Ever since the first Model T rolled off the factory line, the filling station has played fellow traveler along the timeline of Americana–after all, wherever the driver goes to get away from it all, there needed to be a gas station along the way to fuel his journey. Just like the vehicles needed to attract the eye of prospective buyers, several gas stations found funny and interesting ways to gain a motorist’s attention.

Over at a site called hipspics.freewebspace.com, the stories behind these fueling landmarks are sadly lacking, but can thankfully be found elsewhere. One notable example is “The Bomber“, a Texaco station that resided in Milwaukie, Oregon, just 7 miles south of Portland.

Built by Art Lacey, an enterprising engineer who served in the Air Force during WWII, it made a name for itself by erecting an actual B-17 Flying Fortress (dubbed “Lacey Lady”) upon its storefront. Securing the bomber was a story in and of itself–the year was 1947, and surplus war materiel was going up cheap by a government that needed it gone one way or another.

Regulations were fast and loose and Lacey, a private pilot, made his way to Oklahoma to purchase the plane, paying just $13,750 for it. He crashed it, survived, and got in another as quickly as he could, eventually flying it back to Troutdale, where he had the plane dissected and loaded onto moving trucks bound for Milwaukie.

A little worse for the wear but still standing, the Bomber attracts folks from all over.

Nowadays, The Bomber acts as a restaurant and catering business, and is still family-owned by Art’s descendants. If ever you find your way up the 99E highway, you can still find that old bird resting twelve feet up in the air, flagging down drivers looking for a meal and a fun photo op.

Of the other examples presented, we have the haunting “Casa de Petrol” Chevron station in Sherman Oaks, California, which became iconic for being the last spot that James Dean visited–to refill his “Little Bastard” Porsche 550 before his untimely accident on September 30, 1955. Though now a flower shop, the eerie stigma of the place has become something akin to one of those Hollywoodized “Indian burial grounds” that give a person pause before treading upon it.

Over the years, a great deal of lore and legend has surrounded the events of that fateful night, including stories of how the people linked to the roadster in the years following Dean’s death went through deaths and serious injuries of their own. We’ll likely not buy flowers from that shop anytime soon.

One last selection from the gallery is the mid-50s “Mobilubrication Mobilgas Mobiloil” picture, which calls to mind the glory days of what is now ExxonMobil, when the company, then called Mobilgas (under the aegis of Socony-Vacuum Oil Company, Inc.), broadened its scope beyond simply serving gasoline to doing automotive repairs.

The Red Pegasus was as recognizable as a Coca-Cola bottle, and Mobilgas maintained a hefty market share with successful advertising campaigns. These included the Economy Run, which empowered customers to learn how to better their MPG through careful driving and maintenance, as well as magazine and newspaper ads encouraging customers to change their oil every spring, while also getting inspections done on their batteries, tires, brakes, and so on.

Mobilgas was one of the first in its industry to stress maintenance of components other than one’s engine oil.

See for yourself what sorts of stories these old filling stations conjure up by checking out the gallery here.