Hi everyone, Im currently recreating a gulf station counter from the 1970-1975 and would really appreciate information if you know what it would look like back then I unfortunately wasn't alive during the era and don't know. Im just a enthusiast. I appreciate anything you can tell me.
Some general questions I have are:

Were lottery tickets sold at the station and if so where were they located inside?

What was under the countertop surface below where you would pay? any magazines? snacks?

Beside the payment mat what else was sold or was on the countertop where you would pay?

Was there a countertop protector over the countertop surface such as a acrylic plastic cover?

What was the typical material and color of the countertop where you would pay?

What was the make/model of the cash register? where was it located?

Anything would help as well as any other info you think I may need thank you very much for looking/commenting

I believe I can help in some ways as I owned a business in Houston that manufactured van accessories and I also did counter top work .

Service stations of this era could have had Formica top counters , usually in Gulf's case a Light Blue or maybe a Sky Blue . usually what few magazines one might have seen in a Gulf convenience store , Life , TV Guides, Jet , Classified papers , Maybe a smattering of Hot Rod magazines , news papers etc.

Now a good many still had older Glass top counters and these were Oak framed .

The Cash register if it was a garage sales office , NO Convenience items usually faced the show room window unless the office was deep enough to have a counter placed mid way back . I hope this helps

No on the lottery tickets, don't forget the manual credit card machine

do you know when lottery tickets were introduced into gas stations? thanks

During your time listed, I was a Shell, Phillips 66 and a Sunoco dealer. This was the time when the driver generally didn't get out of his car so the show rooms were very small. A small counter with a small cash register (mine had a hand crank), a credit card machine supplied by the oil company and a stamp machine (mine were Green Stamps).

The wall facing the outside had shelves to display TBA, but we sold very little since most of the customers didn't come in.

Usually a display of oil cans in the window. My Shell station was in a community that had strict laws concerning signs, so any signs we put up we on the inside of the station. Only one price sign was allowed per station.

No convenience stores at this time, no lottery either (1990s). No newspapers, no magazines no snacks, just a Coke/Pepsi machine outside, We also sold Coke by the 6 pack. These were on a dolly in the wooden soda cases next to the door. I restored two of these, took them to "It's a Gas," and nobody knew what they were. Will post a picture later this week. I have seen them in pictures of stations from the 70s also.

Your time period was also bad times for us as some big gas wars were going on. The month I took over the Shell station a gas war started, the price of gas dropped almost 50% from 44.9 to 28.9. I only lasted two years in this station. I was making less than .02 cents per gallon.

Being a dealer for a large oil company was a bad decision during this time. They were opening one on every corner it seemed. There were two other Shell stations less than two miles away in either direction. One of the worse decisions I ever made in my life.

Jack Sim

that is some great stuff to know i should've done my research first i already ordered

http://www.ebay.com/itm/252114633308?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

http://www.ebay.com/itm/161855724461?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

http://www.kpetersen.com/boomerang_retro_butterscotch.jpg

ill have something interesting just not as ideal as I wanted it

The problem is what kind of a 1970 service station are you trying to recreate? One from a major oil company in a place like St. Louis (as I described) or a mon & pop station out at the junction of two gravel roads?

I didn't own any of my stations, I was a consignee, I had to follow Shell's rules, plus our stations were not set up to sell much of anything but TBA. Mon & Pop could do anything they wanted to.

Jack Sim

from a major oil company, gulf Im trying to make a gulf station located in New York from 1970-1975 i bought NY state lottery tickets from the era( which i now know is incorrect) , a gulf invoice from NY state the era, gulf charge card from the era. I don't want to make my project too big so the dimensions of the countertop that i purchased is 2ft by 2 ft. My last question is what should i put under the countertop? shelves? a plain wall? magazine rack? Again, Thank You

New York had lotto. Every year my father would take us fishing into Quebec. I remember him buying lottery tickets in Buffalo before we crossed the Peace Bridge. It was like a big thing since there wasn't any in Ohio. This was late 60s early 70s. Im going to say he bought them at either a restaurant or possibly a gas station... not positive. Magazines were still mostly sold in drug stores and grocery stores. There probably would have been like one , months old Playboy and a club under the clerks side of the counter maybe restroom keys would be hanging close by. Like Jack said, you'd only go inside if you needed some work done on your car or to get restroom keys or something like that. Id say the laminate you bought was more late 50s early 60s style than early 70s. That is the exact style (albeit different colors) we had growing up in a house that was built in 58.The way I remember the early 70s was more solid colors- Avocado ,Harvest gold,and in the case of a Gulf station, I want to say like a Robin egg blue or a medium grey-possibly orange?. Like Ed said a glass case in an older station with an upside down mud flap or some type of mat under the register near where the money was exchanged. a box of Juicy fruit or Double mint gum. Chocolate would melt. the door from the office to the bays were usually open and air conditioning wasnt common at all. Hope your project comes out good.

This is very helpful thanks! Just to follow up:

what do you mean by a glass case?

what would be your best guess to what is on the underside of the counter?
just a wall / flat vertical surface if so what color?

where would the road maps be as well?

Not enough traffic to support selling lottery tickets in the size station you are aiming for.

By the 70s everything was being sold through a machine, soda, cigarettes, snacks, so no candy on the counter. If I had any at my station the employees would have them gone in a day.

If I remember correctly some stations at that time started selling ice.

Many of these stations are still around, just being used for something else now. You need to drive around looking for them, they are all over the place. If they are being used to repair cars they probably have not changed the layout of the counter area.

Jack Sim

My goodness , you must be a youngster ! OK , a Glass case is just that , a wooden framed case with a Tempered glass front and top so as to display wares . Such cases were similar to that in department stores. Yes, Accessories were stored here , sometimes cigarettes , sometimes , they were a spot to store tools , rags and what ever the attendants were too lazy to put in a proper place

so I've made a lot of progress on the recreation and id say its 50% done and haven't made the bottom cabinet because I don't have a clear picture of what to make . Here is the image of it:
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I want to know is it accurate to the era? I know the counter design and color is a little off
what else do I need? ( I have a gulf sapphire jug and addressograph too) trying to make the whole scene of what it would look like

most importantly I want to build the cabinet beneath this countertop surface.
What do i put there after its made and how does it look please describe it thank you very much!

the gulf key ring in lower right is from the late 80's-90's

The Bic lighter didn't come out till 1973 and the smaller ones like this one much later.

So everyone agrees that there was a glass cabinet with a oak wood frame and does the two shelf cabinet have hinged or sliding glass to open it and it contained oil cans correct? I want to specify so i know exactly how to create it? thanks for all the help!

I applaud your effort. I always thought it would be cool to recreate a station office/salesroom to display a collection.

Stations changed hands and brands throughout the years, so photos of the inside counter area might help regardless of brand. Attached are a few photos I've saved from Oldgas here and other places.