Detroit, Michigan was traditionally called the "Motor City". Dundee is about 60 miles from Detroit and a bunch of auto related factories and operations are even closer. Many members of the families covered in this website worked all or at least part of the adult life in some form of the auto industry.

Below are a few ads from the 1950s and 60s for auto related businesses in the Village of Dundee.

The summer of 1968 between my sophomore and junior years at Michigan State, I worked at the Texaco gas station in Dundee. The Waterstradt brothers owned it under the name of West Side Fuel Company.

I worked a ten hour shift each day and got every other Sunday off. Two guys would come in and work from 6 to 10 p.m. When one of them couldn't make it, I would work that shift too. Sometimes I would work the extra Sunday for someone. That could be a lot of hours...but it was a summer job...and I got paid by the hour.

The pay rate was $1.60 for the first 40 hours per week and $2.40 for each hour over 40. If I worked a standard 70 hour week with no extra time, I would make $136.00 before deductions. At that time in ancient history, full-time tuition per quarter at MSU was $135.00.

For those who don't live in New Jersey where they still have people pump the gas for you (by state law), this was a full-service station. For each car, you would pump the gas, check the oil in the motor, wash the windshields and, if asked, check the tire pressure. We also did oil changes and washed cars by hand. I even had a dark green Texaco uniform.

The Mobil gas station was about one hundred yards away from the Texaco station. It was owned by Gus Williams who also owned the Chrysler and Plymouth auto dealership located behind the station.