Folks Of Interest gas stations were around when you started to drive?

We had several Hancock stations in Central Oregon, plus all the usual Shell, Texaco, Chevron, etc.

Dave

 

One of the last full service stations in Southeastern Ohio was a Certified, on the southeastern end of Nelsonville. Sometime in the late '80's or early '90's, two guys robbed the manager early in the morning, tied him up and set him behind the station, and pumped gas for a few hours on top of that. Never caught, although seen by dozens of customers. Another Certified station in Glouster, Ohio had someone park a van over the tanks one night, and they sucked up over 500 gallons. Multiple trips had to have been used. My friend was the district manager for Certified when that happened.

 

Ok, more of the station and some customers cars. Shitty pics with a Polaroid. 3 out of 4 corners are gone, a Texaco, Arco and Mobil wiped out, plus an old liquor store.................ahhh progress.

 

I worked at an Enco in Portland, Oregon in 69-70. The magic word was "upsell". Always check the oil and find low washer fluid, oil level, fan belt or hoses. The owner charged me 20 bucks a day for the hoist when I swapped a 4 speed into my 57 Pontiac...took me one day!
He eventually got busted owning both an Enco and a Shell station at the same time in the same town....a big no-no. He once accused me of stealing a battery...I didn't.

 

I started driving in 1971. The full service gas station s were still around. Gas was 25 cents per gallon. My best friend worked at the Texaco Station and we made sure that he did a full service. "Hey, John, make sure you check my water and air in the tires"

We had all of the big gas stations. The Inland Empire od SoCal had a Jimmy's gas station on almost every corner.

 

1969. Sohio full service.
16 yrs old working for gas money.
Wore the blue uniforms.
Used to fight to get to the gas pumps to clean the windows of miniskirts and hot pants.
The good old days!!

 

Hess.Long Island..gas 33 cents,we used to 'hang' the pumps..If someone came in for a dollars worth we would leave the pump on and 'hang' the nozzle..if the next car wanted a fill up it would start at a dollar,we would peel and pocket a buck off the cash roll..
Sell oil and short the closing sheet..other stations I worked at all flats fixed were pocketed,as well as belts,we would short the count..Id look back on it and think what a little bastard I was,till you watched the shit the mechanics pulled,and the ticket scalping and fence operations the managers worked..I figured meh,we were small potatoes..

 

I started working at my cities service station at age 8! worked for a half a dozen different people who leased the station over the years. yea the ladies always had a clean windshield! that was 1961!!!

 

Gotta upsell the TBA, boys! Haven't thought about that for decades.
At one station I worked at, the owner's brother did a tuneup and oil change on a guy's Karmann Ghia. The car owner came by and wondered how it was going. The brother fired it up and let him hear it run, then jumped in and shut it off with a funny look on his face. He had drained the oil while tuning it up, and had forgotten to put the oil in before starting it up. I'm not sure how many more miles that car went after that.
How many of you Standard Oil guys remember "The Mystery Shopper"?

 

They were basicly all the same. Most had only 2 pumps. Full service that checked oil, air in tires and clean the windows.

the brick building had a small room that had the cash register on the counter. 1 toilet bathroom was the door next to it and then you turn around again, 180 degree from the cash register was a 2 car repair garage with extra oil, belts hanging from the walls, etc , whatever car part you needed.

Now they have multi pumps, no repair garage and the store is all convenience food that is bigger than the old mom and pop stores years ago.. If you are lucky you will find a very short wall that has oil on it and a few car freshners.

 

Were gas stations around when we started to drive ?

No, when some of us old farts started to drive there were no gas stations

 

Shell, Hudson/Fisca, Standard, DX, Gulf, Phillips 66, Mobil, Sinclair, Texaco, Esso, Clark and many independents.

 

Back in early 60's Eddies&Harrys Standard on 24 Hiway in K.C..They would let me run a tab for gas.. Try asking for that at a station now. There was a guy that worked there had a gold 49 merc with a built flathead.

 

I worked part time at Standard Oil in 1957 at one of the busiest stations in Northern Ohio. In the evenings we had four guys pumping gas and two in the service area. Sometimes we didn't have a break for two or three hours.

 

I remember they had spies drop by to grade you on your service. Was that a mystery shopper??

 

I think we talked about that before Rocky. Mine was the ARCO on 82nd down by Elmers Pancake House. Funny, my car always had a full tank of gas back then.

 

The one I remember was in Dalton, Arkansas. It was part of a general store where you could also buy chicks (baby chickens), grain, a few groceries, hardware, hunting/fishing license, or just sit and talk with all the geezers sitting on the porch or play Dig-Dug (a video game). It had two gas pumps, a hand pumped diesel tank for tractors and a propane tank to refill your grill's tank. Also had a pay phone where you could call your girl friend without your parents listening in. It's think it's still there and in business, owned by some Mennonites, now.

Sent from my SM-G965U using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

I remember White Rose and Beaver (Canadian eh!)

 

I grew up in the small town of Lawrenceville, Il. During the late '50s (high school years) I worked at a Marathon then at a Shell station. Most of my hotrod buddies also worked in gas stations. After we would close up at night we would gather at the 24 hour Texaco to socialize and work on our cars. Looking back those were some really good times.

 

how about blue ball.
RIP Tim!

