Jive-Bomber submitted a new blog post: Working at a Gas Station in 1962... Continue reading the Original Blog Post
Not far from Rolling Meadows I spent ten years of my youth at a gas station that was two doors from my childhood house. I spent at least part of ninety percent of the days there. That was from age eight to eighteen (1955-1965). The Pure Oil station had two pumps and one service bay with a lift. I would say much of my mechanic knowledge was gained by just being around and observing routine maintenance and repairs being handled by the proprietor. On the hot rod side, I remember a gentleman had a 1952(?) Desoto that he converted to run on propane gas. Entirely a back yard build. There was a nicely finished midget racer that used the station as home for a time. The shop truck got painted to match the midget and trailer. Very cl***y. I attended local races, but never saw the midget race. At eighteen I left for college and my future life as a young adult was changed greatly. Good memories.
Going to college in Hastings NE. I needed some extra money and I found just the place. Berck's Full Service. It was a gas station but more important it was the local speed shop. Waiting on customers/pumping gas kept me busy but when I had time I watched Jim and his helper doing all kinds of engine swaps and other performance work. I was in aw by all the Chevy high performance crate engines stacked along the wall. He could do an engine swap as fast as anyone I ever saw. He had the then popular 40 Ford Chevy to Ford swap down to a science. 2 days max. I couldn't afford any of what he was doing or selling but working there was fun & educational. Today Jim is in his late 80's and still doing it.
Very cool. This is way before my time. It looks straight out of the movie American Graffiti. That is my favorite era of hot rodding.
I worked at a Sohio gas station in my junior and senior days in high school. I worked every night from 4 till closing time at 10 and on most Saturdays, My girl girlfriend would do my homework cause I was too tired when I got off work. Pretty neat Hugh! We ended up getting married!
I worked at a Phillips 66 station a little west of Minneapolis in my early college years. I worked with one of my car-guy buddies from high school and it was a pretty good gig. I still have the uniform shirt. John
My dad worked at a gas station in the late 50s- He said sometimes the fun challenge was finding where the fuel door was hidden on that particular make & model- Under the taillight? Behind the license plate? Hidden by a piece of trim?
Worked after college as a fun job nights and weekend at a Mobil station. Been sort of collecting Mobil items lately .Still waiting to spend my retirement on one cookie cutter Pegasus.
One of my favorites was washing the windshield. Saw some fabulous young ladies. A few were exhibitionists!! Ben
My gas station job was a little later, about 70 or so. The ***** I worked for knew all the old folks he could cheat, so when "ms. johnson" came in, he would rush out and give her his best smile and eddy haskel speach...Well hello ms johnson, my you look lovely today! Then, he would take over my job checking under the hood to report.." my goodness, that fan belt looks bad, you must come in soon. Then sell a quart of oil she didn't need. I had no drivers license and would ride my mini bike across the ice 3 miles to get to work and the ***** wouldn't let me put it in the garage to stay warm enough to start when closing. It went in as soon as he left.
I never worked at a station but used to help a buddy at his dad's station in the evenings so I could put my car on the hoist. Helping included washing windows and pumping gas but it was two miles from my house and I had access to the hoist. I did change or repair a few flat tires on occasion. Later I helped my life time buddy that I have known since my mom held me over his crib to show me the baby when I was a year old at his station for pretty well the same reasons outside just hanging around with him. He is still the guy I go to if I need something welded that is critical as he is one of the best welders in the region even though he is 78 years old. If he can't weld it it can't be welded.
Great Times. The cars were getting ****ier and More tricked-out design wise. I was there age 14, spectating at my Uncle's Gulf. Marveling at the H.S. gang and their antics. Having been shown the process of tire service, and soon to led to oil change and lube duties. Then pulled wrench's from bumper to bumper, ( top end/bottom end ) to ring and pinion. Took that path until May of '71. In and out another 8 years 'tween 70s and 90s
Nice. Well before my time. Grandad had a concession from Shell to run a gas station in Israel between 1940-1963 but when Shell's operation got taken over by an Israeli company (Paz), terms became unattractive so he sold the concession. All happened before I was old enough to get involved, so the only chance I got to work at a gas station was in... Melbourne, Australia when I visited in 1986-1987. Very busy and with the odd Ausie muscle car stopping by from time to time but nowhere near as intersting as the the place in the vid...
It wasn't 1962, it was 1963. Started a few days after high school graduation. I was hired to pump gas and change oil/grease jobs for a dollar an hour. PA. inspection and full service. Never turned away any repairs. I made the mistake one day of offering to tune up a car. The owner said "you can do that?". From then on, I did everything, brake jobs, exhaust, inspections. Plus, opening, closing, inventory. All for a dollar an hour. It didn't matter, I loved it.
The other side of that coin was the miserable old woman in the p***enger seat who pointed at the one bug that didn't come off of the windshield.
Of course! But hope springs [ sprung ] eternal. That 15 year old with her feet placed enticingly on the dash! And I was 16!
Gas stations provided a lot of jobs and learning a trade. Greyhound buss stations also were a way to leave a rural town ro a trip to Hollywood to be a movie star All now history.
Much later (early 1980's) I worked at a gas station with a high school friend. We used to rent U-Haul trucks there as well; had some funny and interesting times with those things!
In 1966, had a job as a draftsman from 7am to 3:30pm five days a week. Girlfriend worked until midnight at a factory so I got a second job at a MFA gas station for the night shift. They only sold gas and oil so no service bays. Gas was 16.9 cents a gallon. Back then in Missouri, few cars had a/c so washing windshields was a show if the female driver or p***enger pulled their skirt a bit higher for the cooling effect. One night, a lady came in driving a Galaxie 500. It must have been running on fumes because I pumped $5 in gas into the tank. A Ford didnt hold 29 gallons that I know of. I told the boss and he accused me of running gas on the ground. Never figured it out. I waxed my car every night that I worked, my shift ended at midnight and I went and picked up the girlfriend. Started it all over the next morning..... I was tired all the time.
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