Unusual gas station brands

[fan-of-fans]

I was thinking as I drove past a gas station a few miles from my home recently that has always intrigued me because of the name. It's a Spur station, has been for as long as I remember, but it's the only one I've ever seen. And while it's not in the middle of nowhere, it's off the beaten path for sure.

Also, I can't remember the last time I saw a Texaco or a FINA station.

It can be interesting to go on trips and see other convenience store brands or fuel stations that may be well known in other areas but aren't around here.

Are there any unusual ones in your area?

 

[cfz2882]

none anymore

but I remember Skelly stations around up to about 1978-79 and Husky stations seemed to have disappeared around early '90s.

 

[wayupnorth]

I miss Sinclair with their Dino Supreme at .32/gallon, those were the days . Cities Service, Esso, Getty, Phillips 66, Texaco too. Now we got Irving everywhere, Mobil, Sunoco, Shell and a few Valero's.

 

[supersuds]

Still have Phillips 66 here. It is a brand owned by ConocoPhillips, I think, and depending where you are in the country you may see Conoco, Phillips 66, or Union 76, but it's all the same thing.

Chevron took over Texaco and seem to have changed the names of most of the stations, though there are still some in parts of the country.

The Sinclair name is used by a chain in the southwest, though, like Gulf, it is just a marketing ploy. The actual companies were merged out of existence years ago.

I understand there are still some Pure stations, but there are no more Amoco.

 

[gusherb]

We have BP, Mobil, and Speedway stations mostly. Used to have lots of Marathon and Shell stations, but most of the Marathon stations have folded up except one, and Shell started folding up years ago and finally the last few locations nearby closed a couple years ago. Most of the Marathon stations turned into "GoLo" which Is a brand of Luke Oil which is a local company. Luke also has it's own branded gas stations here, one of them sits where a Shell used to be. There's also another local one called Family Express that I like to go to because they have a points card that you use in the convenience store that discounts the gas (and the convenience store is much nicer then most around here), on top of that they usually have the most competitive price. Just filled up at $1.99 there yesterday. My other choice for gas is 7/11.

So I suppose the "unusual" brands would be the local ones though they're not unusual for me obviously.
As for anything old, I'm too young to know any of the long gone classics.

 

[philr]

When I was a kid, there was a Spur service station in my hometown. It changed banner about 30 years ago to Ultramar.

FINA was bought by Petro Canada here back in the early eighties along with BP.

 

Texaco and Gulf have been gone for a long time now and along with Sunoco, they are now branded Ultramar too. 

 

[askolover]

Amoco

as far as I know is all BP now...our local Amoco changed out to BP but the pumps still read "Amoco fuels".  I just typed Amoco into my address bar and it pulled up BP.  We still have a few Pure stations around, Thornton, Golden Gallon, Circle C, Circle K, Kangaroo, Marathon, 66, Pilot and Flying J (both owned by TN Governor Bill Haslam's family), Spirit, and a Shell on every corner.

 

[angus]

We also had "Flying A" in the New York metro area and interestingly enough, I was reading an article on the Macy''s Thanksgiving parade (also incorrectly called the Macy's Day Parade) and one of the floats this year has not been seen in over forty years and it is the Sinclair Dinosaur - "Dino". (pronounced "dyno" and not to be confused with Dino - pronounced "deeno" from the Flintstones. Besides, the Flintstones' dinosaur was purple...

 

[fan-of-fans]

Around here, we have lots of Shells, which are often paired up with Circle K. They used to be paired with Farm Stores, which were pretty bad, thankfully those seem to have gone away. I remember a story where a local "Shell" Farm Store was selling gas that was causing all of the people's cars to break down as soon as they left the station. It turned out that the gas they were selling wasn't Shell at all but from who knows where and I think it had water in it. Of course the owner wasn't to be found after it got out what happened. I joked that they must have been watering down the gas to save money.

All of our BP stations changed to Marathon following the Gulf Oil spill, probably because of the bad associations with the name.

There's a Sunoco near my house, and we also have Race Trak stations which are really nice. Almost like a grocery store inside.

I have seen a few Kangaroos and Speedways while travelling, but not around here.

There's also Murphy Oil which usually builds around Walmart Supercenters. They don't really have a convenience store though, just a little booth where you pay and they might have a soda machine outside.

I don't think I've seen an Amoco since maybe the 90s, and there might be some old Pure service stations around in small towns.

 

[arbilab]

What the Helly happened to Skelly? Then there was Enco/Esso/Endo/Exo/Humble/Socony-Mobil which were all the same company the goobermint fractured on paper but not really. And Phillips 66 which was synonymous with the epononymous highway.

Who do I buy gas from today? Shxt, I dunno. It's called Quick Stop. They have the best average prices, the most expansive hours, good windshield squeegees, and free compressed air. Oh, and I'd bet most anything the gasoline is not made in China.

