History Remember when Service Stations gave Service?

yes

 

All that, and I made change from a wad of bills I had in my shirt pocket, and coins in my pocket.........without a calculator. (carrying a calculator would have been difficult as they wieghed about 20 pounds and were plugged into the wall!)

 

Yep !! Grew up in a small town with a big count of service stations,liquor stores,and taverns. Gas wars were a big hit as there was so much competion it kept everybody honest. I was fifteen years old and I had a 64 chevelle SS that got all of 7-MPG and my monthly gas bill for Deluxe "Champlin Station" was $49.00 and I thought I would just die !!! The boss had 2 stations 1 intown and 1 on a busier highway so when I was sixteen I moved up to the busier station,worked from 4 til midnight after school 5 nights a week and it always amazed me what the women would like to trade for a tank of gas. Man times were good back then,If we could just go back !! >>>>.

 

1965..at the Mobile station I worked..made about $1.25 hour..but got to use the bays after hours. I made $1.45 at Texaco..but couldn't use the bays after hours.
Ding..Ding..out to the drive..quick wash hands..
Gas..a second guy (new) would do the tire check..clean windows. Then (on fill ups)..we'd pop the hood..check fluids..


Here is Nick's rail..sometimes I got to help on it..free of course..and worth every minute.
I hadn't seen this picture in 30+ years until a friend sent it to me last year.

 

My Dad had a true service station, 3-bays, hoist-washbay-mechanical repair, plus a car lot. I was all about washing the windshield to shoot a little beaver!! We called it "the white Diamond", yes very sick--but--true!!~Sololobo~

 

Here's my Father's Gulf station he had in the early 60's.

Building is still there...unmolested and for sale in Spring Valley, IL

 

I grew up in Brooklyn, Ia. It has the last fully operational full service gas station there. The building is from the 20s and you still go in and get your gas pumped, windows washed, air checked, fluids checked. They change oil there and have a tire shop. If i knew how to post pics on here i would so you guys can see it, it looks the same as when it was put up next to the pumps which are probably from the late 60s.

 

Cooll stuff but my local Arco station has like 16 pumps and when gas dips by a penny it's tough to find a space.

How would one of those 3 pump gas station hold up to today's demand?

BTW: I worked at a gas station while in college around 1990 and we still pumped gas for a lot of older peple and washed windows and checked oil. It was a smaller 76 where we still stood outside and not behind a galss window.

 

I'm young at the age of only 25, but back in High School, when I lived in IL, we still had one station that provided such service. The owner was probably 60-70 years old. I think there was only 4 pumps. He insisted on pumping them all himself. You just pulled up, and he would greet you and ask gas or plastic. After you answered, he would ask how much you wanted. If he wasn't busy starting the pumps for other cars, he would top off the air in your tires for free. What was weird was how well he knew the time to pump out X.** amount of gas. You could tell him $10, and he would be off starting other peoples cars, as you're watching the pump p*** $9. At about $9.70, he would walk over, and stop the pump within cents of $10.

 

All this stuff is way before my time, but it sounds like some real good stories came from here.

My grandpa is from PA, and he drove out to CA in the early 50's to get a Carson top put on his car (I'm trying to remember which one!) and on the way back his Flathead blew up, he got it to a service station, the guy let my grandpa and his family stay there for the night, and the guy even gave him a Flathead (or a lot of pieces from a Flathead) so he could make the trip home. Talk about service.

 

When I started to drive in 77 full service stations were on the way out around here except for the shell station on the corner that still actually worked on cars but eventually went to self serve for the gas,I always wanted to work at one but the owner of the shell station was a little strange so I got into other jobs.

 

drove my 49 chevy to a full serve where the dude opened the hood and checked the oil while I sat in the car. when he was done he slammed the hood from about 3 feet away like it was a pinto or something. it never opened right after that.

what a dumb***. first and last time anyone checked under any of my hoods.

1976, gas was .79 a gallon. almost got a job at a gas station once but got another job instead. maybe I missed out.

 

there's still a full service fill up station in down town Poplarville mississippi.

 

If I ever hit the lottery I'd like to buy an old, unmolested 2-3 bay station in a small town, have full service and work on cars I wanted to work on.

 

I have a 1932 Texaco Station Owner's Manual with the lube-oil updates through 1934-35 or so mounted in the back. It is an illustrated manual about how to run a Service Station down to washing cars, pumping gas, giving change("make your your hands and the change are clean so as not to dirty the women customer's dainty gloves), uniform standards, station etiquette("keep loafers away from the station building and gas pumps"), issueing "courtesy" cards(now called credit cards), book-keeping, etc.
A treasure to me, I've often wondered how many of these still exist.

 

being only 20 i dont have any good fillin station memories, but this was pretty funny, the shell down my street had a 64 t bird forsale out front nothing special **** two tone baby blue and white paint etc. so i finally go in and ask how much thinking its going to be like 6 Gs or something and the cashier says i think he wants 17,000 or 20,000 and i was like your joking right? " no its fully restored its a nice car bla bla" guy was a total tard, walked out of there cracking up.

 

When I was 19 I worked at a Chevron station in Vancouver Washington. It was 1 block from the local Dairy Queen which was at the end of the cruise loop. It was also on the corner of the road that lead out to the Alcoa Aluminum plant. The plant was 2 miles down the road that was 5 miles long. There was nothing past the Alcoa plant. There were some white lines painted on the road close to the end. Usually around 9PM the hot guys would come in and get 5 gallons of Chevron Custom Supreme 102 Octane!!! and head down the road. If it got real quiet you could hear them go at it!!!! Along with this happening almost all the cruisers would come to my gas station to get gas as it was the only station on the loop! My boss was always amazed that I wanted to work on Saturday nights instead of taking it off to go cruise. I washed the windows and checked the oil all for 23.9 per gallon. Custom was 32.9.
Those were the days my friend!!!!

