Text by Patrick Bell.
Vintage gas stations are on the tour schedule today, though most of them could be called “service stations”, as service is what you used to receive when you purchased gas. We have a great gallery with a variety of stations, so let’s get started.
Our tour begins at a Standard station in an image that was noted as Fresno, California in one source. It was dated 1951, and that part does fit. There was a sign on the right edge in red letters that may say “Fresno”, and there was ongoing work on the building across the street.
The attendant was checking under the hood of a 1949 Mercury Coupe with a 1952 tagged California license plate. To the right was a 1950 Oldsmobile 88 4 door sedan. In the lower left looks like a early 1950’s Mopar 4 door sedan. And on the street from the left was maybe a Ford Model A pickup that was parked, a 1950 or 1951 Chevrolet Advance Design 3600 or 3800 pickup passing by, and a parked 1939-1947 Dodge Panel.
We have visited this Esso station in Millington, Tennessee in the past, and viewed it from the front.
In this 1958 image the same 1950 Mercury Coupe was there with the same rusty hood. It must have belonged to the boss. To the right was a two tone 1955 Buick Roadmaster Sedan.
A Phillips 66 station in a unknown location that looks like a staged scene. But I think the car lot next door was an Oldsmobile dealer, and that is where all the Oldsmobiles came from.
There were four Oldsmobiles in view; on the left edge the right fender of a 1959 Dynamic 88, to the right facing this way was a 1958 model, series unknown. At the pumps on the outside was a light colored 1957 Super 88 4 door sedan, and behind it a two tone 1959 Super 88 Holiday SportSedan. In the inside lane and reflected in the front building window was a 1959 Dodge 4 door sedan. And reflected in the side window from the top a 1952 Chevrolet, maybe a 1955 or 1956 Dodge, and a 1959 GMC truck.
Now we are Middletown, Ohio, at a close-quartered SOHIO station that sold gasoline with the Super Boron additive. It was a cool, damp day.
The newest cars I see were a white 1961 Plymouth 4 door sedan at the curb in front of a gold 1958 Chevrolet wagon. Further ahead was a red Ford Econoline pickup that debuted in 1961. Other wagons include a black 1956 Ford Country Sedan emergency vehicle in the street, a light blue 1960 Mercury Commuter dead ahead, and a 1956 Chevrolet at the pumps to the right. And in the lower left corner was the fin of a 1959 Cadillac de Ville convertible.
This Texaco station and Cafe image was labeled as the Alaska Highway. That is a wide range as the highway was nearly 1400 miles long and ran through portions of British Columbia, Yukon, and Alaska. The fine print on the building is not readable, so it is difficult to narrow it down any further.
What appears to be the shop service truck was a 1964 Chevrolet K series with a license plate that is also difficult to read, but does not resemble any of the three entities where the highway was routed. In the left lower corner was the left rear corner of a 1957 Rambler Super Cross Country wagon.
Here was an Esso station in Nicholson, Pennsylvania, with the Tunkhannock Viaduct (also known as the Nicholson Bridge) towering in the background. As you can see, the massive structure was for the Lackawanna Railroad. The Esso station is gone but the modified building still exists.
At the pumps were a fire truck and a 1961 or 1962 International C series pickup, and on the left edge was the taillight of a 1959 Buick.
Three young fellers were checking out a big turtle at a street corner display in a 1960 photo. Across the street was possibly a Union 76 station with the pumps out of sight.
Behind the station was a blue 1953 Ford Customline Tudor Sedan, and beside the building was a weathered 1941 Chevrolet Special De Luxe Sport Sedan. And under the awning looks like a red 1949-1953 Studebaker pickup.
And a White Gasoline station in San Diego, California, in 1965. It looked like your typical budget rate type of facility, with gas that averaged 30.9 cents a gallon, oil for 20 cents a can, cigarettes for 21 cents a pack, and even had some toys for sale. It was open all night and gave away Free Double Money Stamps. There is no question that it was from a different era.
Under the awning was an attendant in white cleaning the back window of a 1954 Dodge Coronet or Royal 4 door sedan. To the right was a white 1962 Chevrolet Biscayne or Bel Air wagon. And on the far left edge was a maroon 1951 Buick Special or Super convertible with the top down.
This looked like a wedding day, perhaps the lady on the right was the bride, with her groom next to her. The adults looked happy to be there but the young girl looked tired. A Standard station was next door to this parking lot, but you can’t see much more than the sign. It appeared to be a winter day in a warm climate.
