Hello, As a H.S. graduation gift, my parents gave me a Chevron Credit Card. It was given to me during the last semester of high school and it became a way to gauge gas purchases, gas mileage calculation slips and a record of road trip gas usage. It was a well deserved and very handy credit card. But, the only things I could use was to buy oil inside and gas at the pumps. Handy and nice to have a secure card knowing I could get gas to drive home at anytime. So, I must have been a good kid in high school… ha! It came in handy, as the last year of high school and the whole summer were road trips after road trips, to hit all of the name surf spots from Long Beach South to Baja Mexico and North to Malibu, when it broke as well as it does. The good thing was the card in my wallet. The card made me go to the Chevron Gas Stations near my house and in our cruising areas. At the time, there were plenty of Chevron/Standard Oil labeled gas stations all over. If a Chevron was not on that corner, then a short block or two down the road was a Standard Oil Gas Station. At one time, we knew of all of the Chevron/Standard Oil Gas Stations for necessary gas stations in the whole South Coast surf locations from Long Beach North to Malibu and down to San Diego. The Baja Mexico journeys did not require gas, as we usually filled up in the USA before crossing the border. We did not like Pemex. Jnaki So, for many years including our road trips North to San Francisco, it was stop at those stations for gas. Later, the 327 El Camino ran fine with Chevron gas, although it changed a little. The top level gas was good enough for the high powered 348 modified motor in the 58 impala, no knocks and no continued running when the key got turned off. At one time, it was rated 98. Which was the top level of gas available. Luckily the Chevron Station was a few blocks from Lion’s Dragstrip and was well used every weekend by most racers. Then many years later, a friend I took on a surf trip was happy to be able to go to a different surf spot. So, as a friendly gesture, he offered to buy us a lunch on the way. A lunch sounded good. But, he pulled over into a Standard Gas Station and in the modified newer gas station, was a nice lunch counter and tons of food for all choices. It was like a restaurant inside of a gas station. It was one of those things that I never associated with gas stations. We had been to many mini marts and now in those Chevron/Standard Gas Stations were mini marts with a ton of food available. The whole concept of a gas station was changing and now we discovered that portion of the new wave of service provided. Yes, he used his credit card to purchase a nice lunch we both had and took more to the beach for a later snack. Yummy… YRMV Note: Not only are other gas stations on the mini market bandwagon, the “supplies” that are offered at most places are attractive and are a big portion of the daily income. Some even have small car washes attached to the main building…
The Jalopy Journal
