A Trip Down Memory Lane...

[Big Skyz]

Click on the link. There are some photos here that will definitely be a trip down memory lane for some of you. Most of it was before my time. Thump and JB will likely see things that look familiar.
http://hipspics.freewebspace.com/gas/gas.html

[Buckrub]

Ethanol in the 40's!!! Who knew?

Cheapest I remember paying was 19.9 cents per gallon.

Wonder why we can't get rid of the 9/10 of a cent now that it's so expensive?

[jb]

Most of those cars were the cars of my teens, owned a few, family and friends owned them too.
I worked at my Uncles Texaco station from 15 thru 18, pumped gas, checked tires, cleaned windshield and checked the oil with every fill up. As I recall gas was usually around 30 cents a gal. Here's a picture of my 55 Merc and my uncles station.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v460/jbmich/55Merc_zps53fa11ae.jpg

[BarryBobPosthole]

Would that be a Montclair or a Monterey, Jerry? 55 was such a great year for all the manufacturers.
BKB

[Thumper]

That would be a Monterey right there P-hole. My very first car was a '56 Merc Monterey 2-door that looked just like that. The Montclair had a stainless moulding that ran across the door a few inches under the windows. It made a nice divider between paint colors on the two-tone models. My Monterey was all black, had "3-on-the-tree" and hangin' under the dash on the passenger side was the OPTIONAL heater! ;)

The Montclair looked a bit cooler, not only because of the stainless trim and the usual two-tone paint that went with it ... but the Montclair also had a lower roofline that made it look a bit lower, meaner and sleeker. Mine ended up getting canibalized one Saturday morning. We raced a '56 Ford every Friday and Saturday night (Orlando Friday and Eau Gallie on Saturday). We blew a tranny at the Orlando track and yanked the trans out of my Merc Saturday morning so we could race Saturday night ... then ended up scrapping the car. I had a '56 Chrysler (Hemi) after that. Nothing exciting ... it was the old push button automatic and the Hemi was a 354cid with a 2bbl carb. Ummm, oh yeah, did I also mention it was a Town & Country Station Wagon? :D

http://www.stationwagonfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/1956Chysler.jpg

[Thumper]

Jerry, I also grew up around a gas station. As a kid, my dad always owned his own station. The first one was a Sunoco station that had an attached garage area. It stayed full of cars in for various repairs. After the Sunoco station, he had a large Phillips 66 station and not only did general repairs, but all the local hotrod types would bring their cars in for him to perform his magic on. He once drove all the way out to California to bring back as much speed equipment as he could squeeze into his Ford pick-up and when he returned, he opened the first "speed shop" in Orlando. He eventually moved to another, even larger Phillips station. In the mid-60's, the local Pontiac delaer hired him as the Service Manager and on the side he was building Pontiac racecars for the NASCAR drivers.

My first job was sweeping out cars, washing the windshields AND back glass for tips. He did the "technical stuff" like pumping gas, checking tire pressures (including the spare) and engine oil/tranny fluid levels, etc. That was before overflow tanks and he'd also check the water level in the radiators!

Bucky, I also had no clue they had ethanol back then either. Interesting that picture happens to be in Nebraska. I wonder if it was just a localized thing around the corn producing states? I do remember as a kid, methyl and ethyl were used to differentiate between 'regular" and "premuim". I clearly remember when my mom would pull into a gas station in the 60's and ask the attendant for either $2.00 of Ethyl or 5 gals. of Ethyl ... either way it was the same price, so I have to assume "Ethyl" was $0.40/gal at the time. When I moved to Texas to go to work for General Motors in 1971, self-serve pumps were just being introduced and I remember gas at a self-serve station in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area (I lived in Arlington) was 19.9 cents for premium and 17.9 cents for regular. It may have been lower in my lifetime, but those two price brackets are the only ones I really remember.

[Niner]

Seems like simpler times back then, don't it.......

[Thumper]

Yeah they were Niner. I remember one of my favorite shows on TV, way back when, was "Sky King"! He drove a '56 Chrysler Station Wagon around his "Flying Crown Ranch" that was an exact twin to mine. Watching that old show convinced me I wanted to be a pilot some day as I was in love with his plane "Song Bird" (a Cessna 310) .... as well as his hottie little blonde niece "Penny"!

I remember the show always started with: ""From out of the clear blue of the western sky comes Sky King"! :D

[BarryBobPosthole]

And you can't forget Penny!
BKB