Old gas stations

[2jakes]

Wooden bumpers (WW2)

Station-wagon (woodie) metal bumper was replaced with wood.
The metal would be sent to places like Pennsylvania, where recycled
metal was used for building ships and other items.
The front-passenger window depicts a gas-ration sticker.

“A” ration letter allowed people to buy four gallons of gasoline a
week during WW2.

 

[2jakes]

 

[Benzadmiral]

View attachment 84364

Rob

That looks a lot like the big rock formation (now alongside I-25) that gives Castle Rock, CO, its name.

 

[Benzadmiral]

While you’re at it, ask Lizziepedia about this one too.
View attachment 84790

Car and movie marqee on the right should be a clue as to the year!

The car to the right is, I think, a '55 Chevy. Those would have been available in late '54, and since the cop is wearing a heavy overcoat, my suggestion is that this is no earlier than about Nov. 1954. No idea without looking it up what year Rose Tattoo was released, but wasn't it '54 or '55?

 

[BlueTrain]

What kind of mileage would that station wagon have gotten in the 1940s? The vehicle I drive now averages between 28 and 29 miles per gallon. My old Ford would get almost but not quite, 40 miles to the gallon.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I get 16-18 mpg in my '41 Plodge, with a 218 flathead 6 engine. That's pretty good mileage for the period.

 

[2jakes]

The car to the right is, I think, a '55 Chevy. Those would have been available in late '54, and since the cop is wearing a heavy overcoat, my suggestion is that this is no earlier than about Nov. 1954. No idea without looking it up what year Rose Tattoo was released, but wasn't it '54 or '55?

I learned to drive on an old ’54 two-tone Chevy.
I got to drive it to high school.

But I had to “chauffeur” my three sisters too.

They were a pain sometimes telling me to go faster,
we were always late for school.

I would retaliate by slamming on the brakes which would mess
their pompadoured '50s hairdo.

I got a kick doing that!

 

[LizzieMaine]

The X card was eliminated after about a month of use due to scandal -- too many self-appointed VIPs were influencing ration boards to get them, so the OPA did away with them. They were only ever issued during the early period of East Coast-only rationing -- they were long gone by the time rationing went national in December.

The OPA played hard ball -- they actually sent agents out to check parking lots at roadhouses, ballparks, dance halls, and other such places, and if cars with B or C cards were found there, the license numbers were taken, and the owners of the vehicles received a registered letter the next day revoking their ration. Those extra gallons were allotted for essential driving only, not dillybopping around for fun, and no excuses were accepted.

There was a lot of variation in how much you got on a basic A ration depending on local supply conditions, hence the numbered ration stamps -- which were only valid at specified periods for specified amounts. At certain points during the war the basic ration was as low as two gallons a week.

Counterfeit ration stamps were rampant. The original East Coast-only ration issued in May 1942 was a punch card on which each punch was good for "one unit," said unit to be specified by the OPA. These were very simple cards, printed on ordinary card stock, and could be easily counterfeited by anyone with access to a job press. And they were, en masse.

When national rationing was implemented, the OPA began using special security paper, which got more and more sophisticated as the war went on -- some of the security features were visible to the naked eye, but others were invisible and could be brought out only by a chemical test. This cut down, but never quite entirely eliminated, counterfeiting.

 

[2jakes]

Getting ready for the weekend drive downtown!

 

[BlueTrain]

I don't remember anyone mentioning rationing when I was little, in the 1950s, when it should have still been a fresh memory. But maybe that seemed longer ago than I would have imagined. Anyway, they may have mentioned it after all.

My relatives that lived in the same town all worked for the railroad. All but one could walk to work and that was less than a mile. My grandfather walked home from work in the rain one day and got sick and died, though. That was in 1943 or 1944 and he was around 70, I think. My grandmother outlived him by more than 25 years. Anyway, two gallons of gasoline would not have been a great hardship and they could even have driven to work. Another uncle, though, who also worked for the railroad, had to drive about 30 miles one way to work, assuming he was working at the same place he did in the 1950s. I don't know how he managed. In any event, I don't drive that far to work myself now.