 

[firedome]

In the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast

Atlantic was a well known brand up until around mid-60s when it was merged with Richfield, a West coast brand. Atlantic-Richfield was first to discover oil in Prudhoe Bay and was a major developer of the Trans-Alaska pipeline. They became known as ARCO, which was bought by BP-Amoco around late 90s.

 

[firedome]

Re; Richfield Oil

I know we have a member here originally from Schenectady who now lives in Melrose Mass. "Richie" Richfield was from Melrose and went to Melrose High and was friends with my mother, who also grew up there. She jokingly said later she should have married him! How he ended up out West I have no idea.

 

[tomturbomatic]

When we traveled south from Atlanta in the 50s before the interstate highway system was complete we encountered Billups stations starting around Macon, GA, and the logo on the billboards was Fill up with Billups. There was also a picture of an outstretched hand and something about having a friend with Billups.

The link is to a bit of the company's history and the relationship to Spur.

Daddy had a Texaco credit card, later adding a Phillips 66 card and an Exxon card and only bought gas at stations that gave S&H Green Stamps or Top Value Stamps. Putting about a thousand miles a week on the car meant a lot of trading stamps. I still remember sitting at the kitchen table with a sponge in a saucer and pasting stamps in books.

http://theoldmotor.com/?p=92519

 

[washman]

We used to

have Kokolene (sp), Crystal Flash, Clark and United when I was a wee child back in the day.

Haven't seen those for a while.

FWIW, most "brands" are simply logos, graphics, and advertising. What goes in the pump comes from a pump farm where various "additives" are added. We have a terminal in Belle Vernon. It supplies Sheetz, no-name stations, Get-Go, Gulf and the like.

The condition of the underground tanks and filters at any given station can make a difference I suppose. But no longer can one get "Pennsylvania Grade Crude" in their beloved Quaker Sludge or Pennzoil. They both used to be owned by Equillon Enterprises, Houston TX.

 

[dustin92]

Well, the only one we've got that I haven't heard mentioned yet is Wesco. I'm not 100% sure but it may be a Michigan only chain. I usually buy my gas at the BP that is only about 5 blocks from our house, they usually have the best prices in town and they have a rewards card that adds so many cents off a gallon for each purchase. I've had it up around 25 cents a couple times.

 

[rp2813]

Briefly within the last few years, Texaco branding made an appearance on an existing station at a busy corner out in the area where Dave and I used to live.   I'm pretty sure it's become a Chevron now.

 

Mobil stations in this part of the state became BP, but about 20 years ago the BP stations became Unocal (aka Union 76).

 

All of the Exxon stations changed to Valero at least a dozen years ago.

 

Flying A stations became Phillips 66 back in the '60s, and now Phillips is long gone.  Also back in the '60s, Wilshire stations, which had a distinctive architecture with slanted elongated diamond shaped I-beams jutting from ground level through their roofs became Gulf.  Gulf is long gone, but the re-purposed stations survive (see link and picture).

 

Signal stations just sort of went away in the '60s.  They and Richfield had some of the oldest stations around (like 1920s and '30s), and some still survive re-purposed sans pumps, mainly as independent auto repair or detailing businesses, or even cafes.

 

Shell stations can still be found, but not as easily as they used to be. 

 

The one brand name I can't stand is a discount chain run by Coast Oil.  Their stations are called "Rotten Robbie."  Associating your business with the term "rotten" just seems stupid to me, but they're cheap and have been around for decades, so they clearly see no need to go through an expensive re-branding process.  And speaking of which, a really old brand from before my time was "Associated."  There's an old Associated station out at a historical park here, which was moved there from downtown.

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.svmodern.com/sv-modern-roadside.html

 

[DADoES]

 
IIRC from the story, my maternal grandfather worked at a local Billups.

There's a convenience store recently reopened in a nearby town, Gulf branded.

 

[gusherb]

I remember on two separate occasions while on the road, one time in 2006 seeing an Amoco branded station. I'm pretty sure it was abandoned, it was a small one horse town we were passing through possibly in Kansas. It was weird because all the Amoco stations by me had been rebranded to BP in 2002. And then to make it even weirder, while on the road again in 2007 I saw a Standard oil gas station! clearly abandoned. In my area Standard oil came before Amoco.

When I road trip out west the stations I tend to stop most at are Valero and Loves, and BP if nothing else is appealing. ( When around here we stay the hell away from BP...)

 

[petek]

We've got Esso, Petro Canada, Shell and a few indy's.   Sunoco, Gulf, Texaco, Fina, White Rose etc were all merged into one or the other.  At that there are very few Shell stations now and I think I read somewhere that they're thinking of getting out of the retail gas business.   What's interesting to me is that there used to be lot of very small stations (one or two pumps) all over town here,, you could almost say every 5 or so blocks no matter where.. Now they're all gone, either demolished or some other type of business in them not selling gas.   Most of the gas stations are along the mall strip, shopping areas.   Sarnia is sort of split in two by the 402 freeway  heading east/west.. There is now only one gas station on the north side where when I was kid there was at least a dozen. 

