Text by Patrick Bell.
We are going to check out some service stations today, definitely a relic of the past, although I believe there is one state left that does not allow self service gas stations. Most of the locations are unknown, but there is a wide variety of companies. I remember them well, where you could get gas and have your fluids and tires checked without getting out of your car. I never was employed at one, but I hung around several when the opportunity presented itself.
Our first stop is at a Shell station where a ’59 Dodge Royal or Custom Royal 4 door sedan, possibly from Kentucky, was getting a fill up. In the left background, a blue ’61 Mercury Comet, pinkish ’57 Lincoln Coupe, red fifties Willys Jeep Station Wagon, black perhaps ’47 Chevrolet, and a white over black ’55 Chevrolet Two-Ten 2 door sedan.
One search results says this Standard station was in Toledo, Ohio. If you need some tires they were having a sale. A gentleman was pulling in with a V8 powered ’54 Ford Crestline Skyliner, the first year and most popular of the transparent top models. In the background right, could be a ’42 or ’46-’48 Ford Coupe.
Perhaps this was Mr. Kitchens and Mr. Landers giving a ’52 Studebaker Commander State 4 door sedan a fill up and some under the hood attention in the driveway of their Sinclair station. The Studebaker looks in good condition other than the missing wheel cover, and in the garage was a ’53 Oldsmobile.
We are now at a Richfield station, where a man is showing off some money for some reason. I don’t know if he was the boss or a customer. In the drive was another ’53 Oldsmobile.
Stop by your neighborhood Texaco dealer and get your very own Precision Barometer for only $3.50. That sounds cheap but it was over 12 gallons of that Fire Chief regular, essentially the cost of a fill up. A ’54 Chevrolet Bel Air 4 door sedan from Massachusetts was in the drive for some fuel with a ’59 Ford Custom 300 in front of it. Over to the left was a white over gold ’54 Plymouth Belvedere 4 door sedan.
A ’58 Chevrolet Nomad with a V8 and a not so aerodynamic rooftop carrier was stopped at a Humble station next to a train station. The family must have been checking out the clean restrooms. The car was from Texas and that likely was the location as well. In the background, a ’53-’55 Ford F-series pickup and a clean white over coral ’53 Ford Crestline Victoria.
Jesse Mize was ahead of his time, combining a grocery store with a gas station in Millington, Tennessee, shown in this image from 1958. They call them convenience stores now, and they are pretty well the majority, at least in my part of the world. Up front was a ’50 Mercury six passenger Coupe that so far had escaped the customizer’s torch, and under the canopy was a ’50 Ford Fordor that did have some custom touches around the tail lamp area. And to the right, a ’47-’53 GMC New Design cab with perhaps a refrigerated box.
Now we are at a Gulf Service Center, probably somewhere in California, where a V8 powered ’51 Ford F-2 pickup was receiving some service. I presume the carpet under it is for the mechanic’s comfort as he slid around underneath the truck. There is a nearly empty bottle of oil on the ground, and the mechanic was wearing a retractable key holder, which was common service station attire. To the left was the tail of a ’61 Chrysler Newport or Windsor with the Fight-Sweep Deck Lid, and beyond there was the tail of a ’55 Plymouth.
A search reveals Dugan’s Skelly station was in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and this photo was taken in 1962. The street signs say it was at the corner of Cimmaron and Cascade. The only thing that remains is possibly the manhole. The car in the drive on the right was a ’61 Plymouth, and on the left a rose colored ’57 Oldsmobile and a white or gray ’60 Rambler Deluxe. In the background was a ’59 Oldsmobile and a blue and white ’57 Ford Custom 300 Fordor sedan.
Here is another Gulf station where a ’59 Oldsmobile Dynamic 88 Holiday Sport Sedan with a ’60 issue Illinois license plate was getting a fill up. The gentlemen on the other side were likely the occupants, and they were intently looking at a roll of paper. On the other side of the Olds was a green ’50 Plymouth DeLuxe or Special DeLuxe Club Coupe. Across the street looks like a DeSoto dealer’s used car lot with a black over red ’54 Powermaster or Firedome 4 door sedan, and a white over tan ’56 Firedome or Fireflite.
Brrr. It was a cold, dreary day at this Sinclair station. There are many signs to see, but none that have any readable information. And I can’t read the license plate on the ’61 Chevrolet Biscayne 4 door sedan in the foreground. Others include two Willys Jeeps, a CJ2 or 3, and a Station Wagon, one of which likely had a snow plow attachment.
