A long long time ago in a distant land, my father would pull into a gas station to refuel the car. He would drive over an air line that rang a bell or would give a friendly beep on the horn. A man would come out from behind the glass windows of an office, walk up to you and say hello. My father would say fill her up with either standard or super grade.
My mother and us kids would watch all this activity as we sat in the car, unless we needed to go to the restroom, which were never locked in those days, and were always clean. Meanwhile the man would clean our windscreen, ask my father to open the hood so he could check the oil and water. Amazing. The hood would be gently closed and he would ask my father "would you like your tyres checked"
The answer was yes or no based on my fathers urgency to go somewhere.
My father would then give money, no plastic in those days, to the man, who if he did not have a money belt on his waist would go inside the glass office and return with the change.
If I think real hard I cant recall ever seeing my father get out of the car, and he certainly never touched the gas pump.
What ever happened to those "Service Stations" as we used to call them in Australia. I know! They became "Self Service Stations", and that was supposed to be progress.
Below are a few more pictures I have found of some Vintage Gas stations, and some how I think they would all have been true "Service Stations".
I love all the old pictures
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ReplyDeletevery cool, I have my own station in my backyard and I love these photos!
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