Benzinariile PECO in anii 70 / PECO filling stations in the 70s

"Peco" este unul din expresiile din epoca comunista care inca e curenta in Romania. Chiar daca, de ani de zile masinile se alimenteaza la un Petrom sau un Lukoil sau un Rompetrol, numele generic pentru benzinarie este - inca - Peco, distributia de carburante auto in Romania comunista. (Peco = Produse Etilate cu Cifră Octanică). Si aveau farmecul lor...

"Peco" is a Communist term still in regular use in Romania. Even though, for years, cars have been filled up at petrol stations with very different brand names, the generic for them is still Peco, which was the firm that ran all the filling stations in Communist Romania. And they had their own charm...

Produsele fabricii Astra, 1921 / Products of the Astra factory, 1921

In 1921, se tine Expoziția și Târgul de Mostre a Industriei Românești la București. Recent, a fost publicat o selectie minunata de imagini din acest eveniment. Ii avem pe generalul Averescu si regele Ferdinand in masini (foto 4, 5); dar, si mai important, avem imagini rarisime cu produsele fabricii Astra din Arad.

Am scris in 2010 un pic despre fabrica si produsele sale; copiez o reclama din 1925 (foto 6). Din pacate, informatiile raman slabe. Cert e ca dupa 1926, fabrica renunta la fabricatia produselor rutiere, axandu-se spre cele feroviare (foto 7). Anul 1930 era anul de glorie pentru circulatia autovehiculelor construite in Romania - 109 in total. Presupun ca marea majoritate erau cele fabricate la Arad.

In 1921 Bucharest held a fair showcasing Romanian industry; and recently, the Romanian national archives published a wonderful set of images from the event. We see General Averescu and King Ferdinand in their cars (photos 4, 5); and, more importantly, we see some very rare images of the products of the Astra factory in Arad.

I wrote in 2010 about Astra and its products; picture 6 shows an ad from 1925. Unfortunately, further details are scant. By the 1930s, automotive production had stopped, and the ad in picture 7 shows only railway produce being made. 1930 itself was the high point of Romanian-made vehicles on the road, with a grand total of 109 - I assume the vast majority of which were those made in Arad.

Renault-uri la manastirea Secu / Renaults at the Secu monastery

O marca cu o lunga istorie in Romania... August 1928, si un grup de tineri prosperi se duc la o calatorie la iarba verde in judetul Neamt, flancati de doua Renaulturi de la mijlocul anilor 20. Aceste masini, cu radiatorul in spatele motorului si un bot usor de recunoscut, au fost apreciate la vremea lor. In Romania, inca exista un Renault din anii 20 - un Monasix din 1928, in Craiova.

A marque with a long history in Romania. August 1928; a group of well-off young people travel into the countryside of Neamt, flanked by two Renaults from the mid 1920s. These cars, with the radiator behind the engine and an instantly recognisable front end, were popular at the time. In Romania, one 1920s model - a Monasix from 1928 - still exists, in Craiova.