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My grandfather Howard McGraw, a photographer for the Detroit News, likely saw the scene in his neighborhood and stopped for the shot. The airplane is an early 1940's Murray Pursuit pedal car with Army decals and machine gun mounts - worth over $1000 today if restored! And the gas pump would likely go for about $3000 restored! Scanned from a 4x5 negative. View full size.
Oh my God! Why is that man dousing that small boy with petrol? Then I looked at the hose.
[Quotidian Occurrences of the Past No. 138: Gas station attendant checks and, if necessary, tops off your radiator at each fill-up. - tterrace]
The attendant bears an uncanny resemblance to ‘Smiling’ Jack McGrath, champ car driver from the 40s and 50s.
The last time I stopped at a gas station, I got "soaked".
I'm happy to say that I, too, was a young pilot back in the day. Unhappily, however, I have no idea what happened to my aircraft.
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