Raleigh, North Carolina, was the location of this station, known as Five Points Gulf. Behind them was Hayes Barton Laundry and Dry Cleaning, and around the corner a Winn Dixie. Two attendants were checking out a ’59 Oldsmobile Dynamic 88 Holiday Sport Sedan, with a ’63 Mercury Monterey Custom in the other lane, and a ’63 Chevrolet Impala facing away. In the background facing to the left was a ’58 Ford.
Stinker’s has been around for nearly 90 years and has grown into a chain of convenience stores and truck stops with locations in Idaho, Wyoming and Colorado. This one was located at 300 N. Orchard St. in Boise, and the image is from about ’69 or ’70. According to an article I found, this building was replaced in ’84 with an updated Stinker Station, but now it is closed and empty. The article went on to say the property was to be redeveloped as an apartment complex. As of September of last year Street View, no work has been done. The blue building next door is still there, though barely recognizable.
The Boise Paint and Glass building is also still there, and a McDonald’s is still down the street. You can see part of the Golden Arches in this photo. The ’59 Ford Ranch Wagon or Country Sedan at the station had a ’68 issue Idaho license plate with an additional year tab on the lower right. Behind it facing to the left is a ’67 Plymouth Belvedere, in the street heading this way was a ’68 Plymouth Fury, in the parking lot to the left a white ’64 Chevrolet Impala Sport Coupe, and a yellow ’67-’72 GMC pickup with a camper shell.
My dad was from Boise, and my mom was from another town in Idaho. After they married they moved to Alaska, and eventually back to Boise in their later years. So I went there several times, visiting relatives, and actually lived there for a year in the early eighties.
Thanks for looking in today, and to all good day!
Oh, how I wanted to work at a service station when I was a kid. The smell of gasoline that wafted through the air was intoxicating to me. My mother got most of her auto service done at a neighborhood gas station in the 60s and into the early 70s. With newer cars, it was tune ups, wiper blades, brakes and batteries.
Back then, gasoline truly had an intoxicating aroma; unlike today, when it’s an acrid smelling mix of chemicals that can burn the skin!! 🙂
The last pic – is that 26.9 cents for a US gallon? If my memory serves me well it cost about 7 shillings [ pre decimal currency] for a UK gallon at that time – about 35pence . Seemed plenty dear at the time , I was only earning about 12 quid a week.
I like this one, I remember when we got service like this, and had a ’58 Windsor like this one once:
Great photos of Americana that is beloved – well beloved by me. The second picture has a ’54 Ford Skyliner. Hmmmm, as the ad said, “It’s the top. It’s the top. It’s the car with the transparent top!” Attached is a Phillips 66 station in Upper Nyack, NY. Phillips no longer distributes here. The station has seen several brands as it is privately owned. Currently, it is a Gulf Station. Note the classic Phillips 66 design. The station owners, whoever they have been over the years, know that this is never to be changed because film producers use this station a number of times a year for movies that need that “look of back then.”
That snow photo matches my memory of a typical Wisconsin service station. I imagine it would match many locations across the North.
More great photos, and detailed descriptions. Thank you Rich and Patrick.
What seems like a brief moment in time, when an array of gas companies competed strongly, for your business.
When I travelled as a child with my parents, I always made a point of trying to find intersections where there were four stations. Rare. Usually saw it in suburbs of larger cities.
Used to love the handheld machine that took carbon copies of your credit card number.
Also loved pyramids built from motor oil cans, and the sound of the overhead streamers blowing in the wind. Always checked out the three or four used cars for sale, as I my dad got the car filled up.
Found this photo below fascinating. A very rural location, of two popular highways (Highway 7) north of Toronto, from 1967. A Fina station, a Texaco, an Esso, and B/A (British American) a Canadian oil company.
The dreary, snowy Sinclair station is from Ithaca, New York.
There was a business in Ithaca called Al’s Dairy Bar, which seems to be on the billboard next to the Station. Al’s was located at 321 College Ave. in Ithaca. There’s no older buildings near that location now, so I looked at a 1948 aerial image to see of the location matched (below).
There was indeed a service station next to Al’s. Also, the roofline of the building across the street matches the historic aerial. Finally, there was another business on College Ave. called “College News and Smoke Shop” – which appears to be on a sign across the street.