It’s a good day to go for a gas fill-up. And wouldn’t it be nice to do so in one of these gas stations from the past, with their fun liveries? Once again, these images come from the web, without much available info. But feel free to take a look, and add details on any site that results familiar.
(Update: One image has been replaced on this post after its questionable origin was pointed out).
That takes me back. Nice shots, but the Pontiac wagon with the big Spartan trailer is an impostor. It’s a modern shot, given the big narrow whitewall tires on wider wheels. And fender skirts on a wagon? Not likely, back then.
Thank you so very much ! .
These hark back to my younger days .
-Nate
It’s kind of mind boggling how many different brand names the former Standard companies used to avoid stepping on each others’ trademarks. UTICO is a new one for me.
I think the different names had more to do with anti-trust than marketing.
I kinda thought the same with that wagon and trailer, the tires look like radials.
WOW
1953 Pontaic Cheiftan
But photo is faked.
Remember how that stations smelled? Cigarettes, ashtrays, gasoline, tires, coffee, soiled oily uniforms, asphalt, car exhaust – the smell of adult manhood.
Oops ~ the Poncho & Sparton pic is gone .
I thought it was a ’54, the parking lamps changed for ’54…..
-Nate
The customer driving the light colored 1950 Chevrolet looks dirtier than the gas jockey. Those pants. Sheesh. My grandmother used to tell me that she had to fight her father back in those days, to change his clothes so that she could wash them once a week.
It’s possible he was just one of those guys that used to hang around gas stations…a vanished type.
The dirt on his pants used to pass for proof of a days work. Yes his look like it was almost wash day, but clothing was much more of a luxury to be had back then than now.
You’re -so- correct .
We don’t know what that man did for a living .
It seems few Americans grasp how good they have it .
More should live out of country a while so they’d learn to appreciate what they have here .
-Nate
I agree with the comments on the Pontiac wagon, it looks like the Shell station at the Gilmore museum. Nothing wrong with that but it is not really a vintage shot.
The narrow band whitewalls look odd as well – I can’t speak for the fender skirts but period wide white walls or probably blackwalls given the utility aspects of the wagon would work better.
Boss isn’t happy with the kid’s work at Bayview Pure!
But for what looks like a Wisconsin plate the Sinclair Station looks like an independent station that I filled up at on the NE side of Boston a few years ago. I thought I took a picture but can’t find it.
One side of the pumps for american rides. Those “foreign jobs” on the other side..lol
Remember a yellow, “Simca” on the PA turnpike; I was about seven years old.
My dad put that “foreign jobs” moniker in my head..lol
Curiously, don’t recall him using it to describe the ubiquitous “V dubs” of the “1960’s”..H’mm
American cars had the gas filler on the left, European cars, especially British, on the right.
That Sinclair station caught my eye too, and I also assumed it was in the Northeast.
It is, in fact, in Waukesha, Wisconsin – the building’s still standing; it’s an investment bank place now. Very neat structure.
https://goo.gl/maps/7vtsNiYVEXkvWPgbA
Wow!!
Great detective work! The Sinclair station had an uncanny resemblance to a small town Sinclair station in upstate PA. My dad always stopped there enroute to the mountains in the 50’s and 60’s.
I love the lede picture. I’ve not seen a “Utoco” station before, although I’ll bet its logo was one of the many on the back of my Dad’s “American” card back in the 1960s (“Also Accepted At”).
Also, that Indian statue seems home made. It’s not in the classic “muffler man” pose or the equally classic “giant roadside Indian” pose. Frankly, it’s more than a little creepy-looking; which I guess if one is going the route of putting something like that outside of their attraction, the creepier the better.
I can’t find any additional info on what happened to that station (Orderville, UT), the motel behind it, or the statue.
Waay cool! the bug shield on the front of the “Plymouth”?, in the first pic The “green stamps” sign, farther down the list, the Chevy wagon with blackwalls/white stripe tires mixed is memory for sure!
Is that first station a “Rt 66” stop I wonder?
I noted the “Top Value” stamps sign in the Gulf station picture.
I wonder where that was taken. My Mom was a devotee of Top Value stamps, although those were not quite as national as S&H Green Stamps. I always assumed that Top Value was a Maryland or Mid-Atlantic thing. I know that we collected Top Value, but found them useless when we relocated to NC. My mom was sorely disappointed.
I’m not certain, but it’s possible this B&W photo was taken in the Pittsburgh area. We had Gulf, Mobil, and Top Value stamps, plus the terrain would be typical. But PA did not have front license plates starting in the post-WWII era, if not earlier. That Buick Skylark might have a front plate, but not the Rambler American or the ’60 Ford from what I can tell.
I’m from northern “burgh” reaches. Remember “green and plaid stamps”. One friend of my mom worked in the “plaid stamps store”.
Do not recall “Top Value”.
We were “loaded with “Rahleigh Coupons” too!! lol
Needed just “soo soo many” to get anything useful though. With all we had ,((my dad was a serious chain smoker)) you’d think we’d a qualified for something..
My aunt did “BelAir” ciggs for a bit too; we were even able to “pool” the bounty..
Richfield was a premium brand, made sense for a Cadillac. I love those hidden gas fillers, push the reflector button to release.
