[The Deejay]

Most of you can at least remember old time full service stations..back in the 50s-60s, all of us would hang around there, usually the owner was an old hard a$$, but with a soft heart for car guys....some of them would even sell you smokes for $.02 apiece....share some of your funny memories from those times, sort of wish we could turn back the clock.


A few i remember.....new Pepsi machine delivered and sat outside of station.....had long glass door on one side...Pepsi laid sideway with cap and neck pointed outward...for you younger guys, you put in dime, opened door and pulled Pepsi straight out......We figured out pretty quick to take a cup, old beer opener, pop off metal cap, empty pepsi into cup...course you were limited to about 10 drinks per night, but after about a week of finding empty bottles in machine when he opened, machine was returned.

Another one i still laugh about..if you remember the lighted trailer signs that appeared in the 70s i guess...the one with the plastic letters...anyhow service station owner decides to buy one and announce grand opening with "mechanic on duty 24 hours....repairs and retreads too".....local guys rearranged sign to spell out "Maniac on duty 24 hours.....retards too"....It stayed that way for a couple of days until someone pointed out to owner...He would change it for a while, but finally gave up...said it wasn't worth the effort to deal with "juvenile deliquents"
man, those were some good times

If everything was slow on sunday nights, one owner let us use his lift for a $1...lots easier to do exhaust work, and price was right.......i miss those days

Share some of yours:thumbsup:

 

[bulb122]

I remember they had air hoses connected to real air compressors too, not those low pressure coin-op jobs. Heard more than one bike tire pop when some unsuspecting kid held the hose on it too long....

 

[PaPa Johns 77]

I remember they had air hoses connected to real air compressors too, not those low pressure coin-op jobs. Heard more than one bike tire pop when some unsuspecting kid held the hose on it too long....

That was a common thing when I worked a the stations.
The guy I worked for kept a supply of assorted bike tubes on the shelf!

This is the guy I caught one morning scattering roofing nails on the drive!
I had always wondered why so many of our customers tire repairs were for roofing nails! Usually it was because he happened to see a nail in their tire while filling up their car and checking air presures!
At least he quit doing it when I confronted him about it!:sad:

I do remember working at a ESSO Station one time and they asked us to dress for Halloween! Gave us 10 bucks extra!
The next day he said reciepts were off by almost 50% for a Friday.
Then he talked to a regular customer who gave him the reason why.
My fault!!!:sad: I took an old sheet and cut the eye holes threw it over my head and put on an old golf cap that was hanging in the garage!
Well seeing that close to half of our customer base were African American, well you get the picture!:yes:

 

[Merlin]

Jumpin' up and down on the bell hose with my brothers on the way inside to get a bottle of pop and a handful of ******* peanuts. Freebie promotions from Sinclair, or Philips 66, or the Texaco Man. Watching the little marbles in the gas pump sight glass go round and round. Or one I would love to hear again... The sweet sound of my Mom's voice asking the polite attendant to "...fill it with ethyl, please."
Most stations had one or two service bays, and I used to enjoy just watching through the doors. As a kid I saw those guys as having one of the most important jobs around. All those radiator hoses and fanbelts hanging on the back wall fascinated me. Remember now, I'm talking about age 5, 6, 7.

Patrick

 

[1BLACKHARLEY]

gosh dang it, i forgot about the neighborhood 76 station. we'd get a flat on our bikes, and you could go down to the 76 station and buy a tube off the shelf, and holy smokes, when they opened the 7/11 next door, we could go down and get a tube, and then hit 7/11 for a coke slurpee. man those were the days.

does anybody remember why 7/11's came about or why they were called 7/11's? by the way, i hate all the multicolor crap they sell out of those machines, but man, on a hot summer day, a coke slurpee was pretty nice....

 

[PaPa Johns 77]

gosh dang it, i forgot about the neighborhood 76 station. we'd get a flat on our bikes, and you could go down to the 76 station and buy a tube off the shelf, and holy smokes, when they opened the 7/11 next door, we could go down and get a tube, and then hit 7/11 for a coke slurpee. man those were the days.

does anybody remember why 7/11's came about or why they were called 7/11's? by the way, i hate all the multicolor crap they sell out of those machines, but man, on a hot summer day, a coke slurpee was pretty nice....

Open from 7am to 11pm!
Was a break from the norm to open early and close late back in the day. Now everything is 24/7!http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7-Eleven

 

[1BLACKHARLEY]

Open from 7am to 11pm!
Was a break from the norm to open early and close late back in the day. Now everything is 24/7!http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7-Eleven

YEP... the stores in our area had bankers hours, which was fine when you had stay at home mom's, but when everybody started working, it was pretty hard, when you ran out of diapers or milk, or needed cough medicine late at night or on a weekend. it sure took business in a different direction....

