skelly station

[fordbroncodave]

here is where i work. it was built in the early 50's and in 1965 it was leveled in a tornado. this is the 2nd building after the first was destroyed. it use to sell gasoline until the rush of the mid 70's? i am not sure if it was discontinued due to the shortage or the skelly name was no longer?
anyways, it has 2 in ground hydro lifts and a electric alignment rack in the middle. it use to have separate bathrooms one for the men and one for the women. now it only has one for the general public. i can't say much more about it other then its still standing and making money

 

[markviii]

It's nice to see an actual service station. We don't have any around us anymore. If it's located in an actual residential neighborhood, that may be one of the reasons that gas is no longer sold there. Also, many towns passed zoning ordinances that closed them down if the property was sold. If the tanks actually leaked, it was more trouble and $ than it was worth to repair or replace them. After the expense of any clean-up that had to be done, it became cost prohibitive to go back into the gasoline retail business, even if not banned by zoning. Many stations closed during the 70s and 80s because of this.

I remember when I was a little girl in the 50s and early 60s in Detroit and its suburbs (specifically Inkster and Dearborn) and Toledo, there were 2 or three gas stations on all the major intersections. Boy, have times changed!

 

[fordbroncodave]

you know whats really bizzar, my dad use to come up here on his bike and buy soda pop from the coca cola machine

 

[Po'Boy]

Nice. There are still a few of them around here, in rural areas. Not much in the cities anymore though. Love to see the small guy's operating still.

 

[Kevin54]

Now we can all call up and phone prank Dave

 

[autoclassicnut]

Looks great!...can you post more pics of the lift?

 

[fordbroncodave]

yes i only took a few pictures. i will take more later on, maybe even ask some suggestions for a shop layout. some of the things don't make sense where they are placed within the shop.

no phone pranks. we do real business no monkeying around. we run a monopoly on alignments in town. only rack around

 

[fordbroncodave]

first couple pictures are of my ford probe getting an alignment, the yellow mustang was getting new tires, the red mustang was getting a new clutch put in after someone shreded it and clogged the starter and ring gear preventing it from turning over.

 

[Erle385]

thats what my family shop looks like. its also the 3 bay set up. the problem is its to small for what we do. try squeezing a short bus on the lift while having a box and work bench in front of it. it doesn't work well. plus im sure you noticed theres not alot of storage room. mine was built in the early fifty's and we still have the original water heater from '49.

 

[fordbroncodave]

anyone want me to take pictures of something specific that was indirectly shown in one of my photographs?

 

[PCO6]

NICE! Your pics bring back fond memories of where I worked a long time ago. Those were different times for me and I miss them.

 

[fordbroncodave]

 

[autoclassicnut]

Would you mind posting a closeup of the control box for the blue lift?

 

[fordbroncodave]

can i explain it? it is about chest high (i am 6ft 1 inch), and a foot wide. there is an up and a down push buttons. there is a removable key on/off lock thing, a manual lift for the grab arms (the teeth things that drop when the lift is stopped to prevent it from falling) and a button for slow lower speed.

so 4 buttons, 1 key switch thing. it is an air assist electric hydraulic lift.

one thing i noticed about the nussbaum lift is that they lack zerk fittings to grease it. there are only like 4 on the whole thing. the friction slides on the bottom rear have nothing and make a horish sound when wet or dry. i manually have to grease those with a big glob. the center air jacks (both of them) have terrible wheels and don't move worth a **** once they are the slightest bit rusty or dirty, also not greaseable.

 

[fordbroncodave]

this picture was taken in 1967ish maybe 68. a tornado wiped it out in 65. all the people gathered in front of the skelly station were looking at a burning apartment building on the side of the street.

mound, minnesota

 

[ZRX61]

Now we can all call up and phone prank Dave

 

[Wooz]

here is where i work. it was built in the early 50's and in 1965 it was leveled in a tornado. this is the 2nd building after the first was destroyed. it use to sell gasoline until the rush of the mid 70's? i am not sure if it was discontinued due to the shortage or the skelly name was no longer?

From what I read, Skelly was discontinued when it merged with Getty Oil in the late 70s. There used to be a Skelly station in a small "township" around where I grew up. I never remembered it being open, but will always remember the big Skelly sign on the building and I think the pumps were still outside for a few years after that.