 

At 15, back in 1971, I started working at a gas station as a pump jockey. sold Blue Sunoco. Waited on customers, checked oil, washed windows and reminded them when their car inspection was due.
Worked there through high school and through college.
At 17, I got my New York State motor vehicle inspection license.
did car inspections in the evenings and on weekends.
No-one else in the area did!
Owner treated me well as I always made money for him instead of the other guys before me who stood around smoked, drank coffee, and wouldn't even pick up a broom.
I also, pretty much had the run of the place.
I could have my friends over to use the lift, as long as a few bucks went into his pocket.
Installed headers, did clutch jobs, did motor swaps. mostly on cars owned by people older than I was.
Also was how I was able to put my cars together as well.

Then, the self service businesses came in.
Attendant in a booth taking money.
Eventually, my boss pulled out the tanks and pumps, and became a repair shop only.

But now years later, the Indian Reservations came in, and had people pumping gas for the customer. They also, due to not having to pay state tax, undercut the self serve places.

The self serve places cry "unfair", but I say, what goes around comes around.

 

My family had a place in burbank illinois where cash fine cars on 79th street sits today, I found a neat grand opening flyer that Ill have to find.
An unrelated topic, one story that always amazed me was my grandfather telling me about back in the old days if you wanted to start your car in the wintertime youd have to drain your oil when you got home at night, then heat it up on the stove and put it back in the morning or you'd never be able to start your car!!!!!!!

 

I think we must've worked at the same Shell Station in 1971 (mine was in Ohio though).All the local gearheads hung out there at night.AAHHHHH.....the memories! Giz'

 

I would love to have a old gas station as my personal garage but have it looking like a functioning mid 50s or early 60s station complete with pumps and everything else that they had.

 

In the mid 70's my first job was at a carwash in Fort Wayne, Indiana...I got "promoted" to salesman which meant I sold extra services and pumped gas...the two things I remember the most were being under the hood and having somebody honk their horn to also ask me to check the battery, the radiator or whatever and second would be pumping gas on a bitter cold winters day and having the gas spew back out on you...after that you just couldn't get warm and you definitely didn't want to stand too close to the cheap little space heaters that were supposed to take away the chill

 

The beginning of the end.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YB5DluA65k4

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i think alot of what's been lost is the work ethic.. My first real job was at a busy "Freeway Chevron" just 100 miles north of the california border here in oregon.. well oregon is one of only two states where it is actually illegal to pump your own gas so we have actual gas attendants.. most of the ones i run into these days kill me with how lazy they are.. i mean they just punch a few ****ons, stick the nozzle in, and that's that.. the station i worked at didn't have "auto-pumps" at the time so if people wanted an exact dollar amount you had to pay close attention to it while helping other customers/washing windows/checking oil/tire preasure... we actually used to have contests to see who could get the most "perfect pumps" in a day... the owner of our station required that we wash windows on all cars unless they requested us not to.. and on anyone filling their car we would have to ask if they would like their oil and tire preasure checked.. although it wasn't required of me i had to play mechanic many a time there as well.. i was the only "car guy" that worked there and can't count how many times i had to help push cars, change belts, diagnose problems, and a ton of other things.. I feel old saying all this but this was only about 10 years ago when i was sixteen..

 

well most older stations the Garage bays are closed,,the guys there no nothing about cars,,they just pump gas. Hell some of the stations in Jersey run by Indian guys ,,are down right ignorant to you if your female and pull in for gas,,just F'in ridiculous anymore.

 

I pumped gas at 35 cents a gallon. Cleaned windshield check oil. We had oil in cans and we had bulk oil. Bulk opil I had to pump out of a 45 galloon drum into gl*** jars it was cheaper than the caned oil. All the people that had **** boxes oil burners used it.

 

My friend and I worked at an ESSO station while going to high school. It was the busiest in the city!! We use to have compe***ions and jump over peoples hoods and trunks and check ******,engine oil, fill their squirter reservoir, check and fill tires, check radiator fluids and top up. Try to do 5 cars at once and all of them wanted different amounts of gas. We'd still give the full meal deal and still shut the pumps off just in the nic of time. We did it all!! We would have a big wad of cash in our pockets for giving change collecting the money. Hardly anyone used credit cards!!! Those were the days.
All that energy and never running out. We use to rive the customers cars in the big mall parking lot also to see how much power they had. Lots of fun!!! The gas was colored sort of yellow was regular, red was a mid and purple was the high octane!! Use to watch those gl*** flow meters just spin!!

 

I gave out alot of TV stamps.........

 

This is a great thread. I too was a pump jockey.Chevron about 3 miles from Disneyland. We had this Hippy (1972-1975) come in and say that it was Gods gas and he didnt have to pay. The owner came over and told him that God had been here only a few minutes ago and told us to stop giving the stuff away. The dude didnt have any money. The owner told me to siphon the gas out of the hippys car. I asked where I should put it and he looked at me like I had 2 heads. "Put it in your damn car, YOU have a job."
He was alot of laughs. I also had to pay the amount on the pump.

 

Their is a little gas station here in C***ville Ga that still pumps your gas for you. The owner is a real nice guy. I've seen him have one of his boys check the oil,trans,water in cars before in his older guest at no extra charge. So theit are some that still give good service. I like going to a small town gas station versesa large one. Now I pay about .03 to .08 more a gal but I think its worth it. Small service stations are fadeing fast.....