Old gas stations

[Stearmen]

The Mobil station on the corner of Nevada Av. and Platte Ave. Colorado springs, Co, sadly gone now. As you can see, it was quite the hot spot for participants in the Pikes Peak Hill Climb!

 

[Stearmen]

A couple of more.

 

[Fading Fast]

Heavy Sanforized cotton twill work pants. Probably made by Sweet-Orr, Big Yank, Lion Uniform, Unitog, T. S. Lankford, or Elin Manufacturing, outfitters to filling-station attendants for three generations. All these companies provided uniforms to the specifications of the various major oil companies, but the individual station operator had to buy them out of a company-issued catalog, and often docked a new attendant's paycheck to cover the cost.

You boil them in a lobster kettle to get the oil stains out.

A reasonably short but detailed entry from Lizziepedia - but as noted, not that much to work with to start.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I can add that by the early sixties, Dacron polyester uniforms were making big inroads against cotton. They're heavily touted in the 1962 Texaco catalog as "the toughest, handsomest fabric on the market! OUT with the baggy look! IN with the sharp look!" But this came at a price -- Lion Uniform offered Dacron shirts at $4.95 compared to $3.35 compared to the regular cotton, with pants at $6.25 vs. $4.45. Unitog and Elin promoted Dacron-rayon blends -- "Outwears cotton by 300%!" -- at similar price points. Sweet-Orr, on the other hand wanted nothing to do with polyester -- they emphasized "Standard U. S. Army chino" uniforms in Texaco Forestry Green at standard cotton-uniform prices.

All I ever remember around our place were traditional cotton uniforms. The Baggy Look remained de rigueur for our crew well into the '70s.

 

[2jakes]

I "cotton to cotton"!

High heels & clean uniforms.
Chains on tire.
Must be somewhere up North.

 

[Fading Fast]

I "cotton to cotton"!

High heels & clean uniforms.
Chains on tire.
Must be somewhere up North.

Any idea on the backstory to this photo?

The heels, as you note, are ridiculous, again, without a backstory.

The girl on the ground could be Katherine Hepburn's sister.

Methinks that hairstyle - a flapper bob - was the "Racheal from 'Friends'" hairstyle of the moment.

 

[vitanola]

From wikepedia:

"Valve wear preventive
Tetraethyl lead works as a buffer against microwelds forming between the hot exhaust valves and their seats. Once these valves reopen, the microwelds pull apart and leave the valves with a rough surface that would abrade the seats, leading to valve recession. When lead began to be phased out of motor fuel, the automotive industry began specifying hardened valve seats and upgraded exhaust valve materials to prevent valve recession without lead."

Well, much of that is a myth promulgated by additive manufacturers. Valves in pre-war engines used rather light springs (40 to 50 pounds, 70 pounds for heavy valves or high performance engines)), for they were not designed to run at high speeds and so did not require heavy springs to counteract valve float. The pressure welding of asperities of valve faces and seats is, under ordinary conditions of operation, uncommon at the seat pressures which were common in pre-war engines.

The big overhead valve V-8's which became almost universal by the mid-1950's are a different matter -to an extent-. They were designed to run at higher speeds, and were fitted with slightly heavier valve springs. When these engines are rebuilt, however, they are usually fitted with springs which are far, far heavier than were specified at the factory. This can lead to some seat recession in the absence of lead, but of course the sensible course is to simply take advantage of the improved metallurgy available today and fit your heads with modern alloy valves and hardened seats.

My father was a consulting metallurgist for Thompson Products (TRW) for many years, and is intimately familiar with the literature on valve metallurgy, valve wear, and seat recession. He has long said that most of the claims for Lead are trivial, at best.

I've driven (STOCK) pre-war cars for hundreds of thousands of miles over the past forty years. I have never bothered with the use of leaded fuel, and have experienced no particular valve trouble, save with a Paige which used one of those enormously long Lycoming straight eight engines, and the problem with that machine was entirely due to the poor design of the fuel intake system. The intake manifold was one long straight tube with the (updraft) carburetor mounted in the center. If I had the mixture adjusted properly for cylinders 3 and 4, Numbers 1 and 8 would run lean and burn exhaust valves. If adjusted properly for 1 and 8, then 3 and 4 would run rich and carbon up. I fitted the thing with a dual carb set up, and no longer had valve trouble, but gosh how that car sucked down fuel.

 

[vitanola]

I "cotton to cotton"!

High heels & clean uniforms.
Chains on tire.
Must be somewhere up North.

