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Posted By: Cold Pizza Sunoco in 1959 - Mon Sep 10 2012 10:50 PM
Taken near my hometown of Elmhurst Il.

Attached picture station1957.jpg
Posted By: Gas globe guy Re: Sunoco in 1959 - Mon Sep 10 2012 11:06 PM
That is cool!
Posted By: TheRoyalCrown Re: Sunoco in 1959 - Mon Sep 10 2012 11:15 PM
Must have been a grand opening type thing with the open house, clowns, and tons of coca cola.
Posted By: Cold Pizza Re: Sunoco in 1959 - Tue Sep 11 2012 12:15 AM
and 100 gallons of free Blue Sunoco.
Posted By: Maps for the memories Re: Sunoco in 1959 - Tue Sep 11 2012 02:15 AM
How far west did Sunoco (pre-Smith Oil era) get in Illinois? There was a DX jobber in Gilberts: I've always wondered where the break was, or were there any cities in IL with both DX and Sunoco?

Nice picture. Thanks for sharing it!
Posted By: Cold Pizza Re: Sunoco in 1959 - Tue Sep 11 2012 10:51 AM
I think there was a Sunoco station in Elgin Il.,but that's as far west as I ventured back then.
Elgin was far,and was like the state of Iowa is to us here near Chicago today.
Posted By: marxmobilgas Re: Sunoco in 1959 - Tue Sep 11 2012 06:26 PM
that is a boatload of Coke behind them..
killer station
Posted By: eshaver Re: Sunoco in 1959 - Tue Sep 11 2012 07:52 PM
maps , I have a book that describes the Sunoco- D- X territorial break. I can't get at it now . I'll try and P-M ya tomorrow . Ed Shaver
Posted By: Maps for the memories Re: Sunoco in 1959 - Tue Sep 11 2012 08:55 PM
Thanks, Ed. I'd appreciate that. The picture on the back of their maps just isn't detailed enough.

Coldpizza--Elgin was the nearest city to us growing up, and we did a lot of shopping there, as well as using Gail Borden Public Library. Don't remember any DX at all, but don't remember Sunoco, either.
Posted By: Cold Pizza Re: Sunoco in 1959 - Tue Sep 11 2012 10:50 PM
I like the tail end of the cars in the bays too.

We had maybe 1/2 dozen Sunoco stations here in the western suburbs.
I don't recall any Dx.

Ed-I'd like to see those territories too please.
Posted By: THE AMERICAN GARAGE Re: Sunoco in 1959 - Tue Sep 11 2012 10:57 PM
Very COOL pic and from the year I was born too!

100 gallons of FREE gas? That's like $400 these days! LOL!
Posted By: Cold Pizza Re: Sunoco in 1959 - Thu Sep 13 2012 01:31 PM
Looks like a '57 Olds and a '58 Chevy hardtop in the bays.
Posted By: Golf Nutt Re: Sunoco in 1959 - Thu Sep 13 2012 02:08 PM
The furthest west pre Smith Oil was Elgin I believe as I filled with Blue Sunoco there several times on the way back from Chicago. Smith Oil was A GULF Oil distributer for many years before Golf oil Corp wanted more $$$ for distributing there products. This was the begining of the end for my friends employment working for this family owned business.
Posted By: Maps for the memories Re: Sunoco in 1959 - Thu Sep 13 2012 09:43 PM
Would it be a safe guess that the Sunoco station may have been on US 20 in Elgin? I certainly don't remember one on IL-19 or in the north part of town.
Posted By: moparman363 Re: Sunoco in 1959 - Fri Sep 14 2012 07:50 PM
I've lived in Elgin my entire life. I'm aware of 2 Sunoco Stations that used to be here. One was on Dundee Av. across from Trout Park(near N.W. Tollway), and the other was on McLean Boulevard, 2 blocks off bypass 20.
I hope this helps jog some memories.
Posted By: Maps for the memories Re: Sunoco in 1959 - Sat Sep 15 2012 12:37 AM
Yes, the Trout Park area one does (finally!), but the McLean Blvd. doesn't. All I remember was a Shell station whose "S" fell off the building. Wildly amusing to a kid!
Posted By: Golf Nutt Re: Sunoco in 1959 - Sat Sep 15 2012 01:25 PM
The one that I remember was near I-90 NW Tollway.
Posted By: moparman363 Re: Sunoco in 1959 - Sat Sep 15 2012 11:00 PM
The one near I-90 is the one across from Trout Park. The one on McLean Blvd. was near the Boulevard tap, across the street from the shopping center that had the Zayre store.
Posted By: neatoldstuff Re: Sunoco in 1959 - Sun Sep 16 2012 01:46 AM
Hey guys...
I won't even pretend to know when the "Smith Oil" days were, just don't know the history, but I had a brother who worked at a Sunoco Station on the West side of Rockford IL, a very close guess would be probably 65' to 67' or very close to that. Always wanted to find a photo of that station but never have been able to...

Coldpizza, very cool picture!
Posted By: Golf Nutt Re: Sunoco in 1959 - Sun Sep 16 2012 03:34 PM
HI Neatoldstuff, I worked at the Smith oil stations @ Rockton and Auburn also the Clover leif and in Beloit WI.
All in the late 1960's. Would sure be nice to find some photos of these and others in the Rockford area.
Posted By: Maps for the memories Re: Sunoco in 1959 - Sun Sep 16 2012 07:10 PM
Took me a bit of time to find these again, but there's a great Webshots album at:
http://news.webshots.com/photo/2483176710046030783vTUsCy
Posted By: Leverhead Re: Sunoco in 1959 - Sat Sep 22 2012 01:38 PM
I working in a Sunoco on LINY that looked just like this. Very cool.
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