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Four service station attendants were employed by the Texaco service station in Hill Valley in 1955.
History[]
The attendants stood in a row in front of the service station's open workshop doors, and hurried out as soon a car pulled up at the gasoline pumps, whereupon they would wash the car's windshield and fill up the tank.
They wore a uniform consisting of a khaki peaked cap with a matching khaki two-piece suit over a white shirt and black bow tie.
Marty McFly, who had traveled from 1985 to 1955 in Dr. Emmett Brown's DeLorean time machine, watched the attendants at work on the morning of November 5. A red Texaco tank truck was also present at the time, indicating there had been a delivery of gasoline.
In 2015, the automated Texaco service station carried out duties similar to those of the 1955 attendants. Robot arms filled the tank of a flying car with Havoline — a brand of motor oil owned by Texaco, supplied as a fuel for hover converted cars — and checked the vehicle's landing gear, while a computerized voice said "Checking oil. Checking landing gear."
Behind the scenes[]
Marty (on the far right) watches the service station attendants at work in 1955. Are they going to start singing? "Oh, we're the men of Texaco, we work from Maine to Mexico, there's nothing like this Texaco of ours. ..."
"Checking oil. Checking landing gear," says a computerized voice, as the automated Texaco service station of 2015 carries out duties similar to those of the 1955 attendants.
- Originally, the script called for only one service station attendant when Marty entered downtown for the first time in 1955. Robert Zemeckis thought of a joke while on the set,[1] and asked his crew to find three more uniforms, so they would resemble the four singing Texaco attendants who would introduce Milton Berle at the beginning of the Texaco Star Theater television show (1948-1956).[2][3]
- The scene was also a comment about how daily life had changed between 1955 and 1985. Before self-service gas pumps became popular, it was not uncommon for a service station attendant to clean the windshield, check the oil and transmission fluid levels, put air in the tires, check the brakes, and to do other services while filling the tank.
Appearances[]
See also[]
Texaco on Wikipedia- Texaco Star Theater on Wikipedia
- Gasoline
- Havoline
- Tank truck
- Texaco service station
References[]
- ↑ BTTF audio commentary by Bob Gale and Neil Canton.
- ↑ See the "Men of Texaco" video at National Public Radio
- ↑ Texaco Star Theater