Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion Wilshire Items

Hello. I just picked up some Wilshire maps (on the back they say Wilshire Oil company of California) Since I am from NY I have always limited my map purchases to those companies east of the mississippi. I bought these because they are an independent. Are they still in existance today? Are these and related items hmm how to phrase this... rare, valuable? Thanks John

Hey John , Wilshire oil was a west coast company out of L.A they named a street after it Wilshire Blvd , that was were the main office was , they were an independent , and when there meneral wrights ran out and they quit produceing oil they bought it and refined it , they had Polly gasoline , radio gasoline , economy gasoline , polly oil , economy oil , and wilshire oil , they were bought out by signal and standard oil in 1954or there abouts , depinding on what maps you have (years ) they can run anywhere from 10.00 to 45.00, hope that helps a little .

Thanks Dwaine. I bought 4 maps Nevada, Utah & Colorado; Tucson; Phoenix and Arizona & New Mexico. They are not dated per say but the state maps are based on 1960/1962 estimate. The cover is blue with a weather vane.

Helo everyone,

That brings up a question now that you mention Signal Oil Company. What happened to Signal Oil, are they still in existance today? I grew up in Southern MO down around Springfield, and we had a Signal Gas Station and it was there when I went back for a visit this past summer. (I got fuel there from a modern station of course.) There are also some Signal gas stations in Springfield also. Is this the same company? Any info would help.

Thanks in advance,

Easy Butler

Signal oil company was taken over by Standard oil in the late 40ties , but still ran as an independent until 1964 until standard took them in completly, they open all stations under enco for a short time, then moved there headquarters to houston and was used by standard to develop fuels for the space program , at the same time signal also bought out bill-ups oil and they did have a few stations in the south that used to be bill-ups . but the name hasn't died , as subsidiary of standard oil they bought a large share of fram , a french company , and now there name is on the boxes , ( fram-signal )oil fiters , but before 1964 they bought a lot of small companys , wilshire , hancock ,mohawk ,regal ,norwalk , the only longest running independnt west coast company was , SEASIDE 1898 - 1972 they were a branch of getty oil from 1946 but still ran as an independent , the last and the longest ,

Sorry guys i have a retraction , on Wilshire oil , they were not bought by signal , they were taken over by Malco oil company , a Anderson family owened company , I have the book little Giant of Signal hill, if you don't have this book , you need to read it , it tells about alot of history on the west coast , and how the oil companys on the west coast were invited to Saudia Arabia to set up oil sites , and refinerys in 1946, thats how the little camel salt an pepper shakers from oil companys came about ,


I have a young friend by the name of Paul Charlton , he has a lot of very good info , thanks Paul ,

[This message has been edited by Dwaine Buck (edited 11-17-2002).]