I’ll add one more here – a little later than the ones above… this is from 1982, here in Virginia:
Where in VA?
Fairfax. And despite the development that’s happened around that area, the station is still there:
https://goo.gl/maps/eeHRYx5zdFZeybGo9
Great pic finds! Like a number of us, many of my favourite childhood road trip memories, come from stopping in at gas stations. They were a place to stretch our legs, walk the dog, and meet other people. To get refreshments and snacks, or a badly needed bathroom break. The sound of gas pumps, air pumps, impact guns, and the smell of gas, and oil, bring back fond memories. Along, with the sight of windshield washer buckets and squeegees, old Coke machines, and credit card machines. And my dad buying road maps.
I loved that the Esso brand never went away in Canada, allowed many small, rural stations to maintain their existing look, and charm. I remember on one trip around 1973, my dad having to buy a replacement Atlas tire at Esso. As one of his ’69 Ranch Wagon’s tires was going soft.
My favourite station brand as a kid, was Shell. Loved their ’70s-era ranch-style stations, with the natural wood facade, and stone veneer accents. As I would stretch my legs, I’d always check out the cars on the lifts, in the service bays.
As Canada switched to Metric and using litres, as opposed to Imperial gallons, there was a solitary gas station west of Ottawa that bucked the trend. It was an independent station, called Bell’s Gas. And they did good business, from their location on the Trans-Canada Highway to Peterborough and Toronto, and also because they stuck with imperial units. They attracted a loyal, older clientele. As cars became more reliable with longer range, these rural stations located between towns and cities, mostly disappeared.
The Dodge M37 and Canadian Military Pattern Truck, were popular as tow trucks and jump starter vehicles, at some stations. When they still offered service, and towing.
We had that same exact Shell station design where I worked. Three service bays but only one pump island. Chevy tow truck as well.
It appears, this design was their template for exterior branding across the US and Canada. As this photo was taken in Maple Ridge, British Columbia. We had the same style in the province of Ontario
Was there any smell more intoxicating to a car-crazy kid than a gas station? The car windows were always down in those days, and warm days at the gas station had that beautiful aroma wafting through the car as my mother signed the little credit card slip and had the guy tear out the receipt for her to keep.
Here’s another, with one of my favorite Mopars. I miss getting full service as we did back in the ’50s and early ’60s.
By the time I was driving, everything was self-serve already.
Beautiful ride!!
I’m pretty sure that the gas station with the NJ Plates is on Rt 4 just off the GW Bridge along the stretch the link below:
https://www.google.com/maps/@40.8665634,-73.97376,3a,75y,219.63h,72.75t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sffDTgi4pTdWZuGlm_cj1BA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu
That last photo of the Sunoco station sure brings back memories. My Father had a gas station with the same type of building design in Oakland, California from the 1960’s to 1980’s. It was an industry standard prototype building design used nationwide by many gas station chains. My Dad’s station was first a “Signal” brand, then it became an “Enco” brand, and finally an “Exxon” brand gas station. In the old days, the gas companies sold their retail gas stations to each other freely, without ever asking the station owners/operators who were faced with a “take it or leave it” situation when the chain/brand was sold. Fortunately, his gas station’s brand changed from the relatively obscure “Signal” brand to the national “Exxon” brand.
The oil companies made that prototype building design in both left and right handed configurations. It was an all metal building with concrete floors and no wall or roof insulation whatsoever. No heat or air conditioning systems were part of the design. It was freezing in the Winter and broiling hot in the Summer. I worked in his gas station every Summer and during weekends and holidays when school was in session from the time I was 11 years old to the time I graduated from law school. Became a pretty good mechanic as a result, as well as a diehard petrolhead.
Where in Oakland?
Signal was a small oil company founded by a lemon farmer during the early 20th Century oil boom in California, named for Signal Hill, an oil rich area of Long Beach. Sold to Chevron after WWII. A neighbor was a Signal oil dealer. Location is now a Chevron.
In the very early 1970’s I ran a three pump full service island as well as the lube rack and minor repairs for T & T Arco, a very busy shop that also sold a little bit of gasoline .
-Nate
Some early to mid 1960s station designs, would still look very modern today. As some architecture has returned to this look.
(Sorry, image size is medium. Site I grabbed it from, scaled up the JPEG to fit a box, to appear larger.)
“All credit cards accepted” on the sign in the top photo. I remember when each gas station would only accept its particular brand of credit card. That’s how I built my credit history via an Exxon card in the early 80’s.
Once gas pumps accept debit/credit cards, all those restrictions went out the window.
Gotta love the novelty of the deer antlers ringing the top of the gas station.
Also, the giant Indian in the background reminds me of the Midas Muffler man.
My very first credit card was Shell, even before Sears would give me credit.
I know you guys and girls mostly like American cars, but come on, what about that Austin Healey 100?
The Country Squire was probably the ultimate default gas station prop, for ’70s gas company promo pics.
Love the low profile, on these old tankers. Great branding.
Another old gas station that I remember growing up was Enco, which later was gobbled up by the Exxon conglomeration. I have a plastic Enco sign hanging up in my garage that I bought years ago that someday I’d like to put a light inside of. When I see old pictures of Enco stations, I get that little nostalgic pull of me sitting in the back seat of a car, and it is night time with all the different gas stations.