1950's Service Station Video (Colour) - Standard Oil

[CrAlt]

Originally Posted by John_K

He changed the oil at the pump??

Ya with their "Fast oil changer". Pulls from the dipstick is my guess.

 

[RayCJ]

In 1975 I was working at a full-service neighborhood Texaco shop. It was a small place with 6 pumps and 3 mechanic bays. I started-out pumping gas and doing oil changes and tire repair either in the drive or in one of the bays. I had to wear a green or blue jump suit. All cars got oil checked, widows washed and optionally tires checked and filled. The other 2 bays had lifts and we did full-service repairs. After a year, the owner (and chief mechanic) broke away from the franchise and stopped selling gas. I worked there for the next 4 years repairing anything/everything that came our way while finishing automotive trade school. The shop was very honest and did quality work. What I disliked the most about doing auto work is everyone complaining about the cost of gas and the cost of repair bills. People would be shouting and making accusations before you even touched their car. I started-out at $2.10/hour and ended-up at $3.75/hour. Chicago winters and summers in that job were brutal. At the end, I worked 1 year at a Chevy dealership and quit the business because all the mechanics were dying of cancer and other nasty illnesses. Got a job doing photography work in the city and went to night school studying math and electrical engineering. The rest is history... Ray

 

[AC1DD]

Originally Posted by CrAlt

Originally Posted by John_K

He changed the oil at the pump??

Ya with their "Fast oil changer". Pulls from the dipstick is my guess.

Interesting that this method seemed to totally disappear from the mid 50s or so and then reappeared in the past decade or so...

 

[AC1DD]

Originally Posted by Imp4

Originally Posted by BrewCityR

61 cents per quart for oil!

With inflation from 1959, that's $5.61/quart. Amazing how the relative price has stayed so steady.

Really it is....however wages have slowly declined over the past couple of decades when adj for inflation. I definitely think that the cost of things back then and maybe until the gold and silver standard was removed was much more logical and honest. People expect EVERYTHING to be cheap today no matter what the true investment is to produce or offer the service. People are NOT being reasonable.

 

[Traction]

Excellent video! It should be a mandatory training film for every business in the country, especially convenience store , and car dealer. Internet sales would have a chance. Nobody can count change back anymore. They just hand you a pile back, and probably can't count to 10.

 

[StevieC]

Originally Posted by Traction

Excellent video! It should be a mandatory training film for every business in the country, especially convenience store , and car dealer. Internet sales would have a chance. Nobody can count change back anymore. They just hand you a pile back, and probably can't count to 10.

Yeah even from the restroom perspective. They mention them in the video that they should be clean. Man has that fallen by the wayside in most places.

 

[4WD]

One of the main reasons Buc-ee's is popular https://www.buc-ees.com/index.php

 

[My442]

I pumped gas at a local Mobil station in the late 60's. It was SOP to clean the windshield, check fluid levels, and give out free gifts. Drinking glasses, silverware, or S&H Green Stamps.

 

[Benzadmiral]

Neat fedora the convertible driver wears. I wanna know how he kept it on while driving in an open car. The attendant wiping the windshield at 4:57 looks like the young Rock Hudson.

 

[Benzadmiral]

Originally Posted by BrewCityR

61 cents per quart for oil!

I remember paying .55/quart in 1976. Of course, that was at K-Mart. No doubt a service station would have some markup.

 

[Spector]

Wow, that service person pulled the radiator cap off of a hot radiator and filled it with water. Appears to be the incorrect way to show this!!!!

 

[AC1DD]

Originally Posted by Spector

Wow, that service person pulled the radiator cap off of a hot radiator and filled it with water. Appears to be the incorrect way to show this!!!!

I'm pretty sure that pressures were far lower in cars back then, so it might not have been too dangerous as long as you don't see steam coming out of the relief valve on the cap..anyone else want to chime in on this?

 

[RayCJ]

Originally Posted by AC1DD

Originally Posted by Spector

Wow, that service person pulled the radiator cap off of a hot radiator and filled it with water. Appears to be the incorrect way to show this!!!!

I'm pretty sure that pressures were far lower in cars back then, so it might not have been too dangerous as long as you don't see steam coming out of the relief valve on the cap..anyone else want to chime in on this?

Worked on lots of 1950's cars... They had pressurized radiators but most did not have overflow tanks. Most of the time, people only wanted a radiator check if they suspected a problem. If that was the case, the water level was low and it would not spurt-out at you. Right, wrong or otherwise, we would often take a couple shop rags, cover the cap and slowly twist it off and let the pressure out. A lot of folks back then would just use water in the summer months and do a drain/fill with AF just before the winter months. Ray

 

[Garak]

Yes, even in the taxi days, sometimes a rad cap had to come off when it was hot. You didn't always have the luxury of waiting a couple hours. A fistful of rags, and twisting off to the first click usually took away the drama.

 

[RayCJ]

Originally Posted by Garak

Yes, even in the taxi days, sometimes a rad cap had to come off when it was hot. You didn't always have the luxury of waiting a couple hours. A fistful of rags, and twisting off to the first click usually took away the drama.

It was really a god-send when the "Lev-R-Vent" caps became popular.

 

[Garak]

Yes, I had experience with a couple of those, too. Most didn't have it, so I learned to be very careful and certain of how to stop at the first click and avoid grief.

 

[michaelchristian]

Great video. I feel some kind of nostalgia. Sometimes, I wish I lived in those times.