I recall "service stations" giving service. Check oil, water, tyres and wash the windscreen. They don't do that any more. Did "service stations" plan your trip for you or were they liable in any way for you crashing en route.
FS were great and everyone I dealt with were helpful even to the point of making a cuppa or arranging a lift to town, but flight into terrain was as an epidemic then, as now.
Most pilots have access to a computer and watch the weather on TV these days and I guess as technology advances service dwindles. I hope nobody ever thought FS were a fallback if they, as PIC, failed or FS were in any way "flight planners" or carried liability.
I'm guessing if you didn't have Dick to blame, you would be blaming someone else.
I long for the good old days, but I don't live there any more.