On the left edge was the left rear corner of a 1961 Chevrolet Impala, and heading to the right was a 1963 Chevrolet Bel Air 4 door sedan with a Volkswagen Type 1 on the other side of it. In the center background you can see parts of a white over red International Travelall, and on the right was a 1956 Ford Fairlane Fordor Victoria, Ford’s first 4 door hardtop that had some rust around the rear wheel opening.
Here was a Texaco station in the far north somewhere, it could have been Canada or Alaska. It does not look like the Alaska Highway, as it was more heavily traveled than this one appeared to be.
A 1968 Dodge Dart with an Apache pop up camp trailer was the traveling rig, and the trailer had a 1971 issue Ohio license plate. There were two bumper stickers on the trailer; one from an attraction in Wyoming, and the other was not readable. Those small trailer tires really took a beating on a trip like that.
This one was a Union 76 station possibly somewhere in California, in an image dated July of 1970. The dealer’s name was Lavon E. Hughes per the sign. And there was the typical product displays and vending machines lined up along the side of the building.
Next door was a Mercury dealer, with a tan 1969 Marquis and a Colony Park wagon, as seen to the right of the station. To the left of the station in the distance was a 1961-1963 Lincoln Continental, and closer in a 1965 Mercury Comet Caliente, possibly a convertible. And in the foreground was a nice V8 powered 1965 Chevrolet Chevelle El Camino, with aftermarket wheels, a California license plate, and a orange 76 ball on the antenna.
There was not much to go by in this image to determine the station brand or location. What we see was the self service lane.
A 1973-1977 Honda Civic with possibly a California license plate had been driving in the sleet, and it was caked on, some places worse that others. To the right was a 1973 or 1974 Chevrolet Blazer.
Our tour closes at the corner of Columbia and Portland Roads in Cedarburg, Wisconsin, where a unique Texaco station was dwarfed by the Cedarburg Mill. The former gristmill was built in 1855, and it as well as the station building have survived, though the Pagoda style station building is now a jewelry store.
At the pumps was a 1974-1976 Lincoln Continental, and the Chevrolet Vega/Monza or Pontiac Astre/Sunbird wagon with the plywood on top could have been a 1974-1979 model. At the curb on the left was a 1978-1981 Ford Fairmont 2 door sedan, and in the foreground right was a 1974 Plymouth Duster 360.
Thanks for joining us and have a great day!
The ’58 Olds appears to be a Super 88 or 98 as it has a center stainless strip in the arrow shaped front fender trim that extends back from the headlights that the regular 88 didn’t have.
Loving these as I grew up with those old Service / Filling Stations and one of my earliest jobs was Mechanic & pump jockey for a three pump island Atlantic Richfield Sation built in the 1920’s, the office was tiny, 5 or 6 service bays .
I enjoyed that job because it allowed me to be useful and I got to meet and interact with an amazingly wide variety of people .
-Nate
Spectacular, Rich!
But how’d you know that, in photo #4, the left tail-fin of the ’59 Cadillac, was from a convertible?
Does the script say simply “DeVille,” and not “Coupe/Sedan DeVille”? (I can’t read it)
In the opening photo, it’s remarkable to see the early 30’s pickup as just part of the landscape !
You are correct, Dan, it just says “DeVille”.
The Sohio and Alaska Highway Texaco both prominently advertise their restrooms, something I don’t see today. Service stations of any kind are becoming increasingly rare where I live as their owners replace the service bays with a convenience store which is more profitable. There are still quite a few service stations, but they’re invariably older establishments from the 20th century; new ones don’t seem to have been built for decades. An increasing percentage of new gas stations are branded with convenience store chains (most often Wawa, Sheetz, and Royal Farms here in Maryland) rather than oil companies.
The latest new gas stations here in California are stand alone Costco, not co-located with a warehouse.
The boys with the turtle – I wonder if that might be Churubusco, Indiana (JPC might know). I grew up not far from there, with the legend of Oscar the Giant Turtle. They celebrate Turtle Days with a festival, parade, et al.
https://getindiana.com/news/churubusco
An excellent question! I never spent time in Churubusco, so cannot answer. I will say that the license plate on the back of the 41 Chevy could have been the gold/blue plate that Indiana used in 1959, and the lack of a front plate on the 53 Ford would track too.