 

[PaPa Johns 77]

They introduced the Slurpee in 1967! Can you say Brain Freeze!!!

 

[chevelledude71]

I wasn't born back then, but sometimes I wish I grew up back then.

 

[AXEMAN39]

I took this pic this summer in Mass.

 

[grandsport]

I worked at an ARCO station when I was in highschool. I'll never for get how angry my mother-in -law to be got when she found out her daughter was hanging out with me in the evenings.Horrors.

Probably the coolest memories were when the Steelers came to town for training camp.The Steeler organization had a charge account there and the whole team came there to get their gas and cars washed. It just seems like yesterday I was filling up Terry Bradshaws green 72 Corvette conv.

 

[1ATony]

Not to old of a guy myself but old enough to remember popping a bike tire or two,and jumping on the service station bell.

My dad worked at an auto body shop for 32 years,and they have an old glass bottle Coke machine where you put the coin in and opened the door and pulled the Coke bottle out of the rack.

The Coke in glass bottles sure did taste allot better back then..

 

[djshakes]

Ha, I remember the bicycle tires blowing up. My friend was pumping up his tire and we were talking. I looked down and saw the tire bulging off the rim and I yelled "JASON!" and turned around and started to run. About a second later...BANG!!!!!! I remember seeing a woman walking to her car at the gas pump carrying a bag of groceries. She jumped and the groceries went flying in the air. She was pretty pissed.

 

[OutCast]

I worked in the local 2 pump Shell station as a kid. Growing up in a one stoplight town, the garage was the place to hang out. It was the pulse of town on Friday and Saturday nights. I threw many a car on the hoist at night for buddies so they could uncork their headers and did numerous tire swaps in preparation for late night shoot outs on Church Road...the backwater 1/4 mile.

I remember one time a guy coming in for gas with his truck, camper and aluminum boat on top. He decided to go under the overhanging canopy at about 20 mph. He turned that 12' boat into a 6' sardine can faster than you can imagine.

Another time, this Suburban full of semi-drunk obnoxious guys came in. They were pretty rude and calling me 'boy' and 'kid' and generally giving me a rash. They told me to check the oil, and make it quick, because it was running hot and the oil light was on. I checked it, unsupervised, as I nearly burned myself on the dipstick the whole engine was ticking and crackling. There wasn't even a drop of oil on the stick.

"Hey boy, how's the oil look ?"
"She's good to go, sir. Nothing to worry about there. Probably just a fuse out that's making the oil light come on." :sad:

I often wondered how far they got before they seized it.

Payback can be a real mofo.

 

[Stalkingbear]

I worked for Enco in the late 60's - what a great time to be around cars! And what a great place to meet the chicks (if you were around any high schools and we were near three different ones.)

There is something missing today that the corner service station provided...

 

[1BLACKHARLEY]

There is something missing today that the corner service station provided...

YEAH....ENGLISH....

 

[Stalkingbear]

Outcast - had a lady come in and demanded we change the water in the windshield wash bucket before we washed her window.... demanded we fill the tank to the max, demanded we check each tire including the spare - but she treated us as second class citizens. When she left, she had about 55 pounds in one tire and 15 pounds in another.

"Yep, she's good to go, thank you and have a nice day" (bi**h!)

 

[1ATony]

Man this is pretty funny stuff. I worked at the local gas station pumping gas as a kid.

BTW it's a bad idea to take your bosses desk chair and go around the lot holding the rear bumper of your buddies car,those plastic wheels melt fast.

The stupid this we did as a kid....l

 

[RichF]

I was 17 and worked in a gas station and used to close the store with another guy. The boss had us take all the cash from the night and put it in one of the dirty shirts (they used to provide shirts and get em cleaned for you) and stash it with the rest of the shirts. He would pick up the cash in the morning. He never lost any money.

 

[forcd ind]

man, those were the days-i worked in an ESSO station, we were paid comm. on gas, oil,
everything we sold-we had a lot of rich people come in, new them all and they new me
senators, congressmen, all kinds of gov. drunks, lol-we always pumped the gas, ck'ed the oil, cleaned the windshield, headlights, give them a walk around and ck all the lights, and if they saw the tire gauge in your pocket wanted the tires ck'ed everyday, lol (i gave it away)
now when you were washing the windshield, some of the ladys would give you a "shot", lol
and dont even ask me about them wanting me to ck the fuses under the dash, lol
it was def a great era to grow up in-when i got drafted in 67, the owner shut down the station one day, had a huge going away party, customers came by, friends came by,
the local liq. store suplied the beer, Safeway supplied the food, party dam near lasted 2 days, lol-the owner gave me a $100 gas credit, said when i came back it was mine
(he almost didnt have to use it, but i made it back)
we always new how to outsmart the soda, candy machines, pay phones
it was hard to beat the old local gas station-maybe in another life we will see them again