Gas Stations that offered SERVICE

[Mikeinnj]

Remember when stations offered REAL SERVICE. I like the one station offering "Corn Gas" and can only guess why the idea didn't last long.

http://hipspics.freewebspace.com/gas/gas.html

[30ccpickup]

How are the cars taken up and down. Was this one day parking are long trm storage?

Paul

[29ModelA]

Originally Posted by 30ccpickup

How are the cars taken up and down. Was this one day parking are long trm storage?

Paul

This is my favorite... not on that link though.

[H. L. Chauvin]

Even though those above photos depict more modern facilities, before cars, there were many vintage multi-story horse & buggy garages in larger cities.

One would enter the garage, get out of one's buggy, & an attendant would lead one's horse to a D/C electrically operated elevator with pull rope up & down operation & proceed to the stories above.

If one wanted, one could buy additional services included horse watering, feeding, brushing, changing shoes; buggy wheel greasing, buggy cleaning, harness repair; etc., etc.

Expensive buggies were made by Fischer, Frazier, & similar manufacturers who later made car bodies. In about 1905, some enclosed buggies such as "Kozy Cab" with front windshield, upholstered seats, & (2) glazed sliding doors on buggy sides cost about $3,000.00 or so.

When motorized vehicles later came out, they used the same D/C operated elevators to stack vehicles.

[1oldtimer]

Not an old pictures but when I was working at a Texaco in the mid 90's. They let me work on good cars after I was done with new cars.......notice the prices. I didn't start taking pictures for a few years, so I only have a few before it closed down.

[lookin-backtexas]

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As a teenager in the late 1950's I worked at a "service" station where we not only checked your oil, checked the air in every tire, pumped your gas, washed your windshield, checked the battery, checked the transmission fluid, added water to the windshield washer reservoir, etc. To give you an idea of what real "service" was, the owner had a sign permanently painted on the glass window of the office in BOLD LETTERS saying, "IF WE FORGET TO VACUUM YOUR CARPET, YOUR GAS IS FREE." The gas was 24.9 cents a gallon and he still made a profit. We would sometimes get into a price war with the Humble station down the street and drop it to 19.9 cents a gallon. As things became less and less service oriented, the industry became known as "gas stations" instead of "service" stations.

I could fill up my brand new 1959 Cushman Super Eagle gas tank (2 gallons) for 50 cents and ride for a week.

The hard part of that job was trying to find where the gas filler was on each car - some behind the left taillight lens, some hidden elsewhere - I think it was just before most cars had the spring-loaded rear license plate that flipped out to reveal the hidden gas cap.

[1931 flamingo]

The elevated parking was usually for the day or shorter times, not really long term. I can remember many like that in NYC and others where you drove into a garage like entrance and then cars parked "up stairs" by an attendant. Remember space in large cities very expensive.
When I pumped gas in the 60's, every car had the oil, water and batt ck'd, sometimes tire pressures, and the w/shield washed. All this at 5 gals for a dollar. Made one dollar an hour.
Paul in CT

[George, Iowa]

I worked in a full service station in the 80's for a high school job. My uncle owned it. It had full service or self service. But if you were standing around you gave the self service cars the same full service experience. Check oil, transmission, clean all windows, fill windshield washer tank, pump gas.

[JBill]

Originally Posted by 30ccpickup

How are the cars taken up and down. Was this one day parking are long trm storage?

Paul

Romney's car elevator.

[mccsix]

Here's how it worked these "old timers" were pretty ingenious.
Only problem was elevator breakdowns and waiting your turn for so long with your fingers crossed that the elevator didn't break.

[Jerry Parr WI]

Originally Posted by lookin-backtexas

As a teenager in the late 1950's I worked at a "service" station where we not only checked your oil, checked the air in every tire, pumped your gas, washed your windshield, checked the battery, checked the transmission fluid, added water to the windshield washer reservoir, etc. To give you an idea of what real "service" was, the owner had a sign permanently painted on the glass window of the office in BOLD LETTERS saying, "IF WE FORGET TO VACUUM YOUR CARPET, YOUR GAS IS FREE." The gas was 24.9 cents a gallon and he still made a profit. We would sometimes get into a price war with the Humble station down the street and drop it to 19.9 cents a gallon. As things became less and less service oriented, the industry became known as "gas stations" instead of "service" stations.

I could fill up my brand new 1959 Cushman Super Eagle gas tank (2 gallons) for 50 cents and ride for a week.

The hard part of that job was trying to find where the gas filler was on each car - some behind the left taillight lens, some hidden elsewhere - I think it was just before most cars had the spring-loaded rear license plate that flipped out to reveal the hidden gas cap.

I worked in one same era. You missed we always checked fan belts and hoses.

[Tom Wesenberg]

Originally Posted by Jerry Parr WI

I worked in one same era. You missed we always checked fan belts and hoses.

Ditto, and we also checked the power steering and brake fluid. For $1 or less gas we had to wash the front and rear windows. For any purchase over $1 we had to wash all the windows. I can still remember the first convertible rear PLSTIC window that I started to wash, and the owner told me not to do that because it can scratch the window.

[lookin-backtexas]

Originally Posted by Jerry Parr WI

I worked in one same era. You missed we always checked fan belts and hoses.

Those items were included in my original "etc." - we checked ALL the fluids under the hood and washed all the windows, both inside and out. And the station owner meant what he said - if we forgot to vacuum the car (front and back floors) the gas was free.

