Petersen Photo Archive

A Studebaker Lark, for 1959, gassing up at Mohawk for 23.9 cents/gallon. It was a different world then. There were a plethora of gas brands up through the 1960s and later — Gilmore, Douglas, Red Lion, Signal, Hancock, and more. Los Angeles had quite a variety. One of the last remaining Streamline Moderne Gilmore stations in L.A. (once owned by actor Wallace Beery) received historical protection and would eventually became a drive-thru Starbucks (of course).

The rather pedestrian looking Lark would spice up its persona quite a bit with a supercharged version available in the early 1960s.

Photo by Colin Creitz for Motor Life magazine.

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