Question of the Day!

Holy Shyte on a biscuit... this is going back. Regular Gas in our town was $0.17 per gallon. The average 3-bedroom houses were selling for $7000 to $8000 dollars. One could buy a good used car for $200 to $300 dollars

It was 1968, I was twelve, working for my grandfather, at his Service station/repair shop. My Papa Joe owned and operated the largest repair shop in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Back in the sixties, he was one of the highest-paying employers in town. Paid his mechanics $2.50 an hour, while the average blue-collar wage in town that year was $1.25 Per hour.

I pumped gas on the weekends and during the summer. He paid me $0.75 per hour, but back then, there was no self-service gas pumping. When a customer pulled into our pumps, they got full service...their gas and all their windows (not just the windshield) cleaned. The air in all the tires was checked, plus the under the hood, and I showed every customer their oil dipstick with the oil level.

Papa had every cab owner in town as a customer. He was pretty much the only shop extending credit to his customers there were always two or more cars at the pump and they almost always tipped me $015 to $0.25 cents. I was averaging about $5.00 an hour with tips.

When I started, what they now call middle school, and much to my father's chagrin, I wore all the latest clothing fads of the day. Paid for them with my own money, and mostly bought them at St.Pete's first new shopping wonder Northgate Mall (World Famous Web's City's stuff wasn't very trending). Ha, both are now long closed, and their lots are covered with tall office buildings and apartment complexes.

I had helped my grandfather and uncle work on cars since I was 6 years old, and I completed my first (on my own) engine overhaul that year, on a 1964 Lincoln Continental owned by Ernie Sunbal who owned Sun Isle Taxi out on Treasure Island. Yes, my grandfather supervised, but I did all the work. I was pretty proud of myself back then.