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Old gas stations

Messages
17,215
Location
New York City
Some fun ones - getting much harder to remember if we've seen pictures before or not as this thread grows.

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LizzieMaine

Bartender
Messages
33,755
Location
Where The Tourists Meet The Sea
That's a very impressive neon Shell. TCP was a gimmick additive rolled out in 1953 amidst heavy promotion, so I'd suspect that sign went up not long after. TCP was a chemical that supposedly prevented engine fouling from lead buiidup, a consequence of the sharply increased lead levels used in postwar gasoline. TCP is even more toxic than tetraethyl lead itself, which didn't do much for the environment.

I've noted before that the main Shell sign seen here, introduced in 1948, was the first type of internally-lit plastic sign ever used in the United States, and signaled the downfall both of neon and of the old-style porcelain enameled steel signs that had been common up to then.
 

2jakes

I'll Lock Up
Messages
9,680
Location
Alamo Heights ☀️ Texas
Keen observation LizzieMaine!
Checking further, I found the following link:

U.S.C.C.C. License Plates
Screen Shot 2018-06-03 at 4.21.51 PM.png


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According to the link:
The man on the right is most likely the gas station attendant from the Phillips 66 Service station giving directions to the driver with the CCC license plates.
Screen Shot 2018-06-03 at 4.03.30 PM.png
"This is what a New Mexico State Policeman looked like at the time."
(CCC Dept. of Interior)
 

GHT

I'll Lock Up
Messages
9,793
Location
New Forest
anglo american oil.jpg


The stables at Ailsa Wharf, one of the first four distribution depots established in 1888 by Anglo-American Oil. Distribution was carried out by horse drawn tank car until after WW1.
Two horse power. Didn't the French have a car named deux-chevaux?
 

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