I can excuse the anniversary having slipped past you, but this month (January 2025) is the the 50th anniversary of the first petrol station being opened by Sainsbury’s, then Britain’s leading supermarket and still the second largest chain in the country. So, thanks to BBC News and the Sainsbury Archive, some memories for you, if you’ve ever filled up at the Cambridge store on Coldham’s Lane.
Being CC, we’ll focus on the cars, not the pumps and the payment systems. In the lead picture, a Hillman Avenger, Hillman Super Minx and a Morris Minor are getting their fill. Looking back 50 years, the Minor might seem to be an old car to be in daily service, but production had only ended 5 years before. The Super Minx was potentially older; the Avenger current.
In the background, there’s another Avenger and a Renault 15, with a Mini estate car at the far right.
Above is a Ford Corsair, again a 1960s car and with an unusual two tone paint finish and a 1972 Triumph Dolomite 1850, though not a Sprint with the 16 valve engine. Was the Corsair driver looking at the Dolomite and thinking “maybe next time”?
This BMC ADO17 (Landcrab) Mk 2 looks to be in a posed photo – who fills their car up in the January dusk in shirtsleeves, except supermarket managers? A Hillman Hunter sits on the other side – both were contemporary models.
Another day, and a VW Type 3 Variant, a Ford Escort MK, a Triumph 2000 and Ford Cortina Mk3 moving forward to pay past a Mk2 Cortina estate. On the other side, a Bedford HA van, based on the original 1963 Vauxhall Viva HA and produced until 1983, mostly for the utility companies.
And last , but not least as the driver may reading this, a 1967 BMC ADO16 1100 (Austin? Morris?) in an unusual (aftermarket?) two tone colour scheme and a Vauxhall Viva HC. Opposite, a Mk3 Cortina estate, a Ford Capri, two more ADO16s and an Avenger.
66p is 66p per (Imperial) gallon, equivalent to £5.03 per gallon. The current price is around £1.40 a litre, or £6.35 a gallon.
Hat tip – BBC News and the Sainsbury Archive
Oh, Sir Rog, this year’s the 50th anniversary of Fawlty Towers. Surely, that’s all that matters?
I’ve got to be honest, only the Regie’s 15 and that Volksy Variant have any appeal out of this motely and-about-to-break-down lot. Only oddballs would shout out for the others here.
However, being one – an oddball, not a Renault or a Vwee, natch – I do thank you for this atmospheric post.
Good variety. I wonder which is older, the Hillman Super Minx or the Ford Corsair? The latter is one of the 1963-65 models (pre Aeroflow and V4), the former 1964-66 with the revised roofline.
I think the 1800 must be a Mk.3 as it’s N reg. (1974-5), not that it looks significantly different from the back.
The rising tide of imports seem to be mainly French (Renault, Peugeot and Simca) or German (VW). Where are all the Datsuns hiding? Maybe they went to Tesco.
These photographs are very much evocative of my childhood. Re the bloke filling up the beige Austin/Morris Landcrab I’m not sure that it is posed. Looking at how he is dressed I’m going to put him at about forty, the same generation as my Dad. Their formative years were shaped by, in order, the end of the depression (no New Deal here) air raid shelters, air raids and carrying a gas mask at all times, work at fourteen for most (grammar school was for about one in ten), National service at eighteen. Until our man was back from his service quite a few things were still rationed. This generation did not swing in the sixties.
In terms of his seeming imperviousness to the cold practically nobody had central heating in the early to mid seventies over here. Heating meant a coal fire or electric heater in the sitting room, this meant the rest of the house was cold during the winter, take my word for it so a warmish January day , seven or eight degrees Celsius wouldn’t be much colder than his house. Being of that generation , and I have this from first hand, filling up in shirt sleeves would be entirely normal. His jacket will be on the back seat so it doesn’t get creased while he’s driving . He’ll probably fill in the note book he keeps a record of his milage and fuel purchases he keeps in the glove box, and if its a Satutday he’ll check the tyre pressure as well. My childhood was , for better or worse, shaped by this generation.
The first Metric gas station in Canada, was a Sunoco in Downtown Toronto. Began serving in Metric on April 8, 1975. Regular grade gas sold for 14.4 cents a litre; which worked out to slightly less than 65 cents an Imperial gallon
Great to see colors other than metallic gray, white and black…
The main neighborhood grocery chain in the DC area where I grew up in the ’70s was Giant Food, which as it turns out was briefly partly-owned by Sainsbury’s, but is now owned by the Dutch firm Ahold Delhaize. I don’t recall any ever having fuel pumps at a Giant. Giant’s main competitor was Safeway which also didn’t sell gasoline in my area, although there’s one in a rural area near here that does. The one non-oil company fuel station in the suburbs when I was young was outside the Sears auto center, across from the Giant. Their pumps had a lever that let you customize the octane level to any of five settings. Sears was at their very height at this time, with about 3,500 stores in the US plus a thriving catalog-order business, which is how you ordered stuff by mail before you could go online. The last time I looked there were only 7 Sears stores left, and they’re sad, largely deserted threadbare places with haphazard merch selection.
The big trend in refueling stations in the 21st century has been pumps owned by convenience stores like Wawa and Sheetz with no affiliation with oil companies. Many stations that do fly an oil-company banner have ditched the traditional attached service center for a convenience store, which is often more profitable than gasoline or diesel. Who’s buying all those Pepsis and cheese curls, I haven’t a clue.
One other notable retailer with gas pumps at some location is Costco, which charges you about $100/year for the privilege of shopping there, but it’s worth it for many for their large packages and high-quality items at rock-bottom prices. That extends to the gasoline, which is far less expensive that anyplace else, though you may have to wait 10 minutes to get to a pump during popular times. Costcos are widespread in the US now, and have a smattering of stores in other countries including the UK.
I buy almost all of my fuel at Costco. They add a small markup to whatever they pay, and there’s your price. When fuel prices are coming down everywhere else, Costco might be just a touch cheaper. But when fuel prices get raised (which seems to happen both randomly and often) the savings is substantial. And if you pay with their credit card, you get a rebate on all of your fuel purchases, which makes the deal even better.
I keep being drawn to that stupid white Hillman Avenger in the background of multiple shots, which was (briefly) known Stateside as the Plymouth Cricket.
Slightly unusual as the rear numberplate has been displaced from the usual below bumper position by a tow hook. Let’s hope it has the 1500 rather than 1300 engine.