Remember these.? All our yesterdays

[Gibbo2286]

I just love all of this and how one thing leads onto another in the most random and tenuous ways...

Magical

That sungreen site that I borrowed the Ruardean story from is set up and run by an old gentleman from the village I live in, if you go to his home page you will find lots more links to interesting (for some) Forest stuff.

[CitroJim]

I just love all of this and how one thing leads onto another in the most random and tenuous ways...

Magical

That sungreen site that I borrowed the Ruardean story from is set up and run by an old gentleman from the village I live in, if you go to his home page you will find lots more links to interesting (for some) Forest stuff.

I must go and look... Sounds like my kind of site

[NewcastleFalcon]

Can you remember the days before self-service when you used to drive your car into a petrol station, and you would run the wheels over a rubber hose lying across the forecourt entrance (s), and there would be a ding on a bell which would summon the petrol attendant to meet you and greet you fill you up dispense a couple of shots of redex if required and maybe even check your oil, and water?

Oldclassiccar.com has probably the only images on the internet of "Peters' Servisignal" and as ever a nice bit of detail on the said item!

http://www.oldclassiccar.co.uk/servisignal.htm

REgards Neil

[white exec]

Trafficounters used (and still do) the same hose system for laying across roads to count the axles passing over them. The outboard end of the hose had a stopper with a small hole in it (over-pressure escape/balancing), and at the box end was a simple (and adjustable) diaphragm pressure switch, which clicked and operated a counter each time something went over the hose.

As an understudy traffic engineer in 1966-7, for London Borough of Ealing, I went out and helped install lots of these. One thing was necessary, though: to have a live vehicle-count check for about an hour, so that the total recorded by the Trafficounter (which also had a clock, and recorded its totals on a paper roll) could be corrected.

Doing this at 2am one night on Popes Lane, South Ealing, I was sat there waiting for the traffic to pass, and record its type, and number of axles. There was no traffic! Just before 3am in the deathly silence, there was a clip-clop, clip-clop approaching . . . a rag-and-bone man on his cart! Crouching down, I made a note of its progress: two axles only, with the horse neatly stepping over the outstretched hose. Job done, went home to bed.

[myglaren]

Remember them well.
The garage my dad was associated with had an either/or option.
The firm I worked for had their cars and vans garaged there overnight and as I passed by on my way to work I usually took one out to take to work. Always filled up myself but was known to them on two counts.
The other garages in town and around the countryside were all attendant service only for many years.

[Gibbo2286]

Can you remember the days before self-service when you used to drive your car into a petrol station, and you would run the wheels over a rubber hose lying across the forecourt entrance (s), and there would be a ding on a bell which would summon the petrol attendant to meet you and greet you fill you up dispense a couple of shots of redex if required and maybe even check your oil, and water?

Oldclassiccar.com has probably the only images on the internet of "Peters' Servisignal" and as ever a nice bit of detail on the said item!

http://www.oldclassiccar.co.uk/servisignal.htm

REgards Neil

I had one on my forecourt right up until I sold the business in 1988..........life was ruled by bells in those days, the telephone, shop door bell and forecourt bell (all somehow linked to the lavvy seat) problem with the peters bell was the hose getting punctured, bell didn't ring and customers got irate.

[CitroJim]

life was ruled by bells in those days, the telephone, shop door bell and forecourt bell

Bells sound a lot lovelier and are a lot less stressful than the multitude of electronic bleeps, squawks, shrills and wails we suffer these days

I really lament the passing of bells and even the old traditional two-tone horns of the emergency services...

I love visiting a timewarp tearoom that has a proper bell on the door Open the door - ding-a-ling ling - magical

I live with bells anyway - always have - courtesy of my clock collection...

all somehow linked to the lavvy seat

As ever was and will always be...

[white exec]

A good selection of old-type Shop Door Bells on Amazon

[Peter.N.]

Most of the shops in our town used mechanical ones.

Peter

[NewcastleFalcon]

Here's a bench seat that should be familiar to Gibbo/Peter......up for auction on Saturday at Matthewsons



regards Neil

[van ordinaire]

Most of the shops in our town used mechanical ones.

Peter

Really?

Surely all shop doors (other than automatic/revolving ones) are open whenever the shop is!
As for forecourt attendants (Shell reintroduced them a couple of years ago, remember - except they didn't do anything useful; didn't last long) it was my 1st p/t job while at school: drivers of cars with locking filler caps seldom gave you the key when they told you wha t they wanted.
If they said "fill 'er up" you'd have the time it took to walk from the filler to the driver's door to work out, e.g.,how much 11 7/10 gallons @ 5/1 1/2d was, it was only afterwards they'd ask you to check the oil - but then you'd have to calculate, & add on, the cost of, say, 3/4 pt of XL (or whatever), while you were replacing the filler cap& closing the bonnet. Of course, you could always ask if they wanted the tyres checked, which might buy you a little extra time for calculations - & earn you 6d, if you were lucky.

[NewcastleFalcon]

Excellent post Van! Never thought about the mental arithmetic side of dispensing fuel in old money.

Cant remember the price of petrol when we first had a family car in the early 60's., or when I first started driving in the 1970's.

ESSO used to have Esso Plus, Esso, and Esso Extra, Shell had Shell-Mex Shell and Super Shell with its nice pale blue Globe as far as I can recall.

REgards Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

Cant remember the price of petrol when we first had a family car in the early 60's., or when I first started driving in the 1970's.
REgards Neil

According to the AA.....here are the average fuel prices/gallon from 1886 to the present day should anyone wish to look up their own fuel price significant milestones

https://www.theaa.com/public_affairs/re ... allons.pdf

So, first family car 1964 ish (Ford Anglia 100E) it was around 60d per gallon (5/- , 25 new pence!)
1978 My first car (Austin Mini 1000) it was around 76.5 new pence per gallon.

REgards Neil

[Peter.N.]

6d wasn't bad in those days, probably buy you a cup of tea and a sandwich. I started work in London in 1954 for the princely sum of three pounds a week and had to pay my train fair every day. On the odd Saturday morning I worked if I ran to Cannon street station I could catch a steam train, first stop Orpington and then an electric one back to Petts wood.

I used to travel to school, two stations to Chelsfield for the exorbitant fare of 4d, what could you buy now for the cost of travelling two stations on BR.

The garage we used in Orpington had a rack of bottles of oil on the forecourt which they refilled, Castrolite, XL and XXL and don't forget the Redex dispenser 1d a shot.

Peter

[Gibbo2286]

When I first stated selling petrol (1950) it was all 'Pool' only one grade, a very low grade, there were four pumps at the garage and they had the company globe for Shell, BP, National Benzole, etc. the price was 1/11d a gallon.

The government added 4d a gallon tax later in that year and the word around said it would mean the end of motoring for the UK.

When I bought my own business in 1965 I was selling petrol four gallons for a £1.00 and throwing in a pair of ladies tights for buyers of four gallons as an incentive.

Our margin was just 2d a gallon.