Old gas stations

[Ghostsoldier]

Rob

 

[Fading Fast]

...This, however, is not a recreation --

This is the Shell Type A "Cracker-Box" Service Station, introduced in 1915 as the first standardized, pre-fabricated gas station building style in the US. They were basically steel panels made up of "Factory Sash" window panes bolted together on a small concrete pad, with the canopy integrated structurally into the building's roof panel. Shell built hundreds of these all along the West Coast from the late 1910s to the early 1930s, with the idea that if a location flopped, the building could be dismantled in a morning and moved to a new site before sunset. Although they were rather flimsy buildings, and were not suited to locations with other than mild climates, some of them survived for a very long time. When I lived on De La Vina Street in Santa Barbara in the early 1980s, an original Shell Type A, which would have been at least fifty years old at that point, was still in use as a body shop a block up from my apartment.

That is an outstanding building and great color/info by you - thank you. Flimsy or not, fantastic looking windows.

While they could move the building quickly, they'd still have the tanks in the ground, but my guess, they'd pump the gas out, leave the tanks and move on - different environmental rules / times.

 

[Fading Fast]

Rob

How much does that echo Lizzie's early 1900's Shell structure.

 

[BlueTrain]

The idea of moving as far away from home as possible and it has happened in my family. My son went to California and is still there (where else would you live if you wanted to work in the movie industry?) and another family member went as far as Hawaii. Of course, there are other good reasons for moving to Hawaii and California.

Gas stations in big cities are becoming scarce even though cars are still plentiful. There is a rather nice looking gas station (because it doesn't look like a gas station) next to the Watergate Apartments in Washington, D.C. It's a Valero brand station. I'm not sure Washington, D.C., qualifies as a big city, though.

 

[BobHufford]

I have this poster in my cubicle at work.

 

[BlueTrain]

Wow! A Karmann Ghia! Haven't seen one in a month of Sundays. A sports car for the masses, before they had kids.

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Wow! A Karmann Ghia! Haven't seen one in a month of Sundays. A sports car for the masses, before they had kids.

I learned to drive in a KG.

Rob

 

[BlueTrain]

Some would argue that it wasn't a sports car. Of course, the Morgan was the first and only sports car, as we all realize.

 

[2jakes]

I learned to drive in a KG.

Rob

I had it easier!
An old '55 automatic Bel Air!

Once I got over the fear of hitting the
on coming cars on the road.
I learned to drive "stick-shift".
'62 VW beetle!

 

[Fading Fast]

Wow! A Karmann Ghia! Haven't seen one in a month of Sundays. A sports car for the masses, before they had kids.

Always loved their look. Great name too. Not particularly "sports-carzy," but still a great name.

 

[BlueTrain]

I always imagined a Karmann Ghia as the car for a college professor. I realize now that was a false impression since real college professors actually drove VW fastbacks.

A Karmann Ghia was not what you would call an especially powerful car but Volkswagens were very solid. I don't know if they would really float or not and the engines had some shortcomings.

 

[2jakes]

I always imagined a Karmann Ghia as the car for a college professor. I realize now that was a false impression since real college professors actually drove VW fastbacks.

A Karmann Ghia was not what you would call an especially powerful car but Volkswagens were very solid. I don't know if they would really float or not and the engines had some shortcomings.

Of the several Volkswagens I've owned,
I have never had a problem with engines
not starting in severe cold weather.
On the other hand, a gust of wind or a
passing vehicle on the freeway will make
my beetle sway from my lane.

 

[Ghostsoldier]

My dad was always adjusting the valves on ours, lol.

Rob

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Rob

 

[2jakes]

Remember this?

It’s fine for small tasks.

Removing the alternator:

I came to the conclusion that I needed more
than two arms that would bend in all directions
to reach the alternator to remove it.
The home tools were not enough to take it apart.

Was lucky to have a pilot friend who had the
power tools in his hanger.

 

[BlueTrain]

My first car was a 1962 Volkswagen. Not a bad car, really, but hardly one that I had my heart set on. Never had any manual for it, not even a owner's manual.

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Remember this?

It’s fine for small tasks.

Removing the alternator:

I came to the conclusion that I needed more
than two arms that would bend in all directions
to reach the alternator to remove it.
The home tools were not enough to take it apart.

Was lucky to have a pilot friend who had the
power tools in his hanger.

We had that book, lol. I always thought that the guy who illustrated it reminded me of Robert Crumb's style.

Rob

 

[2jakes]

My first car was a 1962 Volkswagen. Not a bad car, really, but hardly one that I had my heart set on. Never had any manual for it, not even a owner's manual.

I’m just the opposite. I love my beetles.
My old ’67 convertible that friends called “Shamu”
(This is the only photo I have with all the scratch marks on the photo only, not on the bug)

My latest: “Frankenstein”
Made from original parts from the 50s & 60s.

 

[2jakes]

Red Crown:

Rob,
I would kill to get the original Red Crown valve caps! lol.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Valves in an air-cooled VW had to be hand-adjusted every 3000 miles, and it had to be done carefully. I used to park my VW straddling the gutter in front of the house, which gave me just enough room to lie down comfortably underneath the engine and do the job. You'd try to time things so you did it the same time you were changing your oil, so you wouldn't forget and let it go too long.

We had a garage in the area that dealt exclusively with air-cooled VWs, "The Beetle Shop," set up in what had once been a 1950s-vintage Shell station. When your engine was too far gone, you'd drive to "The Beetle Shop" and he'd put in a rebuilt for about $150 and off you'd go. That shop still exists today, although the emphasis is now on modern VW products. But every now and then you'll see an old Beetle parked out front.

When I used to go there, the lower portion of the stylized Shell "chimney" was still intact on the front of the building between the office door and the service bays, but it looks like they've taken off all the old porcelain-enamel siding and painted the cinder blocks instead. But you can still recognize the original design from slant of the roof and the slight protruberance in the blocks where the false "chimney" attached.