Dean wrote:
... I seem to recall from the 70s that Standard Oil would be listed/painted/displayed upon the service island's "cross beam", with Chevron on the main signs. Am I remembering correctly?
I can speak from some of my observations of stations in the 60s and 70s of Standard Oil of Kentucky (KYSO) stations that ultimately became part of Chevron/Standard Oil of California (SOCAL). The KYSO stations were located in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, and Mississippi (Tennessee was not in the territory served by the company).
KYSO stations, had their own distinctive station deisgns and signage prior to acquistion by SOCAL/Chevron. The stations usually had the words Standard or Standard Oil Company on the the exterior walls somewhere, often above the service bay entrance. The curb sign was usually some variation of their later sign which was more or less a bar with a semicircular bulge on the bottom...the word "Standard" in the bar above the word "Oil" in the lower bulge. A red stripe went around the border of the sign...the words were in white on navy blue background (early years) and navy blue on white back ground (later years). The tall signs adjacent to major highways just said "Standard" typically.
After the acquisition, very few changes were made at the stations, but once SOCAL came out with their updated logo and signage (2 stripe in the chevron rather than 3), some of those changes were incorporated in former KYSO stations. I never saw the older style Standard signage that appeared in SOCAL territory (3 stripes chevron) applied to any KYSO stations, although that does not mean there were not some. Anyway, at this time, the Chevron name had been in use for many years in Tennessee (and maybe Virginia) which were adjacent to KYSO territory. This old signage was similar to the SOCAL signage but of course did not use the word Standard at all...just the word "Chevron" and the chevron emblem shield (oftentimes with additional words above the emblem saying "Chevron Dealer"). Typical curbside signage was the Chevron emblem shield alone (with small wording "Chevron Dealer" at the top of the sign). The tall signs adjacent to major highway exits just said "Chevron" typically or they had the Chevron emblem shield affixed to either the left or right of the word "Chevron" (usually white letters on dark blue background, but sometimes white letters on red background. In various marketing areas, during the era of the older 3-stripe chevron shield, the significance of the red or blue color background around the words "Chevron Dealer" or "Standard.." at the top of the chevron stripes (and to a degree as the background color of the horizontal bar with the "Chevron" name had some significance, but I'm not versed on that.
When the new 2-stripe chevron emblem was rolled out and older stations were updated or newer ones built, KYSO stations emblazoned the word "Standard" on their canopies and used the 2-stripe chevron emblem but with the solo word "Standard" placed above the actuall chevron stripes since these stations were still technically in territory that went by the Standard Oil of Kentucky name. Before the creation of Chevron Oil as the practical operating name for all of the companies in the USA that were in their corporate stable, some stations had begun to utilize the 2-stripe chevron logo shield but NOW with the word "Chevron" in place of the word "Standard." The new Chevron logo was being phased in on the curb sigans, pumps, etc. "Standard" was still however used on the canopies. In situations were stations used a combined sign (with the chevron emblem shield placed to one sign of the company name "Standard") the earliest versions used "Standard" on both components, later incorporated the word "Chevron" above the chevron in the shield itself but again used the word "Standard" to the side. These combined signs were often featured at the highest point of the station as well as on the tall signs adjacent to major highway exits. After the "Standard" name was retired, the word "Chevron" was used on the shields, canopies, etc., everywhere as a marking on the station where "Standard" formerly had been used. It took several years for the last vestiges of the "Standard" name to be swtiched over, but new station designs and architectural treatments were the same as those being used in California and other former SOCAL states.
One more aside, neither KYSO or SOCAL operated in North Carolina or South Carolina until recently, but after ARCO began to withdraw from those markets (70s), SOCAL/Chevron acquired a number of the stations to get a foothold there. I'm not sure if they ever attempted to use the "Standard" name but I'm pretty sure they only went with "Chevron" since those states were prime markets for ESSO (Standard Oil of New Jersey) and the conflict on using the name "Standard" was reserved for them. Only a few years earlier (in the latter part of the 60s) KYSO had forced ESSO to quit using that brand name in KYSO territory since ESSO was the phonetic representation of the acronym for "Standard Oil", i.e. S-O, and infringed on the trademark rights of KYSO.
Standard Oil of Texas, also controlled by SOCAL may have had similar issues with branding and ultimate use of the Chevron name.
[Edited to correct some typing errors and add information]
Last edited by buckhead on 18 Feb 2009 01:20, edited 1 time in total.