I believe that that photo was taken at West Technical High School in Cleveland in 1926 or 1927. The driving classes were sex segregated, but all included a 9 week course in automobile maintenance and repair for both boys and girls.

 

[Fading Fast]

I believe that that photo was taken at West Technical High School in Cleveland in 1926 or 1927. The driving classes were sex segregated, but all included a 9 week course in automobile maintenance and repair for both boys and girls.

Flapper bob, '26 ot '27 - right in the wheelhouse of its popularity. But man, loose the heels for that work. Great, though, that they were teaching girls that at the time.

 

[2jakes]

I believe that that photo was taken at West Technical High School in Cleveland in 1926 or 1927. The driving classes were sex segregated, but all included a 9 week course in automobile maintenance and repair for both boys and girls.

ABSOLUTELY NOT TRUE.
(in this case)


Girls are from Central High School, Washington, D.C. Girls learning the art of the automobile mechanics.
From left to right, Grace Hurd, Evelyn Harrison and Corinna DiJiulian, with Grace Wagner under the car. February 9, 1927.
(Dave, Webmaster & co-owner of Shorpy Inc.)

 

[LizzieMaine]

There was a very popular series of girls' novels around that same time called "The Motor Girls," which revolved around a group of teenage girls who owned their own cars, did all their own repairs and maintenance, and outsmarted criminals while having wholesome open-road adventures. The teenage girls of the twenties grew up to be Rosie The Riveter, and it's not at all surprising that they took right to it.

 

[vitanola]

ABSOLUTELY NOT TRUE.
(in this case)


Girls are from Central High School, Washington, D.C. Girls learning the art of the automobile mechanics.
From left to right, Grace Hurd, Evelyn Harrison and Corinna DiJiulian, with Grace Wagner under the car.
February 9, 1927.

An old friend of mine, Norm Waag, (West Tech '27) had an almost identical photo of the girls' driving and mechanics class of '26 or '27 in his office. I think that the car was even a (1919 EDIT) 1922 Buick. This one, though, inexplicably spoets a Willis Sainte Claire hub cap. Of course it has been twenty-five years since I've seen him, or the photo, alas!

 

[vitanola]

There was a very popular series of girls' novels around that same time called "The Motor Girls," which revolved around a group of teenage girls who owned their own cars, did all their own repairs and maintenance, and outsmarted criminals while having wholesome open-road adventures. The teenage girls of the twenties grew up to be Rosie The Riveter, and it's not at all surprising that they took right to it.

I used to collect all of those juvenile fiction titles: The Radio Boys, Tom Swift, The Moving Picture Boys, The Motor Girls, etc.

 

[2jakes]

Nah...I don't buy it....

you only placed those smudges on your cheeks after I made the comment about the high heels!

 

[vitanola]

Nah...I don't buy it....

you only placed those smudges on your cheeks after I made the comment about the high heels!

Now this sweet young thing has the hogshead off of a 1921-1923 Flivver. I see that is has neither self-starter not "Quick Change" transmission bands. The machine just beyond the Flivver appars to be positively ancient. 1908-1910 vintage.

 

[2jakes]

There's something very familiar about the scarf!

 

[2jakes]

"The real McCoy" !

A plethora of "Lizzies" at lunch time!
Luv this photo !

 

[LizzieMaine]

That looks very much like lunch break at the factory where I worked. I'll spare you the details of the "earthy" conversations. Note, though, that this bunch in no way fits the modern-era "Rosie" stereotype of the plucky young housewife doing her bit -- these women have probably spent most of their adult lives working in factories, and whatever they're doing for the war effort isn't much different from what they've always been doing.

Meanwhile, I imagine the leather-jacket boys are going into a frenzy over that gal unwrapping the sandwich or whatever it is.

 

[2jakes]

That looks very much like lunch break at the factory where I worked. I'll spare you the details of the "earthy" conversations.

Ha-ha-ha!
Leaving it to the imagination on your "conversations" is teasingly amusing!

 

[2jakes]

Meanwhile, I imagine the leather-jacket boys are going into a frenzy over that gal unwrapping the sandwich or whatever it is.

Sandwich looks like it was bread toasted in the morning but is now cold at lunch time.
As far as the leather jacket, there are several possibilities.
The sleeves are a tad long which means it belongs to boyfriend or hubby.
The place of work has no heating.
Or she could be wearing it to work to distress the leather and add patina to the jacket.
This is something the boys next door in the leather section would appreciate.