Fred

[1930artdeco]

A family friend once told me that it apparently was common for service stations to 'check' belts and hoses and miraculously find a 'cut' in a hose. Good thing he caught it at that station. Can anyone confirm this?

Mike

[Jerry Parr WI]

Originally Posted by 1930artdeco

A family friend once told me that it apparently was common for service stations to 'check' belts and hoses and miraculously find a 'cut' in a hose. Good thing he caught it at that station. Can anyone confirm this?

Mike

I'm sure it happened in places. During the 50's I worked in at least 3 different places where it didn't happen and never heard of a local place that helped create failures. All were on US 12 with heavy tourist traffic so the opportunity existed. Most of our replacement business income was tires, exhaust systems, and tune ups.

[no6]

I worked in several full service stations in the early to mid 70's, the best job's of my life. Guys came and hung out setting on benches and eating hot dogs sold out of an electric skillet. when I worked the weekend night shift all of our friends would come in and shoot the bull while riding around on the circute. Some may not like this but back then at Christmas eve the station owners set out a huge spread in the bays with food and a lot of booze, every one went around from station to station sampeling the refreshments. This is one recent institution that we will never get back, it's a shame, thats where we learned about cars, girls and life.

[H. L. Chauvin]

In my opinion, this would still be a very unique, profitable, viable car service option today in upward income communities:

In the late 1940's through the 1970's I knew of two (2) extremely reputable service station owners that had mostly widows for repeat customers in their thriving car service businesses, which was a sideline to normal service station activities.

Two (2) employees would go to a customer's house, pick up her car, bring it to the service station, and fill it with fuel; check and/or change oil & filter; check, balance & rotate tires, plus fix air leaks & provide new tires when needed; check lubrication; check and/or flush or winterize radiators; wash & wax cars & clean interiors; provide tune-ups & air filters; etc., etc.

They maintained log books for recording routine maintenance & would call customers to remind them when their cars services needed.

Word got out quickly among these widows not only that their cars lasted far longer; but, that they were never stranded on the highway with busted heater hoses, broken fan belts, dead batteries, etc., etc., & that every time they turned the switch, the car started.

[ba49]

I remember when I was a teen in the 60s and going to Fla. on a trip from Cleveland with my buddies and my dad warning me to be careful at the stations on the interstates checking your oil and rubbing it off the stick before showing it to you. He called it short sticking. Then they would take an empty can from the oil display rack by the pumps and pretend to add a quart or two. They would just put the spout in the empty can and you couldn't tell if they added some or not.

[Ross/Kzoo]

Originally Posted by ba49

I remember when I was a teen in the 60s and going to Fla. on a trip from Cleveland with my buddies and my dad warning me to be careful at the stations on the interstates checking your oil and rubbing it off the stick before showing it to you. He called it short sticking. Then they would take an empty can from the oil display rack by the pumps and pretend to add a quart or two. They would just put the spout in the empty can and you couldn't tell if they added some or not.

I think that was the 70's but there was a big rash of those problems exposed in Georgia.

[29ModelA]

Originally Posted by P.S.

Sounds like seriously good times!

Most places have shut down their "cruise" for one reason or another. Out here in California, it's difficult to find a town that will allow a car to pass the same place 3 or more times on a Friday night without blue and red lights soon behind it. Most towns have posted "NO Cruising" signs along the major drags.

The town of Modesto is a short trip from me, and it is the town depicted in the movie "American Graffiti". The town was famous for it's cruises every Friday night and was host to the giant "Graffiti Night" once a year celebrating the American car culture and the movie. Today, you cannot cruise in Modesto without being harassed. The city pretty much shut it down with a martial law mentality. Their reasoning was that it brought in too much crime and violence and people got hurt. However, I remember going to Modesto as a younger man and cruising and having the time of my life. It was harmless fun. At the time, I had a hot rodded 74 Chevrolet that was still pretty new at the time. You could pull into a parking lot where other people had their cars and it was like a mini car show. Hoods up, doors open, radios on (almost all on the same station), and everybody was having a blast. If that crowd didn't do it for you, or was not your type, you just moved along to another spot and found a group you liked.

Most of the drive-in type restaurants catered to the cruise scene and had extra staff on hand to cover the increased volume of sales. It was a win-win. I remember Sno White drive in (the BEST burgers, period), A&W for their rootbeer floats, and the mom & pop drive ins along the cruise. The deep fried twinkie isn't new, it was common to find all sorts of deep fried goodies on a cruise night. You got to know the "unpublished menus" of some places by word of mouth, then you went there to check it out. What a blast!!

~1999/2000 was the last time cars cruised around here on Friday night. They had shut it down once before and it gradually came back. I fondly remember cruising but the police harassed us non-stop. It did completely disrupt traffic in this small town as there would be 100's of cars around the .75-1 mile loop. I remember putting 66 miles on a 78 Trans am with a 400 in it just doing the loop one night. Even just being parked in a public lot you would get a ticket.

I still remember I stopped at the local Taco Bell, and got food during cruise night. I am getting in my Jeep and an officer pulled behind me blocking me in saying he was going to cite me for cruising and some other stuff. I held up my bag and said "I'm a customer and just came out of the restaurant." He berated me some more and I told him to move his damn car so I could leave if that is what he was telling me to do. I am still surprised I didn't get cited or arrested once I got an attitude. It was only a few years later that it got shut down completely with the same martial law mentality.