History Gas Station give aways & noveltys from the past

Of course most stations gave away road maps with the company brand on them. Late 50s I worked at a Mobil station in my home town of Rhinebeck, NY.

 

Couple of more Mobil items. Plus with regard to the Texaco fire chief hat, who remembers as a kid watching Ed Wynn wear that on the Texaco variety show in the 50s?

 

And don't forget the calendars. HRP

 

I don't remember that but here is a commercial advertising the fire chief helmet. HRP

 

I'm digging the cactus tumblers but what's up with the free station wagons, boats and trailers in the add from Blakley.
A chance to win a real one or was it a toy.

 

Real. Check the fine print at the bottom of the top ad.

 

Was/is Blakley a regional brand of fuel or the name of the stations? HRP

 

I still remember paying for my first map. I had lost my road Atlas ( actually probably left it on a picnic table in a rest area),and wasn't really familiar with the back roads in Utah. $.12,I remember telling the guy that I just bought 2 gallons of gas and that maps wee supposed to be free anyway.

 

My parent's still used these steak knives until about a year ago when I bought them a new set. I wouldn't be surprised if they are still in the house.

 

Match books. HRP

 

I've got a cigar box full of 1970 (or was it 1971) Sunoco NFL Football collector stamps and several collector books.

 

Pretty much Arizona only, later bought by Gulf. http://www.gassigns.org/blakely.htm

 

Didn't pump gas used to be kind of a reddish color? Now it's piss yellow.

They say that odors are one thing that can bring back memories. Worms, lake water, and boat gas mixing together @5 am is one of those.

Firestone had Christmas Carol LPs, still have a couple of these that belonged to my parents. Not bad, and usually play them every year to mark the "official" beginning of the Season.

 

That was "my" cup when I was a kid. Drank many a cup of hot chocolate out of one of those.
All my sports equipment came from saving green stamps and Top Value stamps from the grocery store.
One of my Uncles gave me a huge (to me) Texaco fire truck that you could hook to the hose pipe on one side and it would squirt water out of the fire hose. I havent seen it in a long time, but I'm sure its in my Mama's attic somewhere.

 

Thanks,I really like their match book covers.HRP

 

The Quadrajet on my older brothers' 66 BelAir 327 always had that nasty red residue on it from Shell gas.

 

Remember all the giveaways from barbecue tools, green stamps, glassware also remember getting a set of encyclopedias when buying groceries, buy 1 book weekly

 

Those goodies bring back a lot of memories.My Mom was a green stampaholic.Also remember the Texaco show with Ed Wynn.Great stuff.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

 

green stamps? Missus and I eloped 50 years ago next month and my mother's friends gave us books of green stamps. I still remember what we got, a book case, a blanket, and a lamp. Rest of our apartment was thrift store except the mattress. She wouldn't hear of a used one, had to spend $50 at Monkey Wards for a new one. Learning that "she who rules must be obeyed" has contributed to our longevity together, especially with some of my hot rod peformances over the years.
Some Mobil stations tried free vacuum cleaning for "healthy" driving.

 

We still use these occasionally. 1ea per tank of gas. Late 1950's early 60's in the San Fernando Valley.

 

I remember Shell had a similar give away here, except it was US Presidents on the coins. They also gave away the steak knives. A couple of my Uncles would get the coins and give them to me, I never got a full set, either. They also gave my Mom some of the steak knives after my Aunts got as many as they wanted.
My old man was too cheap to buy the brand gas. He bought at the discount independent stations mostly, although I do remember him buying some from a Phillips 66 station. Might have got a key chain or something like that, but it wasn't much.

 

Front side of a 1952 Flying A calendar card:


1951 Flying A credit card:



And to cap it off - how many gas station mascots had their own Halloween costume?

And yes, I'll admit when I was little I wore one like this for Halloween in either 1968 or 1969... Label on the package read "Humble Tiger" and IIRC they were changing to Exxon and dropping the tiger about that time.

 

In 1960s Oklahoma, Knox Oil gave away these tumblers and a pitcher featuring famous Native American Oklahomans painted by Creek-Pawnee artist Acee Blue Eagle. In the 60s, Kerr-McGee bought Knox Oil but continued to offer the tumblers.

 

Cherokee artist Bill Flores was commissioned to create these four glasses picturing caricatures of Native American characters. These were also given away at Tulsa gas stations in the mid-60s. I am not positive, but I think these were also given away by Kerr-McGee.

 

Man those glasses are awesome. I don't remember any being given away in our area (LAX) but then like someone else said I followed my thrifty Dad's example and bought mostly the cheap stuff - Powerine in our town.
I worked at Herb Hansen's Chevron and we pumped Chevron Custom Supreme into all the Corvettes, it was blue, and over 100 octane IIRC.
While working at Herb's, a gentleman with an English accent came in with a pickup truck. In the bed behind the cab he had a cylindrical tank with a gas cap on one end and a 12"x 12" square plate covering a box on the top accompanied by a bunch of lines and regulators and stuff. He had me put 5 gallons in the end with the gas cap. He said that he put a 12" cube of "effluent" in the top along with his special catalyst and the truck ran on Methane! The gas was for starting only. He handed me a flyer for his conversion and asked me to post it.
Anyone ever hear of such a thing? I was young and wet behind the ears so I believed what he said.
Working in the service stations you met all kinds......

 

I worked at a Home gas station in Nanaimo BC Canada in the early 70's and with set amount of gas bought we gave away beer, wine and shot glass sets.
Needless to say everyone that worked there "acquired" a complete set.
I still got one shot glass left from that time.

 

1961. The "Texaco Tanker". These were real cool. They had tiny wheels on the bottom of the hull to aid in rolling the ship across the ground. Aaaahhh, the memories---------

 

Back in the early 60's, I was at a friends house and on the table was a whole bunch of gifts kinda like at a birthday party. I mentioned the gifts and my friend said that his uncle owned a gas station in the Dalles, Oregon about 70 miles away and when ever they had a contest, they always won wither they entered or not.

 

I forgot all about the Shell presidential coins. Had a bunch of those.

That Texaco tanker is sparking a very distant memory. I wasn't born until 64 but I wonder if maybe my dad had one. Sure seems familiar. Really cool.

 

We went on a long road trip in '70 and Shell gave a book out that you got stamped at each station. Each station had it's own stamp. I was 9yo and totally into it. Little blue stamps.
A long gone, simpler Australia.