over $2.00. We also had Blue Chip Stamps in Ca.
Yes, it's ironic that back when gas was 29.9 cents a gallon, stations gave away all sorts of prizes to you if you filled your tank.
I had a Shell station in 63. Super Shell was 26.9. Some of the lower priced oil came in cans made of cardboard with metal top and bottom. You had to be careful using a can cutter spout or you could crush the side and pour oil everywhere. It was full service no matter what the sell was.
. ahh yes... .22 cent gas .. and still drove all over town to the lowest cost station during them gas wars .. .19 cents u-pump it......H
In the late 40's we drove alot of Model A's. Had no money, so we just went to the service station and use crankcase drainings. It was free!
Yep and full service wasn't just pumping their gas...we had to check all of their fluids (if the customer wanted us to), clean their windshield, and check their air pressure(we would get written up if we forgot our tire pressure gauge...
Full Service Stations were a hoot. There were always guys hanging around helping a little so they could use the rack for free. If you got slammed at the pumps you would ask for help to"catchone". If a good looking woman came in they would all run to "catchone" so they could clean the windshield. It was fun to watch.
Thanks for reminding me...we used to have a code we used...RT for real tit shot or hot chick, GT for Gravy Train (dog food back in the day) and future RT for a young chick that was gonna be hit...one time a lady who used to flirt quite a bit ask me what it meant because she always heard us say RT red camaro...told her what it meant without being crude and she smiled from ear to ear and noticed that whenever she came in after that her skirts were a little shorter and her blouses a little tighter and lower cut...like the typical teenage idiot I told my boss about it (this was at Mike's Carwash in Fort Wayne, Indiana) and whenever he saw her pull in he'd haul ass down there so he could wait on her...
When I saw the title I wondered where it was going and every one of the above comments is right on. I pumped a lot of gas for my buddies who worked at the stations so I could use the hoist during an off time or use the tire changer. I just sat here and figured out that in 1964 I worked an hour to buy a little over 3 gallons of gas and now I am right back to that point. An hours work buys a little over 3 gallons of gas. (high paid govt worker). That was always my wage vs price gage when the kids I had in class would tell me I had it so good with the 30 cent gas in the early 60's. I think my mom has a case of oil in the cans that her companion had stashed away but I think they are the cardboard ones instead of all metal. Oddroodgarage: That story reminds me of when I worked as a boxboy at the local Safeway. The manager would lurk near the check stands when a "hot" 20 something gal would come in and then shove us out of the way and haul her groceries out to her car and chat with her for a while. That was untill his wife stood in the store window and watched him stand outside talking to a gal for 20 minutes one day. The defication hit the fan that day for sure.
Yup, not so bad -- in 1967 the year I was born, gas was 33 cents per gallon and minimum wage was $1.40 so for an hour's work the guys at the bottom could buy 4 gallons of gas. Today at $4.00 per gallon and minimum wage at $5.80 you can almost squeeze a gallon and a half out of that hour's work. Not so bad at all?!
I remember gas being .06/.09 a gal. But I lived in the house attached to the station that my grandparents owned. WAY too many years ago.
I remember Gas being 16 cents a gallon and driving a 41 Chevy and would coast to the station to put 25 cents of Gas in it to Cruse around and Oil was in Glass Bottle's and Cans and you could buy a Running Car from the Junk yard for 15 dollars and when it didn't run you could trade it in for another I think the 50's were the Best times!
In the 50 's used to hang out at the local Humble station, use the rack,tire changer, spark plug cleaner etc. I'm amazed now that the owner was so good natured about it. He used to let us drain the pump hoses for our Cushman Eagles. Drain 4-5 hoses and get several days of gas. I think "SITE" stations gave away dishes with gas purchases. Me and the first ex-wife got our first set of china that way, lost that in the divorce too but got to keep the 40 sedan. good deal!!
I Remember when the ferry cost a nickel, and in those days, nickels had pictures of bumblebees on them. Give me five bees for a quarter you'd say. Now where were we, oh ya. The important thing was that I had an onion on my belt, which was the style at the time. They didn't have white onions because if the war. The only thing you could get was those big yellow ones. And when I was a pup, we got spanked by presidents 'til the cows came home! Grover Cleveland spanked me on two non-consecutive occasions! PS: I am disgusted with the way old people are depicted on the H.A.M.B. We are not all vibrant, fun-loving sex maniacs. Many of us are bitter, resentful individuals, who remember the good old days when gas was cheap and entertainment was bland and inoffensive. The following is a list of words I never want to hear on the H.A.M.B. again. Number one: bra. Number two: horny. Number three: family jewels. Thank You Abe Simpson
spent summers at my uncles gas station and my job was to fill the oil bottles and the windshield wipers up. people used to really amaze me on how much effort they expected you to give to make sure the oil was right on the full mark. my uncle used to have a little bottle in his pocket that he would "top off the oil" with for the real anal customers, a few quick drops and perfect right at the full line exactly.
Heres one Ill bet not many remember???? Ive still got one of the Holiday Penzoil cans.... They gave them them away to there dealers(stations) and they were filled and sealed with hard christmas candy in them. Its got an API rating of SE not sure of the year 80' mabey. and Yes I despise Penzoil.
Did anyone ever catch the Gates 'Mystery Man' ? For the youngsters: At a full-service station you were expected to clean the windows, check the tire inflation, check all the under-hood fluids and inspect the fan belts for wear with a fill-up.... Gates had a fleet of 'ringers' that drove around with bad belts, if you caught him and recommended a new belt you won a prize (CRS, don't recall what it was)......... CC
Same groups of people that worked for minimum wage back then. When my wife and I were first married I worked 2 minimum wage jobs to make ends meet. What I was saying is that the guy boxing groceries back in 1967 had the same purchasing power as the guys making almost $17 today. So as a scientist at a major University today, I have the same purchasing power as a minimum wage job in 1967, thats all I am saying, and the gas prices do hurt.
I pumped gas at 27cents a gal, and made 75 cents an hour. And yes the Gates guy did stop by and no I did'nt check his belts. I think it was $10.00 or $15.00 if you did. Big money then.
"No amount of money could take from me The memories I have of then.. No amount of money could pay me To make me live through them again... In the good old days, when times were bad"
The Jalopy Journal
