Running
on Gas
With gasoline prices so high we
seldom notice the brand we are buying. We look for the
cheapest. In the old days we often had a favorite brand,
I’m not sure we could tell the difference in performance
but some of us claimed we could. Independent gas stations
sold a “no name” gasoline. Some said that their gasoline
was a mixture of brands and grades created when the pumping
stations switched from pumping one type of gasoline to
another.
Most gas stations sold two grades: regular and high test.
Lead was added to most gasoline to make them burn with more
power. Amoco gasoline was the first to have a lead free
product. Later because of concerns for the environment,
laws were passed to have all gasoline lead free.
When I graduated from college my daddy gave me a new 1953
Customline Ford. He gave it to me at Christmas 1953 and I
graduated in the Spring of 1954. He bought the car from
Redwine Brothers. It was an end of the year deal but
considering my daddy’s income it was not an easy purchase.
He included one hundred dollars worth of gasoline. This was
before we used credit cards so he made a deal with Geechee
McEachern to make me a ticket book with 100 pages, each
page worth one dollar. Anytime I needed gasoline I’d go by
Mr. McEachern’s gas station and he’d tear out the number of
pages to pay for the gasoline. Gasoline only cost about 20¢
per gallon so each page would buy 5 gallons. I usually only
bought 5 gallons at a time so the book lasted me for a long
time. The only long trips were to and from school which I
only made a couple of times each quarter.
Mr. McEachern sold the “no name” gasoline which was always
a little cheaper than the “brand” names. He was located in
the corner formed by Hwy. 85 and Jeff Davis Dr. and did a
thriving business.
Some of the then popular gasolines are no longer popular.
Do you remember these gasoline signs?
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