Crush Soda, Orange, Strawberry, Pineapple Plus Grape

Orange Crush soda and all of the other tasty flavors have a very distinct memory ingrained in my childhood mind! This picture to your left is similar to what we, as kids, used to get cold soda out of for a quarter. Yes, a quarter! In my kid days, it was an era of hell driven Chevy, Plymouth Dusters and Ford Rancheros. My father, Roy, a hard case of his time, had two of these vehicles, Duster & Ranchero. When we pulled up to a gas station, they would have these front loaded machines stocked with Crush, Coke, Pepsi and others and let me tell you, on a super hot summer day, pulling out ice cold bottles of soda out of that machine as dad had some work done on his machine is certainly a delicious memory.

I definitely remember laying my hand on those big hoods, feeling the heat from 340 plus cubic inch dragons as I swigged my Crush, smelling the greasy shop smells and adult talk. Sometimes, when the garage guy Stu felt generous, my younger brother and I got pop for free. Bless you Stu! The 1970's, for me, will be the quintessential reminder of drinking cold soda. No hardships, reminders, responsibility or regrets. In short, a kid's life...as it should be.