Old gas stations

[Fading Fast]

Lemme try it again....

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Rob

Thank you - pics showing up perfectly.

Love the refreshment stand in the first and that behemoth of a building off to the left in the last (looks like some sort of utility company building is my guess).

 

[2jakes]

Lemme try it again....

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Rob

Last time I saw a truck with the bright green color was back in the mid '50s .
My dad was manager of the local Dr. Pepper bottling plant.
We'd go to the drive-in
movies in this truck.

 

[BobHufford]

Last time I saw a truck with the bright green color was back in the mid '50s .

The color was still around in 1969. This was my former Chevy Suburban. Note the lack of passenger door on the driver's side.

 

[Ghostsoldier]

^^^I learned to drive in one of those, borrowed from my grandfather, and trying to parallel park that beast was a chore.

I never did get it right, but the driving instructor passed me anyway, because he figured I had a smaller vehicle of my own and most likely wouldn't be driving that big beast on a regular basis, lol.

Rob

 

[2jakes]

^^^I learned to drive in one of those, borrowed from my grandfather, and trying to parallel park that beast was a chore.

I never did get it right, but the driving instructor passed me anyway, because he figured I had a smaller vehicle of my own and most likely wouldn't be driving that big beast on a regular basis, lol.

Rob

My dad's '57 (automatic)
I was about 13 and my biggest concern was the oncoming cars on the road.

My first car was a '63 beetle which I
managed to learn how to drive with
standard stickshift.

 

[Fading Fast]

^^^I learned to drive in one of those, borrowed from my grandfather, and trying to parallel park that beast was a chore.

I never did get it right, but the driving instructor passed me anyway, because he figured I had a smaller vehicle of my own and most likely wouldn't be driving that big beast on a regular basis, lol.

Rob

Not quite as big as what you learned on, but I learned to drive in '79 on two cars. My dad's 1972 LeSabre and a friend of his' 1976 Lincoln Towncar - the LeSabre was big and long, the Towncar was stupid big and stupid long (and a very squishy feel and ride - think the opposite of any good, true sports car).

I am far from the best driver (so I'm sincerely not bragging), but learning to parallel park on those - which was not easy - made me a great parallel parker for life.

 

[Fading Fast]

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My dad's '57 (automatic)
I was about 13 and my biggest concern was the oncoming cars on the road.

My first car was a '63 beetle which I
managed to learn how to drive with
standard stickshift.

Beautiful car your dad had.

Like you, I learned to drive a stick on a Beetle - my neighbor's early '60s Beetle (they were two German emigres, cliches exist for a reason). They were two of the nicest people I've ever known (our family eventually moved away, but we stayed in touch with them until, unfortunately, both passed away). I wanted to learn how to drive a shift and they let me learn on their car which is very nice as I ground the gears and stalled the car aplenty. But they never made me feel bad - they were those type of people - just kind to their core.

 

[BlueTrain]

I once had, for a few wonderful years, a 1965 Land-Rover. One of the distinguishing features of Land-Rovers of that era was the spare tire (tyre?) on the hood (bonnet?). Once I happened to have a flat and had to drive it with the flat in the back, with the spare on the road. Without the spare on the hood, the front end seemed twice as wide and I think I had trouble keeping it between the white lines on the road. Some sort of optical effect, I guess.

The spare could also be carried on the back door but that made it squeak like crazy. There were also Rover sedans sold here for several years and two in particular, the 2000 and the 3500, had a place on the trunk (the boot?) lid where the spare could be carried, presumably to make more room in the trunk. It was underneath the badge. It was carried on the top of the trunk lid, not on the back like a so-called Continental kit. Those cars were just different enough to be appealing to me, like a Triumph sedan (saloon car?).

 

[2jakes]

Beautiful car your dad had.

Like you, I learned to drive a stick on a Beetle - my neighbor's early '60s Beetle (they were two German emigres, cliches exist for a reason). They were two of the nicest people I've ever known (our family eventually moved away, but we stayed in touch with them until, unfortunately, both passed away). I wanted to learn how to drive a shift and they let me learn on their car which is very nice as I ground the gears and stalled the car aplenty. But they never made me feel bad - they were those type of people - just kind to their core.

Standard stick shift driving on my 1946 truck.

Waiting for the traffic light to change on an uphill road with a car behind you takes a bit of
good manuvering of the clutch, brake, gas pedal and emergency hand brakes because the truck
will go backwards when releasing the brake pedal and emergency brakes if you do not apply gas right away.

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Rob

 

[Fading Fast]

⇧ Downey wasn't screwing around with that Richfield Eagle.

"I said make it big, make it so you can't miss it. What? I don't care, put ten wires on it if necessary to support it. What? A pole too - do it. Just make it big and imposing!"​

And so it was.


Also, nice lines on the car next to the garage.

 

[BobHufford]

Early sleeper cab?

 

[LizzieMaine]

That photo of the Fire Chief gals surrounding the red convertible was the cover page of the 1968 Texaco calendar -- the women were featured in a concurrent series of TV commercials.

It's an interesting photo because it captures Texaco's mid-sixties transition period quite nicely. The station is a modified version of the basic Teague, introduced in the early sixties, but it was on the way out by 1968 in favor of the fake-stone-sided "Matawan" design. It's also the last call for the classic round Texaco trademark -- starting with the 1969 calendar the new hexagon logo, as seen on the car door, was featured exclusively, and the traditional forestry-green uniform was gone as well.

An abandoned but unmodified Texaco Matawan. The fake-stone panel at left would have had black T E X A C O letters in an unattractive tall thin typeface. These stations were very unpopular with just about everyone, but Texaco insisted on building them well into the seventies. Many dealers with older Teague buildings refused to "upgrade" to this design because it was so ugly.

 

[2jakes]

That coupe reminds me of the type Bogart drives as detective Marlowe.

’38 Plymouth Deluxe

’37 LaSalle

 

[2jakes]

• View of a Gulf Oil Company gasoline station during the springtime in an unknown location.
• 

Gulf Promo Studebaker Coupe 1940s

 

[Fading Fast]

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That coupe reminds me of the type Bogart drives as detective Marlowe.

’38 Plymouth Deluxe
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’37 LaSalle
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Jake, I kid you not, but that was the exact same thought I had as I've always liked the lines of Bogie's car in that movie and thought this one echoed it.

 

[David Conwill]

The coupe appears to be a 1941 Ford business coupe. The 1942-'48 Fords and Mercs are very similar but the fender seams are less pronounced than in 1941. They also have a transitional grille design that bridges the tall-and-narrow 1940 design and the wide 1942 design, not entirely successfully in my opinion. I still wouldn't kick one out of my garage, however.

Edit: I actually missed a clear signal this is a '42-'48 Ford. The 1941s had vertical taillamps (presumably to match the grille) and '42-'48 cars had horizontal taillamps as shown.

 

[David Conwill]

A little further digging shows that the image in question was taken in Vancouver, British Columbia, in August 1946--meaning this could be a 1942, 1946, or perhaps an early 1947 model-year car. The latter is doubtful, however, as I suspect model-year introductions were in September. It's worth noting, too, that in Canada they had Mercury-styled Fords and Ford-styled Mercury cars so that small-town Ford and Merc dealers could serve everyone.

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Rob

 

[BlueTrain]

I always thought that one of the interesting features of some of the older cars was how a man could hide behind the front seat and surprise the driver. Can't do that with today's cars.