Old gas stations

[Ghostsoldier]

I noticed long ago that clown makeup, the traditional setup as above, makes it almost impossible to tell who's under it. It's as good as a mask, and it completely obscures the lines of the face as camouflage does the outline of a body. There's an early Mission: Impossible where both Barney (Greg Morris) and Dan (Steven Hill) wear clown makeup, and it is hard to tell them apart with just a glance.

Oh, and as a trivia note, King revisits the town of Derry, Maine (the setting for It) in his recent novel 11/22/63, with two of the kids from the earlier novel (Beverly is one), set a few years before the early events in It.

That's what I like about King as a horror writer...he runs a thread of continuity through most of his novels.

Rob

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Rob

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Rob

 

[Benzadmiral]

View attachment 89873

Rob

The black 2-door looks like the famous '39 or '40 Ford that I built as an AMT kit in the Sixties. This pic might have been taken not long before WWII came to America. The jacket the guy on the left wears suggests that it's not yet cold weather there. October, 1941? Just a guess.

 

[LizzieMaine]

1940 Tudor sedan, to be exact. There's one for sale just up the street from me -- it's been sitting in a used-car dealer's lot for about two years now and nobody wants to take a chance on it.

The car at the pumps is also a Ford, either a 1937 or 38.

Those look like 1940 District of Columbia license plates, and DC was an Esso territory at that time.

 

[Fading Fast]

1940 Tudor sedan, to be exact. There's one for sale just up the street from me -- it's been sitting in a used-car dealer's lot for about two years now and nobody wants to take a chance on it.

The car at the pumps is also a Ford, either a 1937 or 38.

Those look like 1940 District of Columbia license plates, and DC was an Esso territory at that time.

1. I wonder if the not-marquee 1940 cars are losing value as the baby boomers move on?

2. Good eye

3. "Those look like 1940 District of Columbia license plates, and DC was an Esso territory at that time" [from Lizziepedia - a first-in-class provider of an incredible amount of detailed information on the Golden Era to Fedora Lounge]

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Rob

 

[KDM]

20161015_131910

• KDM
• Oct 23, 2017

My new find. The station opened in 1924 in Shamrock TX. In front, is a 1924 Studebaker Light...

My 1924 Studebaker EM Roadster, in front of a 1924 Mobile Station. Shamrock TX.

 

[Fading Fast]

Rob

The guy (with his cap and plus fours) holding the checkered flag sign is fantastic

 

[BobHufford]

20161015_131910

• KDM
• Oct 23, 2017

My new find. The station opened in 1924 in Shamrock TX. In front, is a 1924 Studebaker Light...

My 1924 Studebaker EM Roadster, in front of a 1924 Mobile Station. Shamrock TX.

Love it! Passed through Shamrock, TX just yesterday. Welcome to the Lounge!

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Rob

 

[Fading Fast]

Rob

Bet that Gulf stations wrap-around window started life with mullions. Sunoco clearly was okay "adopting" whatever building was around to become a gas stations - it seems much less concerned about branding via consistent building design than Gulf or Texaco was.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Sunoco didn't really get on the bandwagon with a standardized design until the 1950s -- they experimented with a few interesting ideas in the 1930s, though:

This one was built in 1939 here in Rockland, and still stands -- it was a Sunoco until the early fifties, and then converted to Gulf until the early 1990s, when it was sold off to become a Verizon cellphone place.

The most familiar standard Sunoco design is probably this one --

These were very common from the fifties to the 70s, either with or without the "Mercury Refined" cadaceus symbol over the SUNOCO letters. Most of these got "top hatted" with fake Colonial roofs in the late sixties, but some survived in their original configuration into the 80s and 90s.

 

[Fading Fast]

⇧ The first (top) Sunoco station could hold its own with Gulf and Texaco in appearance (mullions on the big wrap-around window would have helped stylistically, IMHO), I'm less of a fan (but remember them well) of the second (lower) style.

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Rob

 

[Fading Fast]

Rob

First pic: great gas pump and another example of a gas station attendant in an all-white outfit - how did that ever make sense?

Second pic: very noir, I think Mitchum is about to drive up in a 41 Buick and he'll be in a hurry.

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Rob

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Rob

 

[Benzadmiral]

View attachment 90704

Rob

"Miss Lane, what are you doing? Mr. White wants us back by five!"

View attachment 90706

Rob

Looks kind of like the place Cora and Nick owned, and where Frank got involved with Cora, in Postman.

 

[Fading Fast]

View attachment 90704 ...

For our car guys (used in a gender neutral sense) - any idea what kind of car this cute thing is (looks like a tin toy was built up to full scale)?