Volunteers to brighten abandoned gas stations in Tucumcari

Volunteers in Tucumcari, N.M., want to brighten up the town’s Route 66 corridor by repainting several abandoned gas stations, including one that will look like a Whiting Brothers station when finished, according to an article in the Quay County Sun.

Chamber executive director Bob Beaulieu said the idea was hatched on Saturday morning when a group of volunteers painted the gas station next to the chamber of commerce. The original goal was simply to give the building a two-tone paint job, but Beaulieu said volunteer Richard Talley, who co-owns Motel Safari, had a different idea.

“As we were nearing the end, Richard came up with the thought of, ‘Why don’t we paint it like the old Whiting Brothers (gas station)?’ Then we stopped all of the two-tone thoughts and said, ‘Yeah, let’s work on that.’ Then I called the owner and got permission to work on that, and they said yes.”

The volunteers also received the help of local artist Doug Quarles in a visual design for the Whiting station. They hope to have two of the stations repainted before winter weather makes it too cold to work.

To give you a better idea of a Whiting Brothers station’s color scheme, this article about the now-defunct Southwest chain contains several photos.

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