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Gas stations in the old days

Nice. My dad's second job was at a gas station. He would work all day and then go off to his night job at the station. He did what he had to to provide.
 
Not old enough to really remember much about those old stations in their heyday but I do remember as a kid there being full and self serve islands. More importantly, they were SERVICE stations that had working bays where people would routinely take their cars for repair. Now we have junk food stores that also sell us over priced gas.

Oh, and I do miss the smell of the old gas station. Today's ethanol blended fuels just do not compare to the smell of good ole pure gasoline.
 
Horseplay said:
Oh, and I do miss the smell of the old gas station. Today's ethanol blended fuels just do not compare to the smell of good ole bean burritos.
Click to expand...
FIFY.

BTW, I believe I recognize one of the gas stations from San Diego: 12th one, looking down of a 76 station.
 
What a neat trip back in time! Unfortunately, I remembered all the cars and gas prices shown on the pictures.
 
Both of the Service Stations I worked at in High School are long gone. Between the high cost of real estate and the tank leakage liability issues, lots of stations are simply priced out of existence.
 
Those are cool pictures.

I worked in three service stations while in high e till eschool and college. One 76 station and two Shell stations. The 76 was torn down. The two Shell stations are still there, however both of them do not offer full service nor have service bays any longer.

I will never forget coming into work on a Saturday at 7am and it had looked like it rained all around one of the islands. Upon speaking to the graveyard worker, someone had driven away with the hose in the car (stole gas). This was in the late 70's and the check valves were not in the hoses yet. The attendant freaked out and it took him about 5 minutes to locate the emergency shutoff switch. Since there was gas all over everywhere, he hosed the island down (and it all ran into the street).

Nowadays, that event would be a major hazard spill and I am sure all kinds of fire engines and other vehicles would arrive (and they would not have been able to do much about it as the gutter drain (out to sea) is right at the station).

I had many fond memories of working at the stations. I remember also one of the mechanics was pulling the transmission pan on a car and it was almost fused to the housing. He worked on it with a rubber mallet and a screwdriver, and it finally 'popped' open and dumped warm transmission fluid all over him - his hair, shirt, pants, underwear, all got some.
 
My dad worked for his brother at a Standard Station in Chicago. Just down the street from where the St.Valentine's Day massacre was. We always made mention of it when we passed that old garage. In the back of my uncles station he had a few of those glass crowns that were atop the pumps. All three colors. Those would be worth a fortune now. Of course there was the naked women pin-ups out in the garage area which we always stole a peek at.
 
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