Gas Stations, 1965

As gas prices rise to the inevitable $4.00+/gallon this summer, I dwell nostalgically on the year 1965, the first year that I had a driver’s license, a car (a 1959 Ford Fairlane, my parents’, though I’d claimed it by being the first-born male, and by upgrading the paint job from baby blue to a much cooler navy blue), and a part-time job that gave me at least enough money to keep a puddle of gas in the tank. But keeping a puddle – or even a few gallons – of gas in the tank back then wasn’t the financial burden it is these days. Readers under the age of 50 might think that the following description is codger hyperbole, such as walking five miles to and from school each day, in the snow, uphill both ways (which I do recall doing), or being made to finish my brussel sprouts before allowed to leave the dinner table (sometimes not until The Tonight Show was about to start (Johnny Carson had just take over from Jack Paar)). No, what follows is the absolute truth, not just as I remember it, but as it actually was.

All gas stations were full-service. There was no self-service. When you pulled your car up to a pump, an attendant (or two or three, all wearing uniforms) would approach your car, as you remained sitting in it, ask you how much gas you wanted ($1.00 worth was common), pump the gas into the tank, clean the windshield, check the oil, and if you wanted, check the pressure in the tires. Just about all of the stations employed or were owned by at least one mechanic and had a couple of lifts for doing oil changes and repairs of all types.

The price of gas varied greatly, day to day and from station to station. In the mid- to late-60s, it was usually around 25¢-30¢/gallon. But there were also these archaic things called “gas wars,” periods of days or weeks where stations across the street from one another or down the block would lower their prices in order to lure customers and increase volume. There were occasionally signs for gas at 16¢-19¢/gallon.

And if price didn’t draw drivers in, there were any number of promotions – glassware, silverware, dishes (curiously, nothing to do with cars) – where each week you could get another item in the set by buying so much gas. If you were persistent at frequenting a particular station, you might be able to acquire a complete table setting.

There were vending machines for soda and candy, and if you were beyond an urban area, perhaps minnows and worms for use in fishing in the nearby river or lake. But there was nothing close to today’s convenience-stores-that-also-require-you-to-pump-your-own-gas-clean-your-own-windshield-check-your-own-oil-and-tire-pressure “service stations” that make most of their money from junk food, soda, and beer. And still, sometimes, the farther you go out, minnows and worms.