Above, a "76" revolving ball sign. Since Conoco Phillips bought the Union Oil Co., the balls have been removed (with a few exceptions) in favor of flat plastic lighted signs. Conoco Phillips was going to do away with the 76 ball logo altogether, but a public outcry saved the logo.
Bygone Oil Co. Logos
by Armand Vaquer
The oil business is a volatile business like any other. Some succeed, some don't. And some are bought up by bigger oil companies (like Union Oil Co. was gobbled up by Conoco Phillips).
There's some I remember when I was a kid that are no longer around and some have changed.
Here's some whose signs are no longer seen in Los Angeles:
Above, "Flying A Service" disappeared from L.A. in the 1960s.
Above, Gulf Oil bought out Wilshire Gasoline stations in the 1960s (wish I could find a Wilshire Gasoline sign) and then left the L.A. market in the early 1980s. They're now primarily in the east.
Left, here's an old Richfield sign. Those are long-gone, but Richfield is now known as Atlantic-Richfield (shortened to ARCO).
Above, Signal Gasoline has been gone from L.A. since the 1960s.
Above, Texaco was my family's favored gasoline for our cars. Shell Oil gobbled up Texaco a few years ago and there's only a few Texaco stations remaining.
Shell Oil still has its yellow shell logo; Standard Oil still has its red-white-blue chevron; and Mobil Oil still has its flying red horse.
1 comment:
Cool logos, thanks for sharing them Armand! My favorite from "back in the day" was always Sinclair & their green Brontosaurus.
best,
r/e
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