When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
No, you can see the wheels sitting below the grade of the sidewalk. And they did not fall in one of those metal grates or steel trap doors in front of a store.
Truck is barely pushing 3 and looks like it could be 25---guys/gals, its time you go outside and have a nice beer with your truck and thank it for all of the hard years and how it's still--by the grace of god--there for you. These trucks really got their fair share of beatings in a very short time period. No matter how cute and chrome your truck is today, at one point it was worked to death. Look at the GMC/Chevy in the background, can't be 2-3 years old.... Shorpy Historic Picture Archive :: Smells Fishy: 1958 high-resolution photo
I like the March 1969 picture of the Corvettes in Palm Springs. Thanks to the Jan & Dean song, Dead Man's Curve, several of those guys paid big money to add the extra tail light in the center. Now the current owners are paying to have them removed.
So, did the gravity fed gasoline pumps read "backwards"?
I'm guessing that the old feller in the picture pumped (by hand) how many gallons the kid wanted to buy (in this case, 7) into the glass tank, up to the line, and then opened a valve or whatever, and the gas would flow into the the tank.
But notice that the numbers are kinda backwards (or upside down).
Truck is barely pushing 3 and looks like it could be 25---guys/gals, its time you go outside and have a nice beer with your truck and thank it for all of the hard years and how it's still--by the grace of god--there for you. These trucks really got their fair share of beatings in a very short time period. No matter how cute and chrome your truck is today, at one point it was worked to death. Look at the GMC/Chevy in the background, can't be 2-3 years old.... Shorpy Historic Picture Archive :: Smells Fishy: 1958 high-resolution photo
That 56 sure is beat up isn't it? Even the grille guard is bent and it is missing its tailgate. That GMC could be a late 55, 56, or a 57. Notice the Ford slab side, it is in better shape so it must be a 57 or 58.
Notice the Ford slab side, it is in better shape so it must be a 57 or 58.
Heh, I bet at night it was bullied by the Chevy and the '56. The two "veteran" trucks were probably like, "Oh look who it is, little miss pretty with her cute little canvas top and fresh paint! Yeah well let us tell you honey, this ain't no pickin' posies! Just you wait and you'll look like us someday too!"
"Numbers to measure the gallons were visible through the glass starting with zero at the top and number 1 through 10 in gallon increments down to the bottom.
The most common sale was 5 gallons and a gravity feed hose with nozzle similar to today’s nozzles controlled the flow. You had to keep your eye on the gas level and stop the flow exactly on the marker for the desired number of gallons sold.
During the time I worked there, the price of gas never changed. It was 16 cents for white gas, 17 cents for regular (we called it bronze), and 18 cents for Ethyl. To calculate a sale there was a piece of paper taped to each pump listing the gallons multiplied by price for the attendant and customer to refer to. Speaking of prices, everything was much less in Oklahoma than I found in Vermont. We sold bulk motor oil in those refillable glass bottles with the metal pour spout.
That oil went for 35 cents per quart of 3 for a dollar and many of those old cars would take 3 quarts when they came in. We sold kerosene for 10 cents a gallon and soda pop out of the icebox for a nickel. Other items of interest were that no cash register was used and the attendants carried and made change out of their pockets, as was the norm with the other stations in town.
We were paid daily. The full time attendants were paid one dollar a day and the part timers got 35 cents with free sodas but everyone got a 25 cent bonus for each flat tire repaired. There was very little bookkeeping.
The climate was warm so the lube and oil change rack was an outdoor wooden drive-on ramp on the other side of the building. The war was on and tires were unavailable. To keep the cars on the road amidst frequent blowouts, vulcanizing, reinforcement boots and inner liners were used.
Though only a kid, I became proficient in repairing large blowout holes in tires and inner tubes. Every evening there was a rash of flat tires to fix when customers returned home from work at the bomb and ammunition factory in nearby McAlester. To change a tire many attendants never bothered to remove the wheel from the car. We just jacked it up and with tire irons pried a tire off the wheel and levered the repaired tire or replacement back on. Great time saver. `
The majority of our customers were driving Model A Fords, Chevys, Dodges and Plymouths of the 30s and 40s. I never saw a Model T drive in as they went out of favor quickly in the wide open spaces of the West. Antifreeze? We never heard of it. If a rare cold night was expected, cautions people drained their radiators overnight. I never heard of a cracked block due to freezing."
Trucks and trailers may have been smaller and slower in those days but they got the job done, and compared to today, quicker. They built complete freeways such as the Indiana Toll Road, Ohio Turnpike, NYS Thruway, etc in 2-3 years. Today it takes a year to do just one overpass or bridge if they're adding a lane. Ridiculous!
In the BP picture, 56 cents a gallon would indicate 1974 to late 1978, then up another 10 to 20 cents depending on where you live. In Arizona where I'm from, it hit $1 around the end of 1979, $1.30 by about March, 1980 but came down to about $1.15-$1.20 and stayed there for about 20 years except during the 1987 price wars.
It's not uncommon for an urban commercial building to have a lower level that extends under the sidewalk.
In downtown Seattle, also in Chicago along Wacker Drive, the "ground level" sidewalk is really an artificial elevated platform, with a whole 'nuther level below. In almost any city, the sidewalks are just a cover for a maze of utility tunnels.
In downtown Seattle, also in Chicago along Wacker Drive, the "ground level" sidewalk is really an artificial elevated platform, with a whole 'nuther level below. In almost any city, the sidewalks are just a cover for a maze of utility tunnels.
"Old Sacramento" is the same.
In Seattle's Pioneer Square area, they raised the street levels due to flooding, so what you see today is actually the 2nd floor.
'Underground tours' are available in Seattle & Sacramento.
Another city with an underground street level is Ogden UT .. but they don't advertise it.
07-15-2016, 09:12 PM
These trucks really got their fair share of beatings in a very short time period. No matter how cute and chrome your truck is today, at one point it was worked to death. Look at the GMC/Chevy in the background, can't be 2-3 years old....
