Art & Inspiration The Two-Bay Garage

Kelly-Morang Sunoco, East side of Detroit. A 3-bay, but a great place to work. I learned to deal with all different people. The owners treated their employees well, often letting us order parts that we paid for the next payday. Several oval track stock cars came out of that garage, to compete at local tracks. Most customers lived in the neighborhood. It was a lot like the tv show "Cheers" with gasoline, oil,& grease. RIP Frank Farr

 

for work study in high school i had a job in one of the two bay garages. first day the owner gave me a clutch job on a '65ish chevy aluminum delivery truck with a three speed. he put it up on the lift and said change the clutch pressure plate and throw out bearing and he went into his office off the back room to do paper work. half hour later he walks out and see me struggling with the tranny.
"ho ho, let me help you with that your going to hurt your self."
the two of us wrestled with it and he yells "stop!" "are you pushing or pulling?"
i said "i am pushing"
"you swopped the clutch already?"
"yes" i said "i am putting the tranny back in"
he did not realize that even tho i was only sixteen that i had done many clutches before.
we slide it in and he went back in his office.
two days later he gave me a clutch to do on a bigger truck, this time i needed help with the four speed tranny so i called him out. the two of us started sliding the tranny out and we fumbled with getting all four of our hands on it and he said "i got it".
"you got it"
"yes" i let go and the weight of the tranny drove him to the ground. but on the way down his head hit the side of the front tire/rim.
he went to his office and said call me when it is ready to go back in. the gas pump attendant helped us put it in.
end of the week, with the bandage still on his head, he paid me a dollar more an hour than he agreed to when i started.........

 

lots of fun ,good times and some work!! at the old station i worked at across the street from my house. i started there when i was 8 years old, pumping gas, cleaning windshields with a stool, always washed the windows when the ladys came to buy gas! i worked on my first flathead there at around 10 years old, learned how to drink beer there, worked on some racecars there, yea it was the hangout. over the years worked for about 5 different lease owners there. can still remember filling the 10 cent coke machines, holy shit i am old! yea the kids that are growing up now havent seen shit. theres no more fun than busting your ass on a bias ply tire on a hand tire machine!

 

i kept looking at the name of the station that started this thread, walt knoch, i thinking i know that name! then read the story, i have met the owner of the walts puffer cars, he still owns them. he was the man back in the day, kool stuff!

 

Teen/HS years in the late 50's in a rural area, Gig Harbor, WA. We had a Chevron, Mobil, Shell and Union 76. Worked at the first three at different times during HS. All the owners were super guys and let you use the bays at night after closing to work on your own car. All had their steady customers and most paid cash or, if they were long time customers signed a ticket. All were two bay stations, with free air and water, a 25 cent a pack cigarette machine and a coke machine. And, when you dropped your quarter in the cigarette machine and pulled the handle below the type you wanted: Lucky Strike, Pall Mall, Camel, Chesterfield you could also pull a handle for a pack of matches. These stations did everything from pumping gas to full engine rebuilds. It's where you learned to work on your own car. After closing you had to fill all the tall oil bottles and have the racks ready to push out in the morning, sweep the floors and put every thing back in its place. And there was always a bunch of guys stopping by to check on what you were doing. Life long friendships even thou I am now 2,500 miles away. Only the Chevron exists today and it is a convenience store that sells gas.
But, it was the best of times.

 

Grew up in my father's two car garage wood shop. We always had mechanic-type tools around to work on the families cars, small engines, heavy machinery(father owned a construction business as well).

When i started working on my own projects like tractors trucks and some metal working, i 'took' a part of the shop filled it up with welders, plasma cutter, my own tool box, lathe etc..

In short, I do a lot of work in the driveway with drop lights tarps.
started snowing the other day while i was finishing up head gaskets on my OT 84 k10's small block so i had a tarp clamped between the gutter and hood to keep dry.

I tend to do my most technical work in below freezing weather with some sort of nasty precipitation. I work best that way

 

Man this brings back memories. When I got a license in 1980 there were still some of these stations. Dragomar Shell was on the street coming into my neighborhood. Lots of local kids learned the ropes working for Mr.D, and his son Mark. He ran a tight ship, but was a good teacher - as much about life as cars. Mark had a sweet custom van with a surf mural that wrapped around the entire van.

A guy I went to school with' dad had an Exxon station across town. As the youngest son he had to man the place at night, so we all got to use the bays at night. As long as we cleaned up after ourselves, and wrote down what we used, his dad was ok with it. He even let us order parts on the station accounts to save money on our high school budgets. If you weren't finished in one night, push it outside, and back in the next night.

The Shell station is now repurposed as an architect's office, and the Exxon was torn down. I think a Starbucks is on that lot now.

 

Your dad sounds a lot like the man I worked for,very patient and taught all his employees how to treat his regular customers or first timers.
HRP

 

I realize this is an older post, so this reply may never be seen, but I just gotta try! The 2 bay Texaco station pictured at the beginning of this thread belonged to my father. I have many great memories of those days! This station was located on 131 in Mancelona, Michigan. (Actually right on the dividing line between Mancelona and Antrim.) Contrary to what some other posters have (understandably) assumed, my dad, the Walt Knoch whose name is on the station, is NOT the same Walt Knoch of "Walt's Puffer" fame. In fact, no known relation whatsoever. Interesting little tidbit: prior to owning this Texaco station, my dad owned an antique/second hand store in Boyne City, called "Walt's Bargain Center." My brothers and I "worked" at that store to earn our allowance. My oldest brother is Walt, Jr. One day, "that" Walt Knoch came in, with his son, also Walt, Jr, so for a few crazy minutes, there were actually FOUR Walt Knoch's in the store at the same time!
In the photo above, in the main display windows, you can see shelving that dad built to display/sell some of the antiques left over from the Boyne City store. Immediately to the right of the door, on the ground, can be seen a rack for displaying cans of motor oil. Keeping that rack stocked was one of my "jobs" at the station, when I was around 12 years old.
By the way, my dad is still alive and doing well, very active online, and closing in on his 93rd birthday!

 

^^^^^^Now that is how you resurrect a thread! That is one hell of a first post Ed!

 

The closing of those stations is a big loss in another way. So many of my students got to check reality against the "magazine dream" while working there. It was a great transitional step that is missing now. They got to learn customer service from dealing with everyone from the sweet little old ladies to the raging A-holes. Be on time, do your job with out being told, don't be afraid to do a little extra and they would be allowed to come in the bay and help with LOF, a tune-up, or brakes. First snow of winter and they were experts on the tire machine and balancer. If they were really good they became an assistant manager which meant they got to carry the change maker on the island at night. (No raise, just the title.) Some of them went on to make that station a career, others moved on to shops and dealerships, and for others it was a lesson on what not to do on their next job. (A friend of mine opened a Richfield station in Johnstown, PA in the late 60's. He told me in the first 6 months he hired 21 kids and fired 13 of them)