Did rationing make allowances for circumstances? My late father-in-law mentioned something about his brother who was living in Arizona driving back home to Maryland when their mother was dying sometime during the war. But I don't remember what else he said about it. He, the brother, had bad asthma and had moved to Arizona for his health, which is something people might have done in those days. But he died in the polio epidemic in the 1950s.

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Rob

 

[LizzieMaine]

The goal of rationing was to ensure that everyone had sufficient fuel and tires for necessities -- if you had a long drive to get to your job, you could get a B card allowing only as much additional fuel as would be required for your commute. If you worked in a specific essential job, you could get a C card allowing unlimited fuel, but only for as long as you actually held that job. And if there was a sudden, short-term emergency need you could plead your case to the local ration board and qualify for a Supplemental Fuel Ration certificate for a specific one-time additional amount. You'd have to appear before the board in person to state your case, and given that boards were organized on a regional, or even a neighborhood basis, there's a good chance they'd know immediately if you were lying about it. So that part of the system was difficult to game.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Rob

That car would get you $10 trade-in value at any used car dealer in 1938.

 

[Benzadmiral]

View attachment 85250

Vegas or Reno, early 1960s or so; the cars all look 1961 or earlier. Except for the cars, the scene could be happening today; note the casual clothes on the people on the left. Of course, if it's summer in Nevada, everybody would be wearing cooler clothing if they could.

Even aside from the casino signs, everything is really colorful!

 

[BlueTrain]

The goal of rationing was to ensure that everyone had sufficient fuel and tires for necessities -- if you had a long drive to get to your job, you could get a B card allowing only as much additional fuel as would be required for your commute. If you worked in a specific essential job, you could get a C card allowing unlimited fuel, but only for as long as you actually held that job. And if there was a sudden, short-term emergency need you could plead your case to the local ration board and qualify for a Supplemental Fuel Ration certificate for a specific one-time additional amount. You'd have to appear before the board in person to state your case, and given that boards were organized on a regional, or even a neighborhood basis, there's a good chance they'd know immediately if you were lying about it. So that part of the system was difficult to game.

Although the system might have been difficult to game, as you put it, it gave the rationing board a lot of power, at least as far as gasoline went. The same thing was true for the draft board.

 

[LizzieMaine]

It was a byword of the times that you learned to be very very nice to your neighbors who served on the ration board, because it was very easy to use a position on that board to settle old scores.

 

[2jakes]

Rob

McGill high speed belt coin quick change service station coin changer

 

[BlueTrain]

It was a byword of the times that you learned to be very very nice to your neighbors who served on the ration board, because it was very easy to use a position on that board to settle old scores.

My late father-in-law also suggested that if the gas station manager liked you, he'd sell you extra gas if you really needed it. He told me that happened to him unexpectedly when he was home on leave from the Army Air Corps in 1943 or 1944, after which he went overseas. He said the man said it would be "evaporation" or something like that.

 

[Fading Fast]

It was a byword of the times that you learned to be very very nice to your neighbors who served on the ration board, because it was very easy to use a position on that board to settle old scores.

This is my exact fear of gov't run things - if the Pepsi distributor has it in for me (my sister dumped him in high school), at least I can try the Coke one or Dr. Pepper or.... It's that no-other-option / absolute power thing that scares the bejesus out of me. In our apartment renovation, no matter how many challenges we had with contractors, I always had some leverage as they could be fired / but with NYC's Building Authority - you have no choice and it is well known as a "arrogant" bureaucracy - a reputation I learned is well earned.

 

[BlueTrain]

So you think it would be better if a profit-making corporation ran things?

New York and other larger cities are one thing. Everywhere else is another matter. The arrogance and sense of power can still be there, of course. But it's worse to have a large and wealthy neighbor who thinks he can do anything he wants--and does.