Old gas stations

[Ghostsoldier]

Rob

 

[2jakes]

Rob

The second photo with that grand building in the background is iconic.
What makes these buildings special for
me is that there are no other structures nearby.
You can drive around the block and
view the building.
This is still evident in the smaller towns
that are nearby in my area.

It could be a courthouse, city hall, post office or an elementary school.

They stand out with many memories
over the years.
The various locations around these places recalling events and people from long ago.

 

[Fading Fast]

Rob

It isn't until this thread that I realized how gas stations were at the leading edge of the deco-design movement. This ⇧ simple one's "deco-ness" is emphasized by that outstanding "around the corner" window.

That I can find so much joy in that window speaks to some mis-wiring in my small brain - that window should not make me that happy.

 

[Ghostsoldier]

It affects my small brain that way, too.

Rob

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Rob

 

[Fading Fast]

Almost all one needs to know about why the Corvette was a true sports car that gained iconic status and the Thunderbird was a corporate smishsmortion is in this picture.

 

[2jakes]

It isn't until this thread that I realized how gas stations were at the leading edge of the deco-design movement. This ⇧ simple one's "deco-ness" is emphasized by that outstanding "around the corner" window.

That I can find so much joy in that window speaks to some mis-wiring in my small brain - that window should not make me that happy.

One of my desktop "Mac" opens to a window of an image of the inside of
a 30s garage with all sorts of gas &
auto related items, wood floors, high
ceilings and large glass windows.

Respectfully,
Another mis- wired small brain.


"Corporate smishmortion"????

 

[Fading Fast]

..."Corporate smishmortion"????

Urban Dictionary
Fictional word which has no purpose other than to rhyme with abortion. Famously featured in the movie "Knocked Up".
I won't say it but it rhymes with shmashmortion.

I just added the "Corporate" infront. And the two words combined, that's what the Thunderbird was, a soulless corporate mess.

 

[2jakes]

“Look...up in the sky....it’s a bird.....”

Somehow this one looks like it’s ready for “take-off”.

 

[Stearmen]

Almost all one needs to know about why the Corvette was a true sports car

That's a joke right? I have never heard a real sportscar driver refer to a Corvette as anything but a glorified sedan! And that is the nicest thing they call it. Ford never referred to the early Thunderbirds as anything but personal luxury cars.

 

[Stearmen]

“Look...up in the sky....it’s a bird.....”

Lacey Lady, named after the gas station owner, Art Lacey, is slowly being restored to flying condition.

 

[EngProf]

That's a joke right? I have never heard a real sportscar driver refer to a Corvette as anything but a glorified sedan! And that is the nicest thing they call it. Ford never referred to the early Thunderbirds as anything but personal luxury cars.

Here's the important part: We Corvette owners don't care a hoot what "real sportscar drivers" say or think.

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Rob

 

[Haversack]

How about this for an Art Deco/Futurist gas station?

Built in 1938 in Asmara, Eritrea.

 

[2jakes]

Hope the cigarette wasn’t lit.

 

[Fading Fast]

That's a joke right? I have never heard a real sportscar driver refer to a Corvette as anything but a glorified sedan! And that is the nicest thing they call it. Ford never referred to the early Thunderbirds as anything but personal luxury cars.

I am not a "car" guy but was "into" them as a teenager in the '70s like just about every boy was.

My impressions were formed then and the general feel was the Corvette, especially the ones from the '50s and '60s, was a fast, performance car (with the exception of its first two years of production, if memory serves). I grew up in a "Wonder Years" (the TV show) environment and foreign sport cars where, well, foreign to us. It was Vettes, Camaros, Mustangs and Firebirds and most of the '60s muscle cars that we knew about. And a '60s Vette was king of that hill.

T-birds, to us, were a joke. Especially since, by the '70s, it was something your mom drove if the family had a little bit of money (as it came in "fun" color packages). To be sure, I understand your point about "real" sports cars versus Vettes and how those deep in the game feel, but that's not the perspective I have as noted above.

Or let me go to what really, really counted at 17 in the '70s. The girls would have thought you were cool in Corvette but not so much in a Thunderbird.

 

[2jakes]

"Coolness on the road!”

The first Corvette was a blue 1960 Chevrolet Corvette C1.
Every year Chevrolet would give a brand new model for Tod and Buz to drive.
The series mostly scripted by one of my favorites, Stirling Silliphant.

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Rob

 

[2jakes]

I once rode from San Diego to Temecula in one of those cars (far left)
when I was a kid.
It looked like it was a-comin’ and a-goin’ at the same time.

I can’t seem to recall the brand at the moment.

 

[LizzieMaine]

1947 Studebaker, designed by the well-known industrial designer Raymond Loewy. He didn't expect it to become the butt of jokes, but it did, and he was not amused.

Loewy was also the Boy From Marketing who put a red square behind the Shell logo in the 1960s based on the "controlled background" theory: that a viewer remembers a logo better when the background behind it never changes.