The Humer Unbeam Interesting Filling Stations Thread
Discussion
Driving back from Wadebridge in Cornwall I stopped to fill up in Hallworthy which I mistakenly thought was the north edge of Dartmoor; it was certainly bleak enough. Gadzooks it was bleak. The building to the right is the shop. The window displays would have been more enticing if there had been more in the way of windows.
On the other hand, the area wasn't entirely devoid of humour. A comely young woman was found to be running a wayside caff from a nearby lay by.
On the other hand, the area wasn't entirely devoid of humour. A comely young woman was found to be running a wayside caff from a nearby lay by.
Hopkinson's Garage, Reading Road, Eversley. It looks much the same now as it did when ar were a lad, in the old days.
Despite being busy, when I popped in to ask if they would mind if I took pictures and posted them, the friendly chaps there found a picture of the garage as it was in the even older, old days. If I still lived round there they'd get my business, I can tell you.
It was like a free house pub for petrol; I can see Shell, BP and National Benzole for sale.
Despite being busy, when I popped in to ask if they would mind if I took pictures and posted them, the friendly chaps there found a picture of the garage as it was in the even older, old days. If I still lived round there they'd get my business, I can tell you.
It was like a free house pub for petrol; I can see Shell, BP and National Benzole for sale.
lowdrag said:
Never knew this site existed and wondered what on earth the name was all about. Nice sense of humour though. Anyway, here are a couple for you:-
Taken on the way back from the Hotel de France at La Chartre sur le Loir
Taken up in Normandy, where there are a few derelict cars as well:-
Thanks for those, lowdrag, and for those you posted in the Classics Rotting thread. If you could bear to drive through rural France in an XK-SS on our behalf periodically, you could be Our Man in Pays de la Loire.Taken on the way back from the Hotel de France at La Chartre sur le Loir
Taken up in Normandy, where there are a few derelict cars as well:-
Took a customer's Range Rover to local experts Moss in Easton, half way between Newbury and Lambourn (that's the M4 you can see in the background). They diagnosed the problem in about five minutes, just long enough for me to have a mooch about. Among every age and variety of Land Rover, Range Rover and Discovery I found this:
And I also spotted this being restored; a very rare Land Rover Perpendicular where the cab is at right angles to the chassis. Must be worth a mint.
hidetheelephants said:
Gasboy sounds like a rubbish Marvel character, in french France he would be Le Pétomane. 
Remarkable how so much metering equipment was of US origin back then even when the UK was ostensibly regarded as the workshop of the world.
We could make stuff, we just couldn't measure anything. It was why British goods were thought of as flamboyant elsewhere in the world. Remarkable how so much metering equipment was of US origin back then even when the UK was ostensibly regarded as the workshop of the world.
The Bristol team came 1st, 2nd and 3rd in Class in 1955 and IIRC did a staged formation finish a decade or so before the GT40s. The odd thing about the photo is that I think it's the mechanics and crew and not the drivers in and around the cars. Towards the end of his life I got to know Jack Fairman who drove for Bristol at that time and he's not in the picture. Interesting chap, "Jolly" Jack aka "Fearless" Fairman. Although he drove all manner of cars, including endurance racers and Formula 1, he never made it into the upper echelons of motor racing but stuck around for a long time, driving for Aston Martin, Bristol, BRM, Connaught, Cooper, Ferguson, HWM and Jaguar. He was the last man to drive a front-engined F1 car and the first man to drive a four wheel drive F1 car. Some of the stories are absolute treasures but I think he was probably the least politically correct man I have ever met.
DickyC said:
In Whitchurch in Hampshire, a garage which still functions but as it no longer sells petrol has sought other, less conventional, forms of income.
Had dinner with big bro last night in Whitchurch and was horrified to see that I had previously missed a bit:
For a village garage it must have been huge on its heyday.
Driven past this garage in Cold Ash near Thatcham a few times recently and, even though it had obviously become a car sales site with no fuel, I thought I'd stop and ask if they had any pictures of the old days.
Glad I did. The pumps were still there.
The manager kindly agreed to me taking a few pics and said the garage belonged to the Wheeler family and I should take a look at their website. Although I'm not Newbury born and bred, I remember Wheelers on the London Road on a site that is now an Aldi. The website has quite a bit on the history of Wheelers in Newbury but no old pictures of the Black & White Garage in Cold Ash. The pictures I was interested in carried an invitation to not copy the images, so you'll have to take a look yourself.
http://www.bwgarage.com
ukaskew said:
Beautifully preserved just outside the centre of Oslo...
Norway by Chris Harrison, on Flickr
Norway by Chris Harrison, on Flickr
Marvellous. A bit of trivia for you. Esso is a made up word from the initials of Standard Oil, 'SO.' Judging by the picture, had Standard been a Norwegian company, Esso would have been Essbee.Norway by Chris Harrison, on FlickrNorway by Chris Harrison, on FlickrIt's an ill wind and all that. I took the first turn I came to directing me to Salisbury from the A303. It was a bit early - about nine miles - but I did find this in Cholderton on the A338:
It ain't, y'know.
It made me quite sad. I know I've mentioned this before but it's a whole way of life that came and went remarkably quickly. During the 20th Century, for the first time, ordinary people had the means to travel when and where they wanted. And they did. Businesses sprang up to cater for them and prospered. Meanwhile the authorities realised existing roads were inadequate and built new, bigger roads and starved those very businesses. The number of garage owners willing or able to gamble on a move to newer and bigger premises on the bypasses and dual carriageways must have been few and so we now have service stations owned by big chains.
In France it was worse. When I first went to France in the Sixties, in the back of the family Victor 101, there were roadside cafés at regular intervals where you could buy really excellent food and coffee. As the norm, I mean. The French enjoyed their food and demanded that it was good. A few years ago we came off the AutoRoute and on to the old Route National to find a better place to eat than the services. They've all gone. Well, we did find one but it was dismal and the patron's wife kept bursting into tears. French motorway services, by and large, are as bad as they are here.
And to realise that by using Motorways and buying supermarket petrol I was part of the problem that drove small independent petrol retailers out of business doesn't help at all.
It ain't, y'know.
It made me quite sad. I know I've mentioned this before but it's a whole way of life that came and went remarkably quickly. During the 20th Century, for the first time, ordinary people had the means to travel when and where they wanted. And they did. Businesses sprang up to cater for them and prospered. Meanwhile the authorities realised existing roads were inadequate and built new, bigger roads and starved those very businesses. The number of garage owners willing or able to gamble on a move to newer and bigger premises on the bypasses and dual carriageways must have been few and so we now have service stations owned by big chains.
In France it was worse. When I first went to France in the Sixties, in the back of the family Victor 101, there were roadside cafés at regular intervals where you could buy really excellent food and coffee. As the norm, I mean. The French enjoyed their food and demanded that it was good. A few years ago we came off the AutoRoute and on to the old Route National to find a better place to eat than the services. They've all gone. Well, we did find one but it was dismal and the patron's wife kept bursting into tears. French motorway services, by and large, are as bad as they are here.
And to realise that by using Motorways and buying supermarket petrol I was part of the problem that drove small independent petrol retailers out of business doesn't help at all.
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