History Gas Station give aways & noveltys from the past

Found a picture of the Sinclair Dinos and the Ark mentioned earlier. I also came across the picture of Shell steak knives. Probably not real practical today in some neighbor hoods.

 

I can remember Shell giving away Hot A. I still have some in the blister packs. Found a paper bag full of them when my dad passed.... I will get some pics

 

Rode the Texaco tanker around the kitchen floor freeway. You laid on your belly and pushed down with your hands on the corner of the cab. The steering was activated by the pressure, right or left. Imagination and the thrill provided power. Pulled out of the attic a few years ago and gave to an older guy who collects automotive toys and always helped me along with his old car expertise.

 

yep....worked for Esso/Enco/Exxon.....we had a give-a-way.....have some stuff....will post later....

 

Found one at a yard sale years ago. Definitely not a give away but a neat toy.

 

Not really a gas station give away.
But it was a Ford dealership give away to keep
the kids busy when having your car serviced

 

Wow, memories. My dad gave me one and I hung it on my bike. I was the cool kid, till everyone else got one. Fame, as they say, is fleeting.

 

Man how I remember the ARCO Noah's Ark. I would spend the summers with my grandparents. The summer of that give away I drove them nuts asking if we needed gas again. I think I had all or all but one set of animals.

Remember when gas smelled good?

 

Back in my day, our giveaways were us actually pumping gas, washing windows and checking oil for people....don't find that very often nowadays.
I don't have any pictures and they aren't old enough anyways but we gave away Olympic drinking glasses.
Also back in my day in our small town (1000 ppl) the gas station was THE place to work as a teenager and they had a list of people wanting to work there. Nowadays it seems it's tough to get the teenagers around here to work at all.

 

I really liked working in the local gas stations. Had some tough but good bosses who taught me a lot of stuff (right and wrong) plus I got to work on my own car after work at most of them.
The blue chip stamps were a PITA but they got me most of the stuff to make my first apartment livable. They got easier when they came out with the rotary dispenser with dollar amount buttons (stick in a finger and dial the amount of purchase - out came the right amount of stamps). Those steak knives were very popular - customers would get really mad if you ran out - we gave rain-checks.
The only job I ever got fired from was the Shell station; I worked Thanksgiving night and my GF brought me a plate of dinner. My drunken boss came in screaming that he ain't payin' me to eat and socialize, so I screamed back. I'm glad we weren't giving out steak knives at that time.

 

Blue Chip stamps should be brought back. One of the memories I cherish from my childhood is collecting those stamps, and searching through the catalog to see what I liked and how many books I needed. I got set of walkie talkies, a telescope, a tent. I got my dad a edger for Father's day. There was something for everyone.

 

S&H green stamps, i remember filing books for my grandma and she had a sponge that worked great instead of licking somewhere in million count of stamps, at least it seemed like a million and they left a pretty bad taste in your mouth!

 

I found a package of Texaco double edge razor blades at a swap meet years ago,not sure if they were offered for sale at Texaco stations or not but they are interesting. HRP

 

I have a 5 gallon bucket of these things in my garage. When I was a kid I always insisted that Dad get me one every fill-up.

 

Pencils & ink pens. HRP

 

My Father had a Shell station in the 60's and gave away S&H Green stamps. It was in his contract ( no stamps - no contract ) with Shell that he HAD to give them away and they cost him $400 in the 60's. He also HAD to sell Shell tires which no body wanted . PITA for sure ! He also had the knives and coins for giveaways .

 

Never saw the shell knives. HRP

 

I found a bunch of those blue trading stamps under the back seat of my car when it came from the U.S., now I know how they worked!
Shell used to have a spiral bound book which had spots for cards which you would get when you filled up . They were on different subjects and I remember animals and shells (of course).

 

Here in canada we had coins that had canadian prime ministers on them,this was about 1970 or so Think it was at esso stations at that time.,you got a cardboard plaque that had holes for them to press into,never got all of them,when you got them they were in a paper package and you could not tell what one you got,thing there might be a couple left here,they were about the size of a 50 cent piece,also remember Shell gave out Beatrix Potter books for kids,this was about 1985?,was able to get the whole set,had a brother in law who ran a shell,was real easy to get them. Harvey

 

I remember my mom getting a 'toaster' handed through the window at a Gulf station, after a fill-up in Winnemucca, Nevada in the late 60's....and us kids each got a plastic Gulf token......we never been to the station before (were on a vacation), but I guess they were pleased with the $5 fillup.

 

Ha! I worked for a short time at a Flying 'A' in '63, (waiting for my position at the Cadillac dealer) There was a pump jerk that kept a 'mental tally' of the Blue Chip stamps people said "no thanks" to, and at the end of his shift he'd pull about 36" of the roll off, and in his pocket they'd go.
I didn't want to 'snitch' on the guy, but the boss was straight up.
My wife had a polaroid camera, so I got 2 shots of him, one pulling the l-o-n-g roll of stamps out, the next tucking them into his shirt pocket as he walked.
The boss opened the cash drawer to stock it every morning, and there were 2 pictures of ol' John pulling his caper.
Backfire! That day and all next week I had to do my assigned auto repairs, and be the pump jock!

 

This was Gulf station back in the 50s an early 60s,its art deco design from the 30's,they gave away dish's an glass with fill ups in the 50s an 6os,its still there an I go back to it sometimes,but no give away's now.

 

Oh, Yeah! Shell steak knives: '63? Think so...my friend Karl had a Shell station in San Jose, was giving out the steak knives, one for each purchase. He gave me a set, had 'em for years.
A while after the campaign began, the 6 O'clock had a headline news story!
MAN ATTACKS NEIGHBOR WITH A SHELL STEAK KNIFE
The steak knives were no longer offered....

 

I did the same thing. Someone didn't want stamps, I just pulled 'em anyway and saved them for my Mom. She's the one who used them to help me get sheets, towels and blankets, etc for my 1st apartment. You know. the stuff we guys never thought about as long as the place had a garage!

 

I think I still got one of those 76 Balls around here somewhere.

I don't remember how much gas you had to buy but Texaco had a give way truck when I was little. I really wanted one and remember the old man telling the gas station guy that he was never going to buy enough gas and that he was going to sell him the truck. I guess the guy believed him because we left with the truck.

We had a set of Melmac dishes that mom got from the shell station when I was in junior high.

 

WOW! Talk about an unexpected memory/blast from the past! I never would have thought of those Arco Noah's Ark animals if I didn't see the pic above. Was like a lightning strike to the mush between my ears. Since my younger sister and I didn't share well, we had the expectation that we had to have one set each, even though we had ONE FAMILY CAR!

All I remembered was the S&H green stamps... and the antenna balls that my dad never wanted (which sort of disappointed me at the time).

 

Nobody mentioned the maps. There was always a rack with free road maps and on a long driving vacation you could collect a lot of them.

 

Your right,and some of the maps were works of art. HRP

 

Blakely.