Thank you to Frank Drobny who contributed this great old image that was taken while the Oasis American gas station was under construction and the wings to the aircraft have not yet been installed. The photographer was his late grandfather Robert Tetzlaff who captured this image on slide film. Click on "next" in the top right corner to see a photo of the open gas station and garage and the wings on the aircraft.

This Lockheed L-1049G, c/n 4617, was delivered to the Portuguese flag carrier TAP as CS-TLB in July 1955 and retired in mid-1967. It was sold to International Aerodyne and flown to Miami in September 1967 and registered as N4624 in April 1969. It was sold to Air Cargo Operations Inc in June 1969 and to Leasing Consultants the same month. The aircraft never flew again but was used instead for spares. It was disassembled in October 1969, transported to the Everglades and by September 1971 was placed atop a restaurant at the Oasis restaurant and gas station on the Tamiami Trail. The Oasis was owned by Mr. Earl Ball and four of his closest friends and it was Earl's idea to put the old Connie on top of the building.

The restaurant closed and the building was later used as a garage with the aircraft remaining there until early February 1978 when the garage closed. The aircraft was taken about a mile away and cut up for scrap in February 1978.
(Source – The Lockheed Constellation – Peter J. Marson, Air Britain 2007)

Please click on "original" below to see this image at the largest size.