Old gas stations

[V.C. Brunswick]

I just remembered, my very first set of drinking glasses came from the Enco station. Remember those days? With each fillup you got a glass, by the end of the month, you had enough for two people.

We had L.A. Rams glasses that I believe came from the Arco stations.

 

[hatguy1]

Yes! Do you remember the "gas wars?" I remember my folks talking about those wen I was a kid.


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[Stearmen]

Yes! Do you remember the "gas wars?" I remember my folks talking about those wen I was a kid.


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Yes! It was great, we had three stations on different corners, all lowering their prices. Didn't last to long. Come to think of it, when is the last time you saw three, or four stations on apposing corners? We have a couple with a gas station on one, and across the street a 7-11, but that is it!

 

[Veronica T]

We had L.A. Rams glasses that I believe came from the Arco stations.

I found dinosaurs from Sinclair.

Wadhams Oil pagoda:

Harley-Davidson at 'gas station' with portable pumps (Osaka?) circa 1910:

 

[Veronica T]

 

[earl]

To me, having grown up in a small-town gas station family, the biggest advantage to the old places was their value as centers of community. Service was only a very small part of the deal -- the real strength was that you were doing business with someone you knew personally, someone who would look you in the eye and tell you straight what needed to be done to your car, and who wasn't just trying to pad your bill with things you didn't need. And if you needed some time paying, well, that could be arranged. (A lot of people in our town died owing us money. I did the books, and I knew who they were.)

But it wasn't just a business relationship. People didn't just come in to buy gas, they came in to have a Coke and stand around listening to the ball game for a while, to catch up on the town gossip, and to really feel what it was like to be a part of a community, not just live in it. Mothers would leave their kids to wait at the station while they did errands, and they'd poke around in the junk out back and eat candy bars from the vending machine, and nobody worried they were going to get killed by an exploding tire or fall into a grease pit.

The neighborhood gas station was a vital center of community living -- and an electronic pay-at-the-pump gas-n-go system is a far cry from that. A convenience store with the clerk hiding behind a glass window is an even further cry from that.

You just triggered some vague memories for me. When I was young, lived in a town of 200 people and that was indeed how it was. That was back in the very early 60's. In fact, at that time, our little town had a working blacksmith shop and a steam locomotive that used to make stops in town. Earl

 

[dh66]

Wow!! They sure don't make 'em like those any more 2jakes and Veronica T.

 

[vintage.vendeuse]

Don't know if this really qualifies for this thread but it's kind of neat, nonetheless. I passed this today after a great weekend in Frankenmuth, Michigan. I can't find out much about it but I believe the owner refurbished the place to hold his gas station collectibles.



Here is someone else's blurb about it with lots of photos of the collection:
http://search.reel-scout.com/location_detail.aspx?id=014-10028307

 

[HudsonHawk]

And don't forget...that's pronounced "Umble".

 

[LizzieMaine]

After Standard of New Jersey took control of Humble Oil, most Esso stations had "HUMBLE" in big red letters on the front of the building. As a kid I thought this was ridiculous, there was nothing humble about advertising your humbleness in big red letters on the front of the building.

 

[Renault]

Lil sis and I used to laugh. In Texas they were all Enco and when you crossed over into Louisiana they became Esso! Dunno why we thought that funny!

 

[Renault]

Great Pics 2Jakes!!! Thanks!!!

 

[HudsonHawk]

Lil sis and I used to laugh. In Texas they were all Enco and when you crossed over into Louisiana they became Esso! Dunno why we thought that funny!

Standard Oil of New Jersey had the branding rights to "Standard" and "Esso" in Louisiana, but not in Texas. Where Jersey Standard had rights, they stations were "Esso", where they didn't they were "Enco", except where someone else had "Esso" rights, in which case they were branded "Humble". Until 1972, when they all became "Exxon". Gasoline branding is as confusing as it gets.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Up here, where Esso and Socony/Mobil divided up the Standard Oil rights, Esso stations were co-branded Humble from the early sixties until the Exxon changeover. "Your Humble Esso Dealer" indeed. We also used to have "Colonial Esso Dealer" and "Standard Esso Dealer" on old signs that were still around in small towns, and this caused much confusion and back-seat debates over whether a Colonial Esso Dealer outranked a Standard Esso Dealer.

As legend has it, they were all set to make "Enco" the national brand in the late sixties when someone pointed out it meant "stalled car" in Japanese. "Exxon" was specifically chosen because it didn't mean anything in any known language.

 

[HudsonHawk]

Up here, where Esso and Socony/Mobil divided up the Standard Oil rights, Esso stations were co-branded Humble from the early sixties until the Exxon changeover. "Your Humble Esso Dealer" indeed. We also used to have "Colonial Esso Dealer" and "Standard Esso Dealer" on old signs that were still around in small towns, and this caused much confusion and back-seat debates over whether a Colonial Esso Dealer outranked a Standard Esso Dealer.

Any "humble Esso dealer" would never pull rank on another.

As legend has it, they were all set to make "Enco" the national brand in the late sixties when someone pointed out it meant "stalled car" in Japanese. "Exxon" was specifically chosen because it didn't mean anything in any known language.

That story is certainly apocryphal, but it's pretty common for large international companies to do heavy amounts of research on names and branding to ensure their brand a) isn't confused with another brand in any country, and b) is not offensive or an unintentional pun in another language. Marketing firms are paid millions of dollars to do this.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Any "humble Esso dealer" would never pull rank on another.

Imagine our surprise when we went to Canada and saw all the "Imperial Esso Dealers."

 

[Renault]

Up here, where Esso and Socony/Mobil divided up the Standard Oil rights, Esso stations were co-branded Humble from the early sixties until the Exxon changeover. "Your Humble Esso Dealer" indeed. We also used to have "Colonial Esso Dealer" and "Standard Esso Dealer" on old signs that were still around in small towns, and this caused much confusion and back-seat debates over whether a Colonial Esso Dealer outranked a Standard Esso Dealer.

As legend has it, they were all set to make "Enco" the national brand in the late sixties when someone pointed out it meant "stalled car" in Japanese. "Exxon" was specifically chosen because it didn't mean anything in any known language.

Ahhhh!!! Kinda like the Chevy "Nova" in Spanish. Couldn't sell it.

 

[Veronica T]

.... they were all set to make "Enco" the national brand in the late sixties when someone pointed out it meant "stalled car" in Japanese. "Exxon" was specifically chosen because it didn't mean anything in any known language.

Ahhhh!!! Kinda like the Chevy "Nova" in Spanish. Couldn't sell it.

Exactly like Chevrolet Nova because that is not true, either.

 

[Stearmen]

As legend has it, they were all set to make "Enco" the national brand in the late sixties when someone pointed out it meant "stalled car" in Japanese. "Exxon" was specifically chosen because it didn't mean anything in any known language.

The Japanese word for stall is en-suto. More complicated engine trouble where you need a tow truck is Enko, which is pronounced differently, and would not be confused with ENCO! Makes a good story though.

 

[Stearmen]

Ahhhh!!! Kinda like the Chevy "Nova" in Spanish. Couldn't sell it.

Nova means exactly the same thing in every language, "a cataclysmic nuclear explosion on a white dwarf, which causes a sudden brightening of the star." No Va means no go.