Old gas stations

[Fading Fast]

Perhaps the photo looks staged because it has been colorized.

I think that is the answer.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I want to know why there's a Texaco sign on the front of the pump and a Good Gulf sign on the side. Somebody's violating a jobber contract.

In the modern photo, you can see what appears to be the remains of the pump footing half-buried in the ground.

 

[Stearmen]

I wounder if the Pegasus survived? It seems like more then any other single porcelain sign of the time, those old flying horses were survivors!

 

[dh66]

Those porcelain signs are very durable. Of the ones I have seen , the few that have had
damages was done by someone who used them for target practice in the past.

That is exactly the first thought that popped into my head.

 

[Fading Fast]

I wounder if the Pegasus survived? It seems like more then any other single porcelain sign of the time, those old flying horses were survivors!

They show up occasionally on a History Channel show called "American Pickers" (two guys "pick" antiques, etc. out of barns, old houses, etc. to supply their antique store) and from what the guys on the show say, they are much sought after. No surprise there as it is a gorgeous sign.

 

[LizzieMaine]

We had an old Socony station at the end of my street when I was little, and the day they came to take the signs down I asked the workman if I could have the Flying Red Horse: I had been terrified of it when I was very young, and had finally conquered my fear. He told me they were taking it "back to the bulk plant," which I visualized as a vast field stacked with Flying Red Horses.

There was a guy here in town who had one hanging on the side of his house up until a few years ago. He had it outlined in Christmas tree lights for an added festive effect. I don't know if it was the one from this exact station -- there were several Socony/Mobil outlets here -- but it was the exact type.

Up until last summer there was a closed but otherwise intact, unmolested early-fifties Mobil station complete with Flying Red Horse in the nearby town of Liberty. The "Mobil" lettering would originally have read "Mobilgas" during the Socony era, but when the company adopted the "Mobil" brand the last three letters were removed.

The station is still there -- and the Flying Red Horse is still there -- but since this photo was taken, the buiilding has been painted stark white, and all the lettering has been removed. Philistines.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Those were "jobber signs", used mostly on the delivery trucks that brought fuel to the stations. The one that used to deliver to our station had "HENRY SMITH COMPANY" plates on the doors.

Note that the easiest way to recognize a reproduction is the use of a computer-generated font. The original signs were based on hand-lettered artwork.

 

[1mach1]

I have this mounted on my '46 Texaco truck.

That's a sweet 46, 2jakes. Love the color.

 

[1mach1]

Old BP station in Ashland, VA

 

[HOP UP]

This is My parents AMPOL Service Station in 1954 in country Victoria, Australia. The second one I took last weekend on a visit up there in my 47 Chevy Fleetmaster.

 

[HOP UP]

Today - its a Veterinarian Clinic.

 

[dh66]

At least it's still around.
Pretty cool HOP UP

 

[HOP UP]

yeah lots of family history there dh

 

[Atticus Finch]

" With your choice of traditional or newfangled gas pump. "

To me, nothing says "old country store" like a screen door with a blue, bread advertisement door pull. There is just something about the sound they make when they slam that takes me back fifty years to Mr. Math Owens' grocery store in Beaufort, N.C..

I had to make this screen door for my "man room", but the door pull (like those above) is original.

AF

 

[1mach1]

Nice looking work, AF!

Stafford, VA

 

[LizzieMaine]

[video=youtube;esHKLbERMjY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esHKLbERMjY[/video]

Here's a short promotional film shot in the early sixties promoting foul-weather gear for filling station attendants. The footage was shot at several Mobil stations around Wellesley and Woburn, Massachussets, and what's interesting is that the attendants shown appear to be the real deal and not costumed actors. No painted-on smiles and glistening bowties, just real working men in rumpled overalls and wet raincoats.

 

[Stearmen]

Here's a short promotional film shot in the early sixties promoting foul-weather gear for filling station attendants. The footage was shot at several Mobil stations around Wellesley and Woburn, Massachussets, and what's interesting is that the attendants shown appear to be the real deal and not costumed actors. No painted-on smiles and glistening bowties, just real working men in rumpled overalls and wet raincoats.

That's a very interesting video Lizzie! Funny how the mind blocks out bad things with age, for the life of me, I can not remember what station attendants wore when the weather was bad! All I remember was the dress shirts and Ike jackets. They did always look smart.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I have the Texaco uniform guide for 1962 around here some place, and not only rain gear was available but also cold-weather parkas and hats. My grandfather was very partial to a Russian-style fur "trooper" hat, complete with a Texaco insignia on the front.

I very rarely saw him wear anything that wasn't "forestry green", and he never, ever wore any kind of a tie with his uniforms. When they buried him in a conventional suit and tie it looked like he had on somebody else's clothes.

 

[Stearmen]

I have the Texaco uniform guide for 1962 around here some place, and not only rain gear was available but also cold-weather parkas and hats. My grandfather was very partial to a Russian-style fur "trooper" hat, complete with a Texaco insignia on the front.

I very rarely saw him wear anything that wasn't "forestry green", and he never, ever wore any kind of a tie with his uniforms. When they buried him in a conventional suit and tie it looked like he had on somebody else's clothes.

That's a great story, he sounds like he was an interesting man!

 

[Mr. Godfrey]

There used to be a petrol/gas station in a village I used to live in about 18 years ago , the chap would come and serve you, however it closed down as the big multis were cheaper and quicker. Funny but it seems those muitis are closing down now with supermarkets holding the gas.

Toddington, Beds



There a cracking old AA phone box in Norfolk that I pass while visiting relations, should take a photo before that too is removed under the sweep of all things modern.