The three Wessis from the gas station
07/21/2023
This photo from the late 1950s is unusual in several respects. Not only because it is a remarkably sharp color photo for its age and the gas station attendant is not a smudged youth in boots, but a toupeed lady in pumps. First and foremost, it is the cars that make the photo interesting. At first they seem almost typical of a German petrol station scene in the late post-war period and therefore not very spectacular.
However, the license plate of the red Ponton Mercedes and the yellow and red Minol petrol pump reveal that this photo was taken in the eastern part of the two Germanys, where only Wartburgs and Trabants drove around in the collective memory. Nevertheless, the recognizable cars are all West German products. In addition to the Mercedes-Benz 220, an export pretzel beetle and an Opel Olympia Rekord have also crept into the picture.
Apparently, the street scene in the GDR before the Berlin Wall was built was just as colorful as the photo. Renault Dauphine and Hillman Minx are even said to have been officially available as GDR models. There's just one thing we'd like to know: Who recognizes the grey rear end, a fragment of which can be seen through the side window of the Mercedes?