When I was a little kid, I was obsessed with service stations. My dad took this car in for service twice a year, and always at the local two bay garage. I just loved the smells and the sound of air tools. He would get a “minor tune-up” in the fall (just new spark plugs) and a “major tune up” in the spring (points, plugs and condenser).
The two bay garage is done where I live. I can’t remember the last time I saw one.
What Ive noticed is a lot of the old 2 or 3 bay service stations are still around as mechanic shops. Almost none of them sell gas anymore, and havent sold it in at least 30 or 40 years.
One old service station in my old neighborhood was a muffler shop for years, they sold trailer hitches as well. Of course the neighborhood changed with all the greatest generation folks who first bought the crackerbox ranch houses dying off.
The hipsters priced out of east Nashville moved in, so no more muffler shop(stainless steel exhausts made them irrelevant anyways)
Now we have the vegan muffler shop bakery. Goes well with Phat Bites, a local deli/bar/hipster music spot at night. Its in the much bigger service bays of the old Ford dealer.
I can almost hear that Civic rusting from all that gunk caked up underneath.
it was probably rusted out by spring
Was thinking the same thing.
Dad operated a Phillip’s 66 station in the 1960s. Same building design except it was a mirror image. Only difference is his had a canopy over the main pumps that connected with the front of the building.
I remember the freebies given away during the 60s with a fill up (8 gallons minimum). A large quantity of them left service stations without the minimum purchase having been made. Are you guilty??
The only thing I remember being given away when I was a kid (early ’70s) was “racing stickers” – we always asked if they had any and maybe 40% of them did. They were little stickers with logos for STP or Wynn’s or car parts brands that you peeled off and pasted on your Hot Wheels cars to make them look ready for NASCAR.
Thank you, great job
Some great memories among this selection.
It was 1971, I was on the Jersey Turnpike going from Miami to NYC. Driving my 1970 Nova 396 and just had it serviced in Miami. Oh my gosh, at a NJ turnpike station to get gas they told me I had a major oil leak. Bull. A few weeks previous I read in the New York Times how people with Florida tags were being ripped off. I told the station to f-off. I never had a problem with my Nova.
How about a 54 Ford Costomline and not a 53 .
Good question, Bob. The 1952-1954 Fords are hard to keep up with. Here is how I see it:
1954 Customline’s had a full length molding along the middle of the sides.
1953 had a similar molding on the fenders and front doors, and a similar one on the rear doors and quarter panels, but at a lower level, right above the wheel cutout.
1952 had the fender and front door molding, but none on the rear section.
Thanks!
Having grown up in Columbus Ohio, the local Sohio stations were where my dad always filled up.
One time we were driving south and just crossed into Kentucky (Covington)
Right below the Brent-Spence bridge was a Sohio station, but it was named Boron since it was in Kentucky! It’s long gone but it was the only one I remember seeing.
Richfield also sold gas with Boron.
Being an Ohio native whose mother patronized the local SOHIO station, I took particular interest in the Middletown photo. We had a 1960 Oldsmobile when I was very little, so I’m not sure if it was a Dynamic 88 with the optional, higher compression 371 V8 or a Super 88 with a 394. Either way, I remember Mom would only occasionally fill the tank with Boron because of the additional expense, almost like she was giving it a special treat. This might explain why that car was often finicky. But, I digress.
I put my web sleuthing skills to the test here to identify this location. The Kone Kavern (seen to the right just above the gas pumps) was apparently a popular dairy/ice cream store during that era with an address of 1926 1st Ave. This correlates with the triangular sliver of land this SOHIO station sat on where 1st Ave. joins Central Ave.
Naturally, the area has changed significantly. The gas station is now a used car lot and the building that housed Kone Kavern was razed around 2020. Across the street to the left, however, the sizable house featuring large bricks still exists.
I may be wrong, but the sign off to the right side in the first photo looks more to me like “Fri” rather than “Fre”.
Yes – that was part of the Foss Radio store that’s in the background. I believe the full sign said “Friendly Foss Radio & Appliance Store.” The address was 1221 Van Ness Ave. The section of that building containing Foss and the Fresno Malt Shop next door was located at the corner of Van Ness and Fresno St. – that’s been torn down, but the original building’s facade up the block (closer to Merced St.) is still standing.
Minor matter, but the Chevrolet service truck in picture #5 is a 1965 model. The ’64 still had the vertical A pillar.