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Sunday, June 28, 2015

Sinclair Oil Corporation

Above, a Sinclair gas pump at Yellowstone National Park. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

About a couple of weeks ago, writer, director, Godzilla fan and dinosaur expert Donald F. "Dino Don" Glut mentioned Sinclair Oil Corporation due to its dinosaur logo.

Sinclair has been pretty much a regional oil company with gasoline stations in the Rocky Mountain states and in the midwest. On my current trip to Yellowstone National Park, I have seen many Sinclair stations, and there are some inside the national park.

Our tour group stopped at one station in Yellowstone (there were some bison lounging nearby) for a break.

Above, Sinclair Oil toys for sale at the Yellowstone National Park gas station. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

I took the accompanying photographs at the station and posted them on Facebook.

Some have asked about Sinclair Oil and here's what Wikipedia has to say about the company:
Sinclair Oil Corporation is an American petroleum corporation, founded by Harry F. Sinclair on May 1, 1916, as the Sinclair Oil and Refining Corporation by combining the assets of 11 small petroleum companies. Originally a New York corporation, Sinclair Oil reincorporated in Wyoming in 1976. The corporation's logo features the silhouette of a large green dinosaur. 
In 1969, Sinclair was acquired by the Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO). Federal antitrust provisions required the new entity to divest itself of certain Sinclair assets, and as a result, the East Coast operations of Sinclair were sold to BP (which has since purchased ARCO). After the acquisition by ARCO, the dinosaur was phased out, but at least one service station, in Winona, Minnesota, retained the original look through the 1980s. Many Sinclair stations in the Midwest continued to use the dinosaur logo along with ARCO's "diamond spark" logo. At least some Sinclair stations partially retained the Sinclair brand for a time, using ARCO's blue rectangular logo including the "spark" graphic, but with the word "Sinclair" substituted for ARCO. 
In 1976, ARCO spun off Sinclair by selling certain assets to Robert (Earl) Holding. Sinclair has been owned by the Holdings since 1976. Assets divested in the spin-off included ARCO's retail operations in the region bounded by the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains, and the rights to the Sinclair brand and logo, resulting in many stations along Interstate 80 keeping the dinosaur logo. The ARCO stations in Texas, New Mexico, Illinois and some portions of Oklahoma were not affected by the divesture, and they continued as part of ARCO until ARCO pulled out of those states in the 1980s.
Sinclair is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Above, Sinclair Oil's "Dino" toys. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Upon our return trip home, I will make it a point to stop at a Sinclair gas station and, hopefully, pick up some "Dino" toys. Don Glut indicated that he'd like to have one.

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