Thread: Ampol coming back

......& her old bones wouldn't allow her to tilt her head back far enough to see how full the glass bowl was either.

Originally Posted by Bigbjorn

Does anyone remember Purr-Pull petrol?

One of my dad's lodge brothers had an "Independent Service Station". A pre WW2 building with a small office, a large dark workshop and grease ramp, and a row of bowsers out the front almost on the footpath branded with almost all the available brands of fuel.

The last independent, multi-brand servo I recall, was on Gympie/Lurwyche Road, opposite the Kedron Park pub.

And didn't they all look wonderful? All lined up & usually very shiny & colourful & an unintentional work of art in fact, not the boring concrete moonscape one sees today.


https://www.facebook.com/adelaiderememberwhen/photos/a.424077437683076/1062398727184274/'type=3&comment_id=1063202770437203

Don't know the date of this FB post but Driveway Service was apparently available here until recently.

Originally Posted by RANDLOVER

I think the govt. should consider making it illegal to pump ones own fuel. This would help with youth/general unemployment and help the old and infirm in the community. My mate's mother is so old now, that he has to fill her car with petrol, as she can't pull the lever on the pump anymore.

They could also ban self-serve checkouts, which I refuse to use as they cost jobs.

When 'er indoors mentioned that fact to Supermarket Staff they laughed. Sort of "won't happen to me stuff."

I bet they had a rethink when it did!

Originally Posted by V8Ian

The last independent, multi-brand servo I recall, was on Gympie/Lurwyche Road, opposite the Kedron Park pub.

Ian, that is the last one I can recall, 1950's early 1960's. Dad's mate's garage was in Paddington or Red Hill. I can't remember the location. I was only 10 or 12 at the time. Council condemned the building. It was all timber except the iron roof. The building inspection found stumps rotted off at ground level, lots of termites, dry rot. He sold it for redevelopment. Made lots of money during petrol and parts rationing.

Has anyone else used one of those petrol bowsers that involved using a lever to pump fuel up to a glass bowl on top of the bowser?

When the glass bowl was up to the required level, squeezing the trigger on the nozzle let the petrol run out under gravity.

I used one in Louth in the late 1960s. Since we had two Land Rovers and a 200 litre (44 gallon) drum to fill, it wasn't a quick job.

i recall my old dad did, vaguely. Happened a lot in the days of Post War Petrol Rationing with Petrol Coupons. Puzzled me whether it was on the trust system or a "Auto measuring /cutoff sort of thing" but doubt that back then. Maybe the attendant personally filled the bowl & kept a tab on quantity? I suppose no-one ever asked for half a Gallon then? Weren't the bowl 2 gallon?


Tooooooooo long ago now for me.

Brian, I suspect wood & iron structures arrived Post Depression due to it's low cost & probable availability of Materials. Just a guess on my part but the time frame would have been about right. Solid buildings would have arrived much later due to fire precautions etc.

When they did there were some great looking Servos around, architecturally. Concrete columns to hold the forecourt verandahs up & Office/shop parts of the joints etc.. Just a few years ago I recall stopping at one in, I think, Cootamundra ????? It was an Indy.