Leaded or Unleaded

My sister-in-law's husband was telling me that he went to gas up his Tahoe and a guy in an Excursion was on the pump next to him. Although his tank was nearing empty he filled it up put the lid back and was ready to go while excursion guy was still there pumping. "How much gas does it take?" he asked, Excursion guy replied that he had a 40 gallon tank. Ouch!

I remember (mostly because I am not that old) that when I started to drive I used to go the Chevron gas station on Washington and San Pedro. It was a small gas station complete with tire shop and light mechanic garage. I remember that upon entering and getting close to the gas pump the tires went over this plastic hose that activated a loud ring or sort of "ding-dong" noise. A guy in a blue uniform normally greasy or sweaty would come up to my window and ask "leaded or unleaded?" All my cars took unleaded, but a good friend of mine had a 56 Bel Air and that baby only took leaded or the engine would knock real loud.



While he put in the nozzle and started pumping gas the would ask you to unlock your hood and he would check your motor oil, transmission fluid, and top off the water. All this while keeping an eye on the meter since most of us used to ask for just a few dollars worth of gas. They were good too because they never gave you more gas than what you asked for. As a last thing before you left they would check all four tires and give them a kick and if air was needed they would fill it up then, everything was right there within their reach.

Now there's no service anymore, we stop and do everything ourselves, even the air and water are no longer free, $.75 cents for air that will only get two tires inflated to proper level and the water just barely comes out from the nozzle. The tire shop was replaced by donuts, and the service bay where they used to do oil changes and light mechanics is now a service center for you and your body to fill your appetite.

Those were the days, when 57 Chevys were dream cars (in my case a 59 Impala) and people used to provide us a service with a smile. These days the only smile I have at the gas station is if my tanks fills up and the bill stays bellow $30.00.