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Fill 'er Up!: The Great American Gas Station [Hardcover]

Tim Russell (Author)
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

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Book Description

November 15, 2007

In this car culture of ours, what could be more American than the gas station, from the roadside pit stop in the middle of nowhere to the spit-and-polish, full service city shop?

This brightly illustrated history of service stations runs the gamut from East to West, North to South, spotlighting the culture and lore of the gas-pumping garage that has kept the United States moving for a century.

Whether it's the last-chance Texaco or the Sinclair dinosaur winking in the distance, the beckoning Shell, or the winged Mobil horse, it's here in all its small-town glory of compact architecture, inspired promotions, art deco pumps, and endless views of the American horizon.

Author Tim Russell, one of the world's foremost collectors and historians of Petroliana, rolls out the ribbon of highway that takes us to all of those way stations of Americas motoring past.


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Editorial Reviews

Book Description

This brightly illustrated history of service stations traverses America’s landscape and history, spotlighting the culture and lore of the gas station that has kept the United States moving for a century. Whether it’s the last-chance Texaco or the Sinclair dinosaur winking in the distance, the beckoning Shell or the winged Mobil horse, it’s here in all its small-town glory of compact architecture, inspired promotions, art deco pumps, and endless views of the American horizon.

From the Inside Flap

Ding, ding! The sound echoes through the station bay as a vehicle slowly comes to a stop in front of the gas pump. A uniformed attendant jogs out with a smile, tips his hat, and goes to work. The days of full service gas stations are a thing of the past, but it will never be forgotten in the minds of many petroliana enthusiasts.

Snappy slogans, architecture and color schemes of the station itself, incentives and giveaways, stamps, and clever advertising from the first few decades of the twentieth century until today’s fully stocked convenience stores are covered in Fill ’er Up! The Great American Gas Station.

The highly detailed text also offers a glimpse of what was happening to the gas stations in Europe and serves wonderfully as a comparison with the gas stations in North America at the time. Vintage photography and advertisements provide a wonderful visual trip back in time to the days of being greeted by a smiling attendant every time you pulled into the gas station.


Product Details

  • Hardcover: 208 pages
  • Publisher: Voyageur Press; 1st edition (November 15, 2007)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0760328714
  • ISBN-13: 978-0760328712
  • Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 9.5 x 0.9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 2.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #752,212 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Average Customer Review
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Put a tiger in your tank and buy this book, May 13, 2009
By 
Linda (London, UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Fill 'er Up!: The Great American Gas Station (Hardcover)
Fabulously evocative pictures and well-researched detail on the iconographic gas stations of 20th century America. Equally at home on your references shelves or your retro coffee table and a fascinating slice of social history.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Fill 'er Up!: The Great American Gas Station. Pretty good book., June 14, 2009
This review is from: Fill 'er Up!: The Great American Gas Station (Hardcover)
The book is pretty good with tons of pictures of vintage gasoline memorabilia. It also mentions European Gas Station Matters, The book at times is repetitive. But Is a pretty good collection of memorablilia.No memorabilia of D-x/Diamond-X/Sunray DX however, or others that could have been covered.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Nostalgia for pump attendants and customer service, January 30, 2011
This review is from: Fill 'er Up!: The Great American Gas Station (Hardcover)
I don't drive and never have done except for forty or so driving lessons that convinced me I could never be a good motorist. Nevertheless, I've been a passenger often enough to be familiar with the subject of this book, and I'm old enough to remember gas pump attendants, though we Brits use the word petrol instead of gas. This book provides an illustrated history of gas (or petrol) stations, primarily focusing on America but periodically making comparisons with Europe. While America often led the way with new developments, the first self-service stations appeared in Europe. America didn't follow suit immediately, but did so within a few years.

Competition between rival oil corporations provided not only a learning experience for the oil corporations, but also set an example for other types of business including the advertizing industry. In the beginning, the quality of the fuel was the focus, but there came a point where there was no noticeable difference in fuel quality. Other ways were used to attract customers and encourage repeat business, which included everything from the design of buildings and the quality and range of services provided. To avoid upsetting the locals, some early gas stations built in housing estates were even designed to blend in with the surrounding houses.

Advertizing in all its forms gets a fair bit of coverage. Giveaways such as free maps, cards and stamps are all covered. I particularly remember Green Shield stamps, which were very successful for several years. Other notable advertizing campaigns include the sixties campaign to put a tiger in your tank, which I also remember well. Oil corporations learned early on that while (in those days), men drove most of the cars, women usually made the decisions about where to fill up, so a lot of advertizing was directed at women, with the emphasis being placed on the facilities that were of particular concern to them.

Refuelling is one of those mundane tasks that motorists just get on with, but the history is more interesting than one might think, as this book clearly shows.
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Inside This Book (learn more)
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
white eagle, gas station design, pump color schemes, panorama pumps, enclosed lubrication, gas pump manufacturer, cottage gas stations, automatic shutoff nozzle, art deco gas stations, gas pump globes, curbside gas pumps, forecourt service, lubrication bays, chevron logo, blender pumps, customer restrooms, porcelain enamel panels, service station design, instantly recognizable trademark, gas station network, streamline moderne design, neocolonial design, super service stations, premium grade gasoline, first oil company
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Great Britain, United States, Standard Oil of Indiana, World War, West Coast, New York, New England, Alan Pond, Los Angeles, Great Depression, Super Shell, Four Square, Walter Dorwin Teague, New Jersey, New Orleans, Registered Rest Rooms, East Coast, Atlantic Refining, Holiday Inn, Man Who Wears the Texaco Star, Happy Motoring, Trust Your Car, Wadhams Oil, Norman Bel Geddes, The Joliet
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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