Station Service Ouverte

Lost Places

Automotive Photography | Lost Places | Rust in Peace

Station Service Ouverte

Yesterdays’ post featured a small service station that went out of business, but isn’t fenced off or has a sign saying so. The story today is different. You are looking at pictures of a substantially bigger service station that, for lack of a better word, is closed. Nonetheless, it does sport a sign saying: Station Ouverte.

To tell you the honest truth – this place looked like a film set straight out of a zombie movie! The lack of traffic, heavy clouds and a slight drizzle didn’t make it any more friendly or welcoming!

OK, let’s analyze the situation. We have a signpost without fuel prices, a couple of pumps, a roof covering them and a three bay workshop. The roll-up doors are closed and look like they haven’t been opened for quite a while. So far so good, isn’t it? Well, yes… until you look through the shop windows. The shelves are still stacked with everything usually sold at fuel stations: oil, coolant, spark plugs, etc. – you name it.

No worries, this is what you find at many station shops that are not operational any more. But – the shelves in this shop also featured packets of instant noodles, coffee, Nesquick and Nutella amongst many other things. Kind of creepy, no? There was also a Majorette toy car vending display, exactly like the ones I picked from in my childhood.

Don’t you also think that it looks like the proprietors left in a hurry, fleeing from the approaching zombies? Or why else would they leave the gas bottles strewn across the forecourt like that? Oddly, the sign next to the racks says self service – but nobody seems to have made use of this invitation since?

The pump for domestic fuel oil looked like the electrician was also caught by the zombies and didn’t even have enough time to close the door of the distribution box…

…while the driver of the white Renault R14 in the background might have inflated his tires at the station de gonflage…

… prior to parking his vehicle at the car wash in a hurry, next to a freshly washed Peugeot 604.

It must have been decades ago, that the Peugeot received his last dose of car shampoo. And why didn’t anybody think about adding some wax back then?

It might have protected the driver door from that other zombie called Corrosion, aka Rust! And mind you – that’s one hungry zombie!

At some point one of the door panels was removed for some reason or another. And no matter how hard I tried – I couldn’t spot a date on the newspaper on the passenger seat.