 

[suburbanmd]

For those who remember the Esso -> Exxon rebranding in USA

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Citgo!

 

 

-- Dave

 

[a440]

Vintage Charge Cards

 

[firedome]

Another obscure brand

also found in other areas of the E and SE was Coastal, now absorbed bt El Paso Energy. Coastal's flambouyant founder and CEO Oscar Wyatt is still alive and was known as the "real J.R. Ewing". We had Costal stations in MD when we lived there up to the late 90s, all gone now apparently.

 

[polkanut]

Cities Service became Citgo in 1964.

http://aoghs.org/stocks/cities-service-company/

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

I had a Matchbox Chevron tanker truck... But a Shell service station parking garage...

I remember some documentary on energy showing just about every brand of gas/fuel/service station in existence...

Then there was a comic strip doing a spoof on a company notorious for its frequent oil spills, in parody, dubbed Wreckson (Exxon)...

-- Dave

 

[petek]

Many if not most gas stations in areas far from refineries get their gas from their so called competitors refinery anyways so it's not like there's much of a difference particularly on the regular and mid grades.  What's particularly aggravating here in Sarnia is that there are 4 refineries, Esso, Shell, Petro Can (formerly Sunoco). This town was built on oil refineries and chemical plants. Yet we pay on average 10 cents per litre (38 cents a gallon) more than gas stations 60 miles away.. and near twice the price of gas stations across the bridge in Michigan and they get some of their gasoline from Sarnia. So yea,, the Shell station literally 4 blocks from the refinery in Sarnia charges 38 cents a gallon more than a station in London 60 miles east.. and near twice the price as the Shell station 1.5 miles away in Michigan. It's all the same gas from the same refinery here.  And vice versely, the people across the river in Port Huron Michigan are paying 10 to 15 cents more per gallon than a station 10 miles away from the bridge.. They gouge wherever and whenever they can.. You just can't win... and like everywhere,, the price drops ever so slowly 10 or 15 cents over the course of a week or two, then like magic,, on Weds or Thursdays  it jumps overnight back to where it was. 

 

[brib68]

Growing up in Ohio we had Shell and Sohio, Gulf, Mobil, Certified, Clark, Bonded and Marathon. We had a Sinclair when I was pretty small, then it became Arco, then a used car lot. We also had a Sunoco with the flashing neon arrow in the sign. That station eventually became a series of off-brand stations. There was something called Gastown that was pretty much around during the 80s. In the 80s there was also a Unocal/Union76...I think it was a different brand earlier than that. Now it's a Marathon.

Over the state line in Indiana, they had Amoco instead of Sohio. There was a Gladieaux refinery (or maybe just a tank farm) and station on the way into Fort Wayne. There was a Citgo on the way to the lake--can't remember if it was in Rome City or Wolcottville--it was one of those landmarks that as a kid told me we were finally ALMOST THERE! Some time in the mid-80s something called Futuregas opened on Coliseum Blvd in Fort Wayne--it was brightly lit, bigger than other stations at the time, and had talking gas pumps and I don't know what all. Mostly a big gimmick, I'm sure. It's long since been converted to Speedway.

I remember back in the day, my folks' Sohio card showed the 'exotic' places that also took the card--Esso, BP, Boron, and I think certain Mobil and Gulf. Off topic, their Lazarus card also listed the other department stores it could be used at (or used to open that store's charge, maybe).

 

[circlew]

In addition to the ones Brian mentioned, we also had Pure and Texaco in this area. I have seen these brands recently in the deep South. The two Pure stations in our town became Union '76 stations later. Another brand here was Ashland.

On our trip out west in '72, I remember seeing Fina, Skelly, DX, and Whiting Bros.

 

[cfz2882]

big orange rotating balls 1974...

in Washington,in 1974,used to see big orange ball signs that rotated-kinda recalled they had blue "66" or "76"on them,never saw them at night,so don't know if they were plastic and internally lit or not.

 

[whirlcool]

Those orange balls that said 76 were mostly lit up at night. In the fall they would give away these orange Styrofoam balls you would put on your car antenna. In the winter with all the snow and snowbanks you could see if a car was coming on a perpendicular street just by looking for an orange ball coming your way.

Fina gas stations became Total gas stations and none are in the US.

Oil companies have realized that the place to make money these days is not in the retail end of the business, but as a supplier of petrochemicals for industry. That's where the money is. Petrochemicals are in most products, cosmetics, plastics, cleaners, etc. So a lot of companies are downsizing the number of stations they have.

I've noticed that Gulf Oil is making a come back again. We have a few of those around here. Not the same company as before, but they are using the name.

Sunoco is making a big entry into our market here in a big way. This time they don't have the "Select A Grade" fuel pumps with 12 or so grades of fuel. All those pumps did was make a blend of regular and premium to meet the octane stated on the pump dial.