A phone call from my nephew got me thinking....
The smell of the basement of Western Auto and all those Road hugger tires and the smell oil
Your response popped into my head as I was working in the yard yesterday, and it reminded me....
I worked for Riteway Motor Parts on Glenwood Ave in Mpls "Back In The Day". The basement was dark and dingy, and had shelves and shelves of bare blocks, cranks, and heads. This was also where I dumped brake shoe cores into burlap sacks for the EIS Brakes truck, and although there wasn't supposed to be any asbestos in brake shoes (and pads) by that time, I still had my doubts.
Main floor: Parts counter in the front, machine shop in the back. Want a Model A block repaired, or a D6 crank turned? We could do it.
2nd floor: Offices in front, and the babbit shop behind. If I close my eyes I can still smell whatever the heck smell it was that came off the melted babbit. Maybe it was the burner/heater, I honestly don't know.
Unhealthy as all get-out, but still...good memories!
Edit: I just remembered one of the parts delivery drivers, Charlie. He had retired from the City of Mpls Street Maintenance Dept in his mid-fifties, but came to work for Riteway to keep himself "in the game", as he put it. He always carried Twinkies, HoHo's (sp?), doughnuts, and all sort of treats in his van, and while everyone else would have to get out and walk into Goodyear, Firestone (etc) to deliver a part, Charlie would just honk his horn and drive right in, as all the mechanics got free Twinkes from him! Anyway, Charlie also ran the football parlay cards all across Mpls, and everyone knew about it. Even the police, from what I heard, and I assume this is what he meant when he told me he was working to stay "in the game".
I just realized I hadn't thought of this (Charlie and the parlay cards) for 20+ years.