This is on the front page of todays paper.
http://www.courant.com/search/hrt-hcap73122301020081202044933,0,2867047.photo
Bill
Wow, I remember those days.............. BTW nice Pinto shot
My parents told me about the embargo and waiting in line for gas. My generation (thankfully) hasn't experienced it, but I was starting to think we might. I like filling up my Pinto with $20. It's neat that there is a Pinto in that shot, I like old photos, thanks for showing it to us!
In CA we could only get gas every other day depending on whether you had an odd or even last number on your license plate. When the gas station was close to selling it's quota an attendant would put a sign on the back of a car in each line that said "Last car in line for gas" If you did not make it into that line in time you had to look for a different station. At least the gas was cheap then. I still have one of those signs hanging in my garage as a souvenir of those days!
Wow, those days sucked. I had a friend that had a " corporate sticker" that allowed him to get gas any day. we were all jealous of that sticker.
This this a vintage photo of the gas station I worked at during the ODD/EVEN days. As an employee, I was exempt ::). Those were also the days when I had to check the 4 tires, battery, coolent, belts, pump the gas, and wash the windshield of EVERY CAR for $1.65 per hour (and oh yah: give them the correct amont of BLUE CHIP or S & H GREEN STAMPS for their books). I sold gas for as little as 23 cents a gallon during the gas wars where the price might change twice a day because the gas station down the street changed theirs. Crazy times and we all thought we were going to be nuked.... :hypno:
(http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj72/71hanto/File0028c.jpg)
Oh Yea ! !
I owned a Gas station (A Shell Station) back in those days, and I remember it well.
We not only gave away "Eagle Stamps" but were in the middle of a "Drinking Glass" giveaway.
We got a phone call at about 10am, from the Oil Company, telling us to take down all "promotional advertisement", that "allocation and details" were to follow soon.
We were "allocated" to 80% of the previous year volume.
What the government or the oil co. didn't consider was the 20% loss in income that each dealer suffered.
Rents increased, as they were based on "volume".
The Government set what they thought was "a fair profit" (so much for "free market")
We switched to "Liter's" in the hopes of going to the "Max" and still keep public from calling the government.
Thought it might confuse them enough that they wouldn't "turn us in", because every time the government showed up, we had to shut down, pull up all the invoices covering the current inventory, and do a "meter & volume" check" on every pump.
All the time, argue with the people that were in line (or whatever)
We tried several different ways, opened the pumps at set times, set a 10 gallon limit, odd / even days, on and on. Nothing really worked, or kept the customer happy.
Then we went with the best method of all.
When a delivery truck showed up, we opened the pumps until every last drop was gone.
That was great, no "hot people" or "arguments" at all.
After the first time thou, we watched the number of gallons closely, had a guy shutoff the electrick power when it got close to the bottom, keeping a few hundred gallons for ourself.
WE joked about how we had to beat-away the people, who only wanted to purchase what you were in business to sell, ah, those were the days.
Just a few weeks from it being over with, I found out that I could buy (on the so called black market) all the gasoline that I wanted. Actually purchased two or three loads, had I known, I could have made "A LOT OF MONEY" Still question if the "Gasoline Shortage" was really true.
A Merry Christmas to all, Jim at jimspinto
Where was that Chevron station? I used to work at the Richfield station on Sunset Blvd. in the Palisades in 1959 while I was attending Santa Monica College.
Hi Gordy,
The station was on the 15400 block of Sunset Bl. Here is a picture I took 20 minutes ago from the same spot 40 years later. It is in the middle of town known long ago as the "Triangle Station" because it was on it's own city block that was all of 100ft by 100ft by 100ft. It has reverted back to nature with the help of the Palisades Village Green Society. It's now the teen pick up spot and dog depository. I went to SMC (was Santa Monica City College) then CSUN (was San Fernando Valley State College). I moved to Pacific Palisades in Jan. of 1957
Still here. 71HANTO
(http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj72/71hanto/File0028c.jpg)
(http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj72/71hanto/DSC05607.jpg)
Now how cool is that? I love to see before and after shots but 40 years?..
That is cool!
Great photos and thanks for sharing them with us. I went to the last semester of the old SMCC when it was at the high school and was known as Splinterville and the first semester of the new college at 20th and Pico. I later opened up a used car lot on Lincoln Blvd. and was there about 20 years. Gordies Auto Sales. That is where I bought my first of hundreds of Pinto's! I guess we were almost neighbors.