I guess gas was delivered by rail and maybe even stored in a tank car. http://www.trainboard.com/highball/...kind-of-gas-stations.86175/page-4#post-943295
That's quite a price war! No wonder the line is so long. Wonder if that's an in service tank car and the station's normal method of delivery, or if they bought that as an alternative to underground tanks. If they have a siding, that would be handy for price wars. That must have been a breath of fresh air, after years of gas rationing. Cheap gas--no coupons required! Ain't peace grand! I wonder if we'll ever smell the fresh scent of peacetime again?
I do wish we knew a year. It would be interesting to know if this was post-WWII rationing/price controls coming off? Any sort of actual gasoline shortage? It must be remembered here that fuel delivery system ownership was quite different then, than now. Gas price wars were influenced by similar actions then, as now, but the station owners did NOT set the pump price, as they do now. This all changed in the early nineteen seventies. Which was when many independents closed down, some chains shrank, many mergers occurred and eventually gave rise to the modern "convenience" store with gas.
One summer weekend in 1947 there was a gas war in the Bayonne, NJ area when the price was as low as 7 cents/gallon. It may have been an effort to get folks driving again after the War when gas rationing had just been lifted.
Houston along Old Spanish Trail in 1965. Before the interstate 610 loop was built, this was the only way to get to the Astrodome from the east or west. I see Mobile, Enco and Gulf.
A Russell Lee photo from 1939 showing a Sinclair Gas Station in San Marcos, Texas. I believe they must have sold Firestone tires too.
All those used tires. Someone today would have a fit about alleged pollution, or it being an eyesore... Or just to have a reason to whine.
