One thing is obvious in this thread. The utilitarian, unimaginative cookie cutter stuff of today is simply classless, when viewed alongside that which we knew fifty and more years ago. Today there is no character. Nothing special to attract the eye. Just ho-hum. Zzzzzzzzzzzz.
I love that Texaco truck. Did some research to find that only six were built, a 1934 Texaco Diamond T "Doodlebug", body by Heil. None are known to have survived. The photo has been colorized. Here's another angle.
Oh, my. The Duesenbergs of motorcycles. Those 77 cube inline fours made a lot of torque. They were easier than a big twin to kick start, and smoother. But keeping balance while accelerating meant using your weight to counter the torque effect. I'm told that quarter-elliptic leaf spring fork was one of the best forks of the thirties. I feel certain the designers at American LaFrance saw one at some point.
Most don't understand what it was like to drive those. I had a '47 45cid Harley (750cc). It had a foot rocker clutch, hand shifting and the rear suspension was just under the seat (hard tail). It would be fun to ride from Green Bay to Sturgis at 40-45mph and constantly in need of maintenance. Lots of FUN.
...which made riding the Four with its torque even more interesting. You felt the torque most when pulling away from a stop, but you couldn't do that with both feet on the ground. Indian invented the modern control layout with the hand-operated clutch, but not until the Four was discontinued.
Back in the mid-90's I worked at a full-service Texaco station, (yes, we still did full service back then!), and we sold these as banks one year along with the planes you used to be able to buy. Had a whole collection of them for about ten years, then sold them.
Per the Texaco ad to the left, I still remember the Texaco song with "You Can Trust Your Car To The Man Who Wears The Star". A Mad Magazine at the time revised it to "You Can Trust Your Car Will Be Stopped By The Man Who Wears A Star."
Did any of y'all have this Lego gas station when you were young? These were first introduced in 1958 I believe. My middle brother and I each had one, but his kit is still intact with every specialized brick and accessory, including the gas pumps, sign and delivery truck. Note the red-edged roof and the curved bricks on the building corner, all quite unusual back then.
Great photo of a rural gas station way out in the boonies. Check out the porch columns. $0.22 per Gallon. Probably with $0.009 per Gallon additional, but that isn't clear.
Check out the variety of rocks holding up the porch! Great details in that pic. Must've been pieced together over the years!
That image looked familiar. Was a popular place. Originally posted by Bill, the late Ironhorseman of Trainboard. https://www.trainboard.com/highball...ind-of-gas-stations.86175/page-10#post-989535
And just about the only thing to show up when image searching Gordonton, NC... https://www.google.com/search?q=Gordonton,+N.C.&tbm=isch And it's still apparently standing. Neat. Mike