 

Back in the '70's and '80's, in Southeastern Ohio, Sohio had a guy who travelled around doing just that. If you got a perfect score, he handed you a hundred dollar bill on the spot. I had a couple friends who worked at Pete's Sohio in Athens, who each got one, ol' Buck James (not quite his real name ) got one twice in a year. I worked at a Highway Oil station at this time, and the company vice president rode around every quarter doing the same thing, but he gave you fifty bucks no.matter what, and usually chewed yer ass no matter what , and if he happened to arrive at shift change, gave out two fiftys and two ass chewin's also. Highway Oil was a good company to work for, they paid almost 3 times minimum wage then, but being a discount station, you were almost always slammed. You weren't supposed to have more than $100.00 on you at any time, so handling $100 bills could be a hassle at times. I used to get gas there when I was in high school, and one morning we got told by an Athens patrolman we could not, because they had just been held up. Went to school, and a couple hours later the Sheriff's dept. came and hauled a kid out of our Auto Body class He was one of the pair who had robbed the place

 

Tim Conway was a national treasure. RIP 5/14/2019.

If he didn't make you laugh, you didn't have a funny bone.

A true genius.

 

We had Chevron, mobile,Texaco, Phillip's 66, and Exxon. I paid .99 for regular leaded.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

We had Esso, American, Shell, DX, Fina and Phillips 66. Also had a Martin and a Chadwicks. This was around 1970. I hung out and worked some at the Esso because my buddy's dad owned it. We use to slip out his dad's wrecker to push start my buddy's sbc powered Studebaker coupe.

 

Hey D,

In our neck of the woods in So Cal, all of the big name stations were within several blocks of each other. Being so close to the industrial companies and businesses where we lived in the Westside of Long Beach, there were even diesel gas stations, too. But, there were only a few places that sold the reclaimed oil near us. For some, it was a economical solution to using oil. For others, it was not worth it to pump your own “used” oil for your own motor. The available cans from the racks were easier and for them more convenient.

Our 1940 Ford Sedan Delivery had a Flathead for power. (converted from a 348 Chevy motor, so I could afford to buy it) and had a mysterious amount of oil usage. There weren’t any leaks, drips on the concrete driveway, or smoke coming out of the exhaust. My brother and I were stumped, our local Flathead mechanic was stumped, and even our expert, all around, hot rod mechanic in LA was stumped. So, it got very expensive using regular Valvoline or oil from the gas station wire racks.

When I discovered the reclaimed pump on a 55 gallon barrel behind the neighborhood gas station, I was overjoyed.


Jnaki

My high school friend worked at a Texaco and had an upside down can spout going into a big 5 gallon steel container. Anytime they changed oil on any car, the “take out” oil went into the big 55 gallon drum. Then for the new cans of oil going into the motor, the empty cans were turned upside down to get the last remaining oil drips into the small 5 gallon can. This was new oil, just not in a can.

My friend said he used this “new” oil in his Pontiac Bonneville, as it was free for him. He said that some guy in a beat up, old truck came by and always took the 55 gallon drum away and left an empty one. It was a recycling business of sorts.

“Reclamation may take place off-site where the vendor of the reclamation service drains the existing charge and replaces it with previously reclaimed oil. Reclamation usually involves the lube oil being filtered and cleaned of debris, sludge and fine particles. Centrifuging also occurs to remove suspended particles and some water. The reclaiming of a lube oil is essentially a non-chemical process that restores in-service lube oil for reuse in a system.”

“In simple terms, Lubricating oil that is processed to be used over and over again. I could pump in a gallon of reclaimed oil at less than the cost of a can of Valvoline. That fit my bankroll and we were all happy campers… The 120 mile round trip to the Camp Pendleton surf spot in South San Clemente from Long Beach took a gallon.”

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/what-oil-do-you-run-in-your-hot-rod.1143062/page-4#post-13068763

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/teenage-hot-rodders-cheap-tricks-in-the-60s.1081062/page-5#post-12327514

 

When I started driving in the mid 60's we had Standard, Texaco, Phillips 66, and Sinclair. There were some independent stations as well, but those were the major stations in the Grand Island area.

 

Milwaukee Wisconsin mid 60's, all the brand names, the stations that went away, late 60's, early 70's were the cut rate, bulk gas stations, always cheaper per gallon and these stations would have a nightly specials, 5 gallons for a buck, premium same price as regular, etc. It was explained to me in the Milwaukee area all the gasoline was underground piped to Jones Island (southeast side Milwaukee) from Texas and the gas in the line between the brand names was the bulk gas, sold cheaper to independent stations passed on to consumer. I and most everyone I knew bought this gas with no problems, although I would pony up for .10/.20 more per for Sunoco Hi Octane on street race nights, make any difference ? probably not. How times have changed, now we are happy lf/when gas stays under $4.00 per and regular with 10% ethanol is 86 octane here, 91 premium no ethanol runs as much as .75 to 1.25 gallon more here.

 

I'm wearin this snapshot out, but will post again cuz it fits.
1961. Brother in the middle, me on the right, not yet driving. Also had Esso close by, and yep, Mom had a shelf full of their "fill-up water glasses". There was some lame joke about an Esso-Bee...

 

In Los Angeles my grandfather had a Seaside station. I've never heard anyone on here mention Seaside before. It was in California only. There were Associated and Mobil on two other corners. All of the hot rodders hung out at the Mobil.

 

I remember that one locally, and seeing Fina and Irving, when I went to Canada.