I was watching TV this evening, and saw a gas commercial. One part involved putting a gas nozzle in the inlet part. And I had a flashback to my first car.
My parents gave me a 1966 Pontiac Bonneville convertible for my 20th birthday (1970). It was a complete surprise! As a freshman in college, I wasn't allowed to park a car on campus (weird old rules), so there was little point in my having a car before. And I was never a "car guy". I just borrowed the family station wagon if I REALLY had to drive somewhere. Although I did get to drive the Lincoln for special dates.
But anyway, I was presented with a card with a car key in it when I turned 20. It was one of those shiny red or green duplicate keys from the hardware store. I assumed it was for the station wagon. I hemmed and hawed about what to say, because it didn't seem like much. I mean, I could use the car when I needed to already.
But then they pointed out the living room window to a different car. The Bonneville... I almost fell over. I was speechless. It was a great gift!
Here's the funny part that the commercial reminded me of...
After a week, I needed gas. I drove into a filling station (as we called them back then) and the attendant came around to fill it up (yes there used to be such people who actually filled your car with gas while you just sat in it).
He asked where the gas cap was. Think about that for a moment. He couldn't find the gas cap. I had just automatically driven to the pump on the side of the station wagon gas cap. I got out and looked. There wasn't a gas cap on either side of the car!
Don't laugh, but we actually looked under the hood for a gas cap. I'm serious. The attendant finally brought his boss out to solve the problem. He looked, laughed, and tilted the license plate down to reveal the gas cap!
It had a 26 gallon gas tank, too. Good thing, it only got 13 mpg! On the other hand, gas was only 29.9 cents per gallon then. I learned the gas tank size when I ran out of gas once and coasted downhill to a gas station and filled it up!
Who on EARTH thought to hide the gas cap behind the license plate holder? Apparently, the idea didn't catch on. On the other hand, I was always able to drive up to any side of the gas pumps available. But I'll just say that was one of the funniest/odder things that ever happened to me.
Just wanted to share a great old memory...
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3 comments:
LOL...my Mustang had the gas cap behind the plate, too. It wasn't all that uncommon in 60s cars, but they stopped when people started getting blown up in rear end collisions...
That was fun to read! I was trying to remember the lowest price I ever paid for gas, I come up with 31 cents. For $2.00 you could ride around for quite a while...now you couldn't even get one gallon!
Sort of related - I've been watching some really old reruns of Highway Patrol, and it's fun to see those huge old cars. And nice to see the sweet little houses in the background, before everything got so upscale and overdone...
For a while my parents had a car where the gas cap was hidden behind one of the tail lights. The whole taillight assembly would hinge out of the way when you grabbed it right.
It was a Chevy, I think, but I no longer remember exactly what year or model.
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