I was thinking as a young fella growing up in the Bush, how many different fuel brands that were there.
In my town we had BP, Shell, Caltex, Neptune, Ampol, Amaco, Mobil, Golden Fleece and an old mechanics workshop still had Texaco signs from days gone by.
What did your town have can you remember anymore.
-- Edited by Gundog on Thursday 30th of April 2015 05:10:10 AM
The following is a brief history of different petrol brand names used between the 1940s and 1970s:
Caltex was sold from 1936 onwards, up until 1936 it was sold as Texaco.
Ampol Australian Motorists Petrol Company was formed in 1936 in 1949 it changed its name to Ampol in 1982 Ampol acquired Total, and sold their products under the Ampol name in 1995 Ampol merged with Caltex.
Plume Vacuum Oil Company (and its later ownership) sold its petrol under the Plume name from 1916 to 1954, when it changed the name to Mobilgas.
Mobilgas Vacuum Oil Company merged with the Standard Oil Company of New York in the 1930s to become, Socony Vacuum, later Socony Mobil, and later still Mobil Corporation. It introduced its famous Flying Red Horse logo into the Australian market in 1939.
Neptune the Neptune Oil Company was bought by the Anglo-Dutch Shell Company in 1926, but the Neptune brand petrol, with the famous King Neptune logo, was only sold from 1952-1959, when Shell dropped the name from public sale.
Golden Fleece H.C. Sleigh (pronounced Slee) sold petrol from 1913 to 1981 under the Golden Fleece name in 1981 H.C. Sleigh was bought by Caltex.
Shell Shell was marketed by the Anglo-Dutch Shell Company since the 1920s.
Atlantic/Union Atlantic/Union sold its oil and petrol products from the mid-1920s, by 1962 the name Atlantic was replaced by Esso in 1991, Esso was taken over by Mobil.
COR In 1920, the Commonwealth Government in conjunction with British Petroleum, created the Commonwealth Oil Refineries, which marketed their petrol as COR in 1952 BP bought all remaining shares, and sold both COR and BP together at the same service stations until 1959, when the COR name was dropped.
BP British Petroleum sold petrol, in conjunction with COR from the 1920s, but did not use their own brand BP until 1952, and in 1959, the use of the COR name was discontinued.
Total the French owned Total Oil Products Company established its sale of petrol under the Total name from 1954, until bought by Ampol in 1982.
Notes - The above was some information I compiled some years ago for an article about NSWGR railway petrol tank cars for a modelling group.
-- Edited by ShortNorth on Thursday 30th of April 2015 09:48:44 PM
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Wondering about ShortNorth ? - Short North is the railwayman's nickname for the NSWGR main line between Sydney and Newcastle
