Category Archives: Trucks, buses and equipment photos
An Almeda, Texas Service Station Selling “That Good Gulf”
Almeda, Texas is located approximately 200 miles southwest of Houston and back when the photo was taken of this service station, the town contained only about 100 people. The scene looks as though it includes everything needed for a perfect Norman Rockwell painting showing small town life.
Four large visible pumps dispensing That Good Gulf Gasoline can be seen and the 1920′s Dodge Brothers sedan (with optional wire wheels) under the station canopy is getting it’s tank filled by one attendant. Another is checking a rear tire. To the right of the late 1920′s Nash sedan seen on the outside ramp is a man at work dealing with tire service. Be sure to see the two enlargements below which show the scene in detail. Photo courtesy of Thomas Griffin.
The White truck in the right hand photo (above) is if the type that may have delivered gas to a station like this back in the period. It was photographed at Gulf Oil Refining Bulk Plant in Indianapolis, Indiana and is courtesy of Dennis Wall.
According to the Gulf Oil Company, the early history of the company from 1909-19 is as follows.” When Gulf was born in 1901 with an oil discovery in Spindletop, Texas, the primary commercial fuel was coal. By 1903, the age of mechanization had arrived and it was now up to the petroleum industry to keep pace, for the age could not proceed without it. Gasoline development, into which Gulf invested millions of dollars, responded to advances in automotive technology. Within a dozen years of Spindletop, Gulf scored notable firsts with the world’s first drive-in service station, complimentary Gulf road maps and over water drilling at Ferry Lake. In 1917, the Gulfstream went into World War I service, along with the rest of Gulf’s tanker fleet.”
After seeing the Hood Tire sign in the scene above, we were curious to learn more about the Company and the tires that they made. The advertisement above was found in the March 2, 1919 issue of the Motor Age and was aimed convincing garages and service stations to come on board as Hood Tire dealers. The brothers Frederic Clark Hood and Arthur Needham Hood founded the Hood Rubber Company in 1896. According to Harvard University, their main products in addition to tires were rubber boots and sneakers.
A Boston & Maine Transportion Tour Bus on The Winthrop Parkway
The Boston & Maine Transportation Company tour bus, seen here at some point during 1928, is posing on The Winthrop Parkway in Revere, MA. The maker of the bus is a mystery to us that hopefully our readers can clear up. It appears that this bus line may have been a branch of the Boston & Maine Railroad Company, as many early bus lines were part of a rail operation.
The Winthrop Parkway, abutting the coast, is historic in itself, having been built in 1909 as a connector between Winthrop Shore Drive in the south and Revere Beach Parkway and Revere Beach Boulevard in the north. Revere Beach is just north of the city of Boston, Massachusetts and has been a get away location for people living in the area for over a 100 years. You can learn all about the history of Revere Beach here, which was first served by the narrow gauge Revere Beach and Lynn Railroad in the late 1890′s .
The photo below by Leon H. Abdalian, dated July 7, 1920, is courtesy of Wiki. It shows the Derby Racer roller coaster with its dual tracks and cars next to Revere Beach. Photo at the top courtesy of the Jerry Lettieri collection. The Boston & Maine Railroad Historical Society can tell you more about that New England carrier.
Can You Hear Me Now? 1940 Buick Sound Car
It’s Spring, and they’re starting to come out. If you’re like us here at The Old Motor, you find the thumping, high wattage sub-woofers that so many young guys install in their modern cars incredibly annoying as they roll by on the street with the latest hip-hop song cranked up to “11″.
But in another time, long before solid state electronics and digital recordings, cars and light trucks equipped with enormous loud speakers like the ones seen on this sparkling 1940 Buick roamed the streets of America’s cities and towns, foisting information of all sorts onto an unsuspecting public. Whether it was a movie premier, a political campaign or the price of peas at the local market, vehicles so equipped spread the word far and wide.
We here don’t know exactly what this group of earnest ad men are promoting in this posed shot, but they certainly seem to be hatching a precise plan to target their intended audience. We invite our faithful readers to offer suggestions as to what they were up to. Photo courtesy of the Benjamin Ames collection (scroll down).
Posted in Auto photos 1921 - 1942, Out Of The Box, Trucks, buses and equipment photos
Tagged 1940 buick, Buick, sound car
