5: Looking between two vertical tanks, one of the
horizontal tanks can be seen. This plant had exposed
piping, as visible here. The truck loading platform is
at left. –Author photo
Getting Real Column - 4
6: The Frydendahl facility in Livermore also had this
smallish corrugated steel warehouse, with a loading
platform at truck height. Lots of oil drums are stacked
on the platform. – Author photo.
6
fuel in rural areas. Gasoline went from a minor product to a
major one in the 1920s, but increasingly the oil companies
delivered directly to filling stations. However, oil dealers con-
tinued to stock and sell gasoline as a farm fuel. Heating oil was
and is quite regional is use, with some areas far more depen-
dent than others. But virtually the same material, “fuel oil,”
is used for a wide variety of commercial and industrial needs.
Diesel fuel was almost non-existent at bulk dealers before
about 1950, but in the years since, has become a major part of
bulk oil sales.
A particular dealer might have as few as two or three tanks,
or as many as a dozen. Moreover, some tanks might be much
smaller than others, for small-volume fuels. And as mentioned,
within bulk oil dealer facilities, a variety of tanks are visible,
often similar but not identical. These are characteristics desir-
able to capture in a model.
4
5
4: This bulk oil dealership
in Livermore, California
had a trio of vertical
tanks of the same height
(one is hidden), and one
taller tank. The dealer-
ship was named for its
owner, Bob Frydendahl,
and did not exhibit any oil
company logos, though
a painted-out Texaco
emblem could be seen.
Photos taken in August
1981. – Author photo.
MRH-Mar 2014
