muldo
Member
Good evening folks; I had another thread going and people were starting to ask....so I figured I'd start this one to talk about my shop/house....yep, I live here. 1900 square feet of shop, 1700 square feet of house. I pretty much cried when I signed the papers to buy it. I've always wanted to live in a gas station.
Some inside shots before I cluttered it up with my junk:
There's a third bay I didn't have a picture of still empty...plus another double-garage sized room between the counter area and the main shop. The door at the left side of the counter goes past the washroom and straight into my kitchen.
I'm in Magrath, Alberta...about 30 minutes north of the border.
The original building, the peaked roof portion, was built in 1908. It was a small double garage sized shop and about a third of the current counter/parts area. Kitchen, small dining room, one bedroom. I'm still trying to dig up the history that far back, but as early as 1947 (probably earlier) it operated under the umbrella of the Seventy Seven Oil Company, of Lethbridge Alberta. Old red and pale green paint suggests at some point in time it was a Texaco.
All Google leads me to so far is that the Seventy Seven Oil Company started in 1938 and eventually sold out to British American Oil.
For the bulk of the 77 era my place was owned and operated by Mr. Mick Heap. Around the mid '40s the counter area was expanded west (flat roof portion) and the two next bays were added (also flat roof). It is unknown when the third big bay to the east was added. At the time of the main expansion two more bedrooms were added as well as a large living room.
Some time in the late '50s Mick Heap sold to Jack Flaman, who continued to operate it under Seventy Seven until he passed away, likely in the early sixties. Enter Rodney Arndt. He purchased the property from Mr. Flaman's estate around 1966. The Seventy Seven brand was still in play, but it wasn't long before BA Oil ditched the name. I'm thinking it was around this time that Rodney changed the operation to 'Arndt Motors Ltd.' and simply just carried on with Gulf products.
Picture before the Arndt Motors sign went up:
(Larger scan here)
If anyone can identify the pumps, I'd sure be grateful.
Rod ran the shop and raised a family, wife Margaret, 2 boys (Kim and Randy) and 1 girl, Gayla....until the things you'd expect to happen started to...in the late seventies the Rotary-Weaver hoist just about fell on him, so he stopped using it. (I'm refurbishing the lift.) In about 1980 Randy was paralyzed in an accident. Rod and Margaret were planning a renovation to build up, but now a wheelchair was going to be around, so they built out. An enormous living room was added to the south end of the house.
Eventually the kids moved on. Sadly Kim passed away before his time. Rod wanted to slow down, so he shut down the fuel pumps and had the tanks removed in 1995. Margaret passed away around 2001 and it was at this point that Rod closed the shop for good. The soil was remediated and given a clean bill of health in 2005. He lived here until his death in 2010.
I, a newly separated gearhead, was in need of new single-guy accommodations in May of 2011. I had know about this place but had never been able to pursue it, as it was something my ex would never have gone for. I immediately chased it and after what is likely a record-setting five and a half month negotiation, October 15 2011 I moved in. Then the fun started.
This is all I have for history....I'll keep building this thread as I learn/discover more. I've been lucky enough to be able to speak with Randy (Rod's son) and have got quite a bit of this from him. He's working on getting some more pictures gathered for me. I'll also update with the various projects I undertake....like refurbishing the lift...painting, redoing the siding, etc...I'll start other threads and link to them.....as much as I love BB767's thread...it gets to be quite a bit to wade through!
Thanks so much for your time, if you did in fact read all this!!
Until next post,
Mike
Some inside shots before I cluttered it up with my junk:
There's a third bay I didn't have a picture of still empty...plus another double-garage sized room between the counter area and the main shop. The door at the left side of the counter goes past the washroom and straight into my kitchen.
I'm in Magrath, Alberta...about 30 minutes north of the border.
The original building, the peaked roof portion, was built in 1908. It was a small double garage sized shop and about a third of the current counter/parts area. Kitchen, small dining room, one bedroom. I'm still trying to dig up the history that far back, but as early as 1947 (probably earlier) it operated under the umbrella of the Seventy Seven Oil Company, of Lethbridge Alberta. Old red and pale green paint suggests at some point in time it was a Texaco.
All Google leads me to so far is that the Seventy Seven Oil Company started in 1938 and eventually sold out to British American Oil.
For the bulk of the 77 era my place was owned and operated by Mr. Mick Heap. Around the mid '40s the counter area was expanded west (flat roof portion) and the two next bays were added (also flat roof). It is unknown when the third big bay to the east was added. At the time of the main expansion two more bedrooms were added as well as a large living room.
Some time in the late '50s Mick Heap sold to Jack Flaman, who continued to operate it under Seventy Seven until he passed away, likely in the early sixties. Enter Rodney Arndt. He purchased the property from Mr. Flaman's estate around 1966. The Seventy Seven brand was still in play, but it wasn't long before BA Oil ditched the name. I'm thinking it was around this time that Rodney changed the operation to 'Arndt Motors Ltd.' and simply just carried on with Gulf products.
Picture before the Arndt Motors sign went up:
(Larger scan here)
If anyone can identify the pumps, I'd sure be grateful.
Rod ran the shop and raised a family, wife Margaret, 2 boys (Kim and Randy) and 1 girl, Gayla....until the things you'd expect to happen started to...in the late seventies the Rotary-Weaver hoist just about fell on him, so he stopped using it. (I'm refurbishing the lift.) In about 1980 Randy was paralyzed in an accident. Rod and Margaret were planning a renovation to build up, but now a wheelchair was going to be around, so they built out. An enormous living room was added to the south end of the house.
Eventually the kids moved on. Sadly Kim passed away before his time. Rod wanted to slow down, so he shut down the fuel pumps and had the tanks removed in 1995. Margaret passed away around 2001 and it was at this point that Rod closed the shop for good. The soil was remediated and given a clean bill of health in 2005. He lived here until his death in 2010.
I, a newly separated gearhead, was in need of new single-guy accommodations in May of 2011. I had know about this place but had never been able to pursue it, as it was something my ex would never have gone for. I immediately chased it and after what is likely a record-setting five and a half month negotiation, October 15 2011 I moved in. Then the fun started.
This is all I have for history....I'll keep building this thread as I learn/discover more. I've been lucky enough to be able to speak with Randy (Rod's son) and have got quite a bit of this from him. He's working on getting some more pictures gathered for me. I'll also update with the various projects I undertake....like refurbishing the lift...painting, redoing the siding, etc...I'll start other threads and link to them.....as much as I love BB767's thread...it gets to be quite a bit to wade through!
Thanks so much for your time, if you did in fact read all this!!
Until next post,
Mike
