DOTSONVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – Driving by the building, you might think you saw something. A Texaco gas station, visible from the road, like something out of a 1950s road trip, in the middle of a backyard. But just ask Rob Anderson, who spent 20 years putting it all together, and he’ll tell you it’s no hallucination.

From the outside, the building looks like a gas pump covered in signs. You can even step on a hose and ring the old-fashioned service bell. But inside, it’s filled with an eclectic mix of Texaco memorabilia and the trappings of an old country store.

Video by Wesley Irvin

Part shop, part collection, part garage and part playhouse from when Anderson’s grandchildren were younger, the station is full of related items and stories.

Anderson grew up on a farm and learned many practical skills from his father. “If he hadn’t taught us how to weld and paint, and how to put things together and take them apart and how to take care of them, I probably wouldn’t have this,” Anderson said. “Because most of the things I bought here were really old and ugly looking.”

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Something to fill the time

Many of the antiques Anderson acquired were no longer in collectible condition, but restoring them offered him a way to make money. “There was a time when I was doing all this, my wife was working the night shift and I was working the day shift. So I came home, kissed her goodbye, she went to work and I’m sitting here,” Anderson said.

Instead of sitting idly by for his wife’s shift to end, Anderson stayed busy, saying, “Since I’m sitting here until midnight waiting for her to come home, I’d be out here sandblasting things or getting them ready for painting.”

Although Anderson no longer adds to the collection, he used to find items in a variety of places. People often brought items to put on display at the station, such as road signs or cans from the era. “And I’m sure they were happy to get rid of some of that stuff, and I was happy to get it,” Anderson said.

Other things required a little more initiative. Several times Anderson came across gas stations where the dealers had bought new pumps and equipment and the old ones were being pushed behind the station and sometimes even down embankments. He learned to just ask the managers outside the station if he could have them.

How it all began

But much like the skills needed to build the station, Anderson’s father was partly responsible for its creation. During his time in the military, Anderson made a hobby out of buying broken muscle cars, fixing them up, driving them for a bit, and then selling them to try again.

After returning from a deployment in Germany, Anderson visited his father on his farm. His father threw an old oil tank and some furniture onto his trailer. “He said, ‘Here, this goes with the old toy cars; take this,'” Anderson said.

At the time, it was rusty and Anderson thought he didn’t need it. He took it so as not to hurt his father’s feelings, but quickly realized he enjoyed getting new parts. He jokingly blames his father for the collection, but is glad he brought it to his attention. “Looking back now, I should have been collecting this stuff back in the late ’70s, early ’80s when I started working on these old hot rods.”

As for the Texaco question, Anderson occasionally worked as a temp at Texaco as a child in his native Pennsylvania, which he enjoyed a lot. He says that was probably why he chose a Texaco topic later in life.

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