A fascinating 1957 short informational film about service stations in America.

[567chevys]

I really thought this was a Neat Video
https://youtu.be/UOVcBNSjURs


Sid

[WagonCrazy]

that was waaaay coool Sid. Thanks for posting.
when i started driving in 1976, i remember gas prices being about 45 cents per gallon. a few years later, the iranian crisis hit and the embargos started, the long lines at the service station, and prices went UP, UP, UP...
by 1980, we were all ditching our muscle cars and driving mini trucks (because it was tough to pay for fuel on a part time lawnmowing/fast food/waiter/etc wage).
The times, they have changed.

[chevynut]

When I turned 15-16 gas was selling between 25.9 and 29.9 cents a gallon depending on whether there was a "gas war" in town. The self-service stations were just starting to pop up. We used to pool our money and come up with $2 for gas to cruise all night. People complain that gas is expensive now at 10 times that....but we also made $1.50-2 an hour back then. So gas is actually fairly cheap today. We also had to have regular (yearly) car safety inspections that were done by gas stations. They checked your horn, headlights, turn signals, brake lights, tires, wipers and brakes to make sure everything worked, then they put a sticker on the windshield, which was required to get license plates. That hasn't been required for decades now.....now we have to have an emissions test .

[55 Rescue Dog]

It would be so cool if they started going back to full service nationwide again, instead of just a couple states like Oregon, and New Jersey where it's still required. If nothing else, just checking tire pressures, and oil level. It would save millions of dollars. I liked the film clip, and was surprised how bad the body fit was on the new 57 yellow vert. I guess I won't worry so much on mine either, so I can drive it sooner. Since so many people sit in there cars for 30 minutes in a drive-through to get a cup of coffee, instead of getting off their ass and going inside for 3 minutes, the station staff could just bring the shit out to you while filling the tank. That would be something different, and like it used to be.

[carls 56]

enjoyed that, thanks Sid. sure were good times back then.

[Troy]

That was great, I was a pump jockey for 4-5 years in high school and college. The first one was at the gates of a retirement community, the boss would sell the old folks new tires even when they didn't need them. He was a crook!!! There was another guy there that worked the day shift that would sell the old people oil when they didn't need it he kept an empty can of oil with a spout in it and pretend he was adding oil. He would put hash marks on his wrist then when he closed out his drawer he would add up the fake oils and take the money out of the till. He hated people who actually needed oil because he couldn't cheat them!!! The only good thing about that station was it kept my step brothers V8 Vega up in tires!!! I left after 6 month to a high class station/car wash I was happy there.