Fill'er Up Book Review

If you’re over the age of say, 45, you might remember a quaint institution called a "service station." Instead of your wallet just being $100 lighter after each fill up, your car was greeted by uniformed attendants who’d fill your tank, wash your windshield, and check your tire pressure. A gallon of petrol cost 30 cents a gallon or less, and if you asked, the attendants would even pop the hood and check your oil, all for under a 10-spot. For gearheads who want to remember, those good old days are recalled in Fill’er Up! The Great American Gas Station, by Tim Russell.

The inside jacket of Russell’s excellent book sums up the content:

"The smiling face of the gas station attendant in a spiffy uniform is a classic example of an image one evokes when reminiscing about the gas stations of old. Back before there were such things as pay-at-the-pump and groceries at the gas station, one didn’t need to get out of his or her car when filling up the gas tank. Fill ‘er Up! The Great American Gas Station covers the history of the filling station from its very first station built in Pittsburgh in 1913 to today, along with the comparison history of the gas station in Europe."

With over 200 glossy, photo-filled pages, Fill ‘er Up! The Great American Gas Station now stands as the definitive volume on this oft-covered subject.

Over the past 35 years, classic two-bay service stations, like the road maps they once gave away, have virtually disappeared from the American roadside landscape. A casualty of the OPEC Oil Embargo of 1973, service stations have been replaced by cookie-cutter, self-serve canopied pump islands with attached convenience stores . Today, only New Jersey and Oregon mandate that gas stations fill motorist’s tanks.

For many of us, our earliest memories of gas stations were in scale. How many of you remember your first gas station adorning a childhood Aurora Model Motoring HO layout, your 027 gauge Lionel train set in your basement or around the tree during the holidays, or the famous $3.50 Buddy L Texaco station promotional from 1958-60 that sold at auction this past February for $420? Have photos? E-mail them to me for an album we’re assembling over at Automotive Traveler.