Gas Stations Forum

[StoreLiker2006]

I wonder if we could have a forum on this board dedicated to gas stations and what they currently look like as opposed to what they used to look like back in the '50s, '60s, '70s and '80s.

Two gas station giants that come to mind are Texaco (abbr. of Texas Company), and Union/Unocal 76.

Texaco, from the mid 1960s to the early 1980s, built their gas stations in the "Matawan" motif, named after the city of Matawan, NJ, where the first location with said architecture was built. Then, in late 1981, they came up with the "System 2000" stations (these can be identified by a black canopy bearing the TEXACO name in red lettering on one side, and their current red circle/white star logo on the other end, and a tower sign bearing the red circle/white star logo) that were used as a vehicle for their current logo (a red circle with a white star and "T" cutout).

And then we have Union/Unocal 76. From 1962 until the late 1980s, one could easily identify a 76 station by the motorized orange spheres that say either "76-Union" (1962-1967) or just "76" (later 1967 on). The 300R architecture that was first used at a location in Thousand Oaks, CA, was a trendsetting design that lasted until the mid 1980s, when Union 76 was reorganized as Unocal 76 (UNOCAL = UNion Oil of CALifornia). The current 76 logo dates from 1967.

In recent years, many people were mad at ConocoPhillips (who had sold 76 in August 2008 to Petro-Sun), and organized a website called http://www.savethe76ball.com/ to show their frustration towards the removal of the classic orange 76 balls and their replacement by flat signs; CP had responded by donating the 76 balls -- those that were otherwise to be crushed -- to preservation societies, and some 100 new or remodeled locations were even given red-orange motorized 76 balls.

I am also posting this as to gain any classic pictures you folks have of these old stations and architectures.

~Ben

[TRJ_22487]

I posted these in another thread from Keene, NH in the 70's and 80's




Winchester St, Keene location between 1980's and late 2000's. The building is the same but the garages were modified to a convenience store in 2004

[nims57]

I would love to contribute but we already have a gas station thread already. Not 100% sure but I think the headline got corrupted to "Getty" by mistake when the site got redone over a year ago.

[nims57]

Here you go: http://amesfanclub.com/forum/index.php?topic=2227.0