Red Rocket

The Red Rocket is probably the name for the franchise of refueling stations for pre-war automobiles. It can be encountered all across the wasteland. It is a landmark for many pre-war rest areas and garages throughout the wastes and can be also found near pre-war suburban settlements such as Springvale. There are usually some trash bins or Nuka-Cola vending machines to be found in the vicinity.

However, there may be a slight inconsistency concerning the existence of pre-war motor vehicles at the Red Rocket sites; before the Great War, petroleum was all but absent from existence, yet parked cars seem to surround these refueling stations. The only explanation that I could come up with as to explain this is that people had driven to the "Red Rocket" station to steal fuel, but were chased off by (possibly armed) store workers.

Also, another inconsistency with the petroleum-based fuel theory is that the car models are supposedly fission-powered; when supplied with enough damage, the cars erupt in the usual mushroom cloud identical to that of a Mini-Nuke animation. This may have been corner-cutting on Bethesda's part, or simply an honest mistake.

An alternate theory to their use is that whilst they are fuel stations, they do not dispense petroelum, but instead may service fission-powered vehicles: i.e changing water and fuel rods in fission generators, etc. Considering the game tells you specifically that pre-war cars are fission powered i'd say yeah, this is probably the truth.