A Trip Back In Time To A Hidden Filling Station

We stumbled across a gas station located on private property that was preserved in pristine condition, with everything that a station would have had in the 50’s and 60’s.

Walking to the gas station was like walking back through a time warp, with visible gas pumps lining the driveway to the station. The station is owned by Dave Bowman, a former drag racer that raced top fuel and fuel altereds before racing funny cars in the 70’s.  

Known for his legendary “California Stud” Mustang and the later Vega Panel funny car version, Bowman won the funny car eliminator at Doug Kruse’s PDA race at Orange County International Raceway in the summer of 1973.

Shortly after that career defining win, fate stepped in when he was critically injured driving his 18-wheeler. Bowman now collects and displays vintage gas station paraphernalia around the nation. 

We were invited to Bowman’s personal property for an exiting trip back into time for a look at Bowman’s Texaco gas station museum.

Sworn to secrecy about the location of the site, we were stunned as the gate was opened and we drove up the driveway to a breathtaking frozen moment in time. Visible gas pumps restored to new condition lined the driveway up to the station.

Passing by each vintage gas pump felt like the years were receding until you came directly in front of a vintage station that appeared to be an example from the late 1940’s through the late 1950’s.

Stepping into the station we noticed that the shelves were lined with products from the past. Items that we hadn’t seen in decades – if at all. Boxes of Auto-Lite plugs next to boxes of Bendix starter gear drives.

We saw a Packard spark plug boot display surrounded by a can of something called “Dripless oil.” A quick smart phone search taught us that American Dripless Oil was a product that could still be purchased through Amazon, but in a modern container.

RU Glyde tire mounting lubricant was also available in newer containers. Other items, like the cans of Western Supreme Tire Dressing, did not appear in our search engine’s quick search.

Items like “Tube Repair Kit” harkened back to a time when tires required inner tubes to hold air. Back to a day when a driver that experienced a flat tire removed the tire and patched the tube before continuing on their journey.

Everything was set up as a functioning gas station with the exception of underground storage tanks, which meant that we could pull into the station and yell “Fill ‘er up,” but no gas would actually be pumped. While we may not have been able to buy a tankful of high test gasoline at 25-cents a gallon, the trip back in time was worth the journey.