Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Archives of the best of past topics Best of Shop Talk COTM: Company of the Month for 03/05: Mobil

not Clipper but another Mobil item I found last year:




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obligatory Moblil sign posting, follows above


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I think it was my dear old Dad (may God rest his soul) who used to say…..”Oil cans are sorta like women, they come in all shapes and sizes, and in their own way they’re all beautiful!!” The can designers at Mobil must have felt the same way, as demonstrated here………..




So check my logic here…….if Dad was correct, then it would be accurate to say that MOBIL LOVES WOMEN!!

RICHARD LOVES WOMEN’S CANS

(Correction: above line should read........
RICHARD LOVES WOMEN AND CANS)


[This message has been edited by pegasus (edited 03-19-2005).]

A couple of Aviation products.

GREAT SELECTION OF MOBIL CANS RICHARD KOOL,NEAT SIGNS GARY.
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MOBIL OIL RACKS AND CANS FROM MY COLLECTION.

MOBIL OUTBOARD STUFF.


MOBIL CONE CANS,NOS FULL MARINE GALLON.

MOBIL OIL CABINETS.

THANKS REX
COME ON GUYS LETS SEE YOUR MOBIL STUFF.

As mentioned earlier, in 1930 Vacuum Oil published a pamphlet entitled “The Story of Hiram B. Everest”, who was the company’s founder. It basically details Everest’s life before, during, and after his involvement with Vacuum Oil Company, and includes lots of interesting facts about the company’s early years. Included are interviews with several men who worked for Vacuum in the very beginning. Since Vacuum was started in 1867, that would mean they were at least 75+ years old when interviewed in 1929-30. One part I found especially interesting was from an interview with a Mr. John Schaffer. He lived near the site of the original Vacuum Oil refinery in Rochester, New York, and John’s father was employed there during the original construction in 1867. John and his brother Frank were also employed shortly thereafter to fill cans with harness oil. According to Mr. Schaffer “the first cans used for putting up harness oil were oyster cans obtained from several local restaurants in town. They were square cans with a small hole in the top through which the oysters were inserted one at a time. They were excellent containers for oil as they were well made with soldered seams.” The pamphlet states that “so far as is known not one of these oyster cans which became oil cans is now in existence.” Based on other information in this document, my best guess is these cans were used from late 1867 to about 1869, when demand for the oil made it necessary for Vacuum to construct their own cans.

Shown below is a drawing of the first company-made cans dating from about 1870, which were described as “the new style screw top cans. Artistically painted and varnished. Labeled with the finest steel blue paper. Printed in rich gold color. The gayest looking, the fastest selling, the finest shelf good on the market. Every can is sold with a money back guarantee.”





I found the following image online……it was described as “a square oyster can dating from the Civil War era (1860’s)”.





Looks a lot like the cans John Schaffer described, don’t you think? Based on the above, it seems to me that Vacuum Oil Company itself has challenged the present-day collecting community. They stated back in 1930 that “not one of these oyster cans which became oil cans is now in existence.” But cans very similar are still out there and available……the one pictured above was on eBay! So come on guys, lets accept that 75 year old challenge and find one of those very first, really rare Vacuum Oil cans……..then be sure to offer it to me!!!

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Richard Weir
"Pegasus"
Hillsboro, Ohio

[This message has been edited by pegasus (edited 03-22-2005).]

http://img45.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img45&image=mvc003f4xf.jpg

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GOOOOOOOOOOOOOD STUFF!!!!! way cool. What a great job on the history of Mobil.

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If you love your freedom, thank a vet. If you love anything else, thank a trucker!

Great Information Richard thanks for the Vacuum history lesson.Oyster cans to plastic,Harness oil to Mobil 1 what a story.
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I ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW WHEN VACUUM FIRST USED THIS GARGOYLE RACK,FOUND THIS PHOTO IN A 1918 VACUUM OIL COMPANY BOOK.THERE ARE OIL CHARTS IN THE BOOK DATED 1914.NOTICE ALL THE PLACES VACUUM PLACED THE OIL RACKS AND THE SIGN IN THE RITE CORNER.


THIS GARGOYLE RACK IS MINE AND A OLDGAS GUY HAS ONE FOR SALE ON EBAY #7143619700.

THIS IS A PRICE SIGN CLOSE TO THE ONE IN THE AD ITS THE ONLY ONE I HAVE SEEN,ANYBODY SEEN ONE?

ONE OF MY FAVORITE SIGNS 3X6 FEET GREAT GRAPHIC OF A VACUUM CAN.

THANKS REX

Here are a couple of DoDo's Mobil pieces, I'll let him fill in the details.






Good Luck on the Hunt

Lance / The Pogo Man

The pin I picked up at a bike swap, has a safety pin type fastener on the back. Anyone know the age of it, the red on the horse is transluscent with horzontal lines behind.

The lubechart is from a Imperial station in Nakusp BC, I got quite a few 20's, Imperial newsletters with that.

Should be another pic of a Pegasus tag topper and a paperclip. The tagtopper has a rivet in the body of the horse, anyone seen that type??

Northern Frank..That hat pin is aweswome...drool drool drool.

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Hubba: GAS GEEK , OIL FREAK and humble moderator

In 1933 Socony-Vacuum and Standard Oil of New Jersey (Exxon) merged their Far East facilities and interests into one firm…..Standard-Vacuum Oil Company…..with each parent owning 50 percent. The operations of “Stanvac” soon spanned an area stretching from the east coast of Africa to New Zealand, and it eventually included 50 different countries. Stanvac did business until 1962, when the assets were split between the two owning companies. Here’s three signs that were used by Standard-Vacuum…..two include the elephant image that both Socony and Jersey Standard had used, and the other with the Pegasus/shield image from Socony-Vacuum.






Back then it was Standard-Vacuum…..….now it’s ExxonMobil. So I ask you…….is this déjà vu all over again or what? I guess not really…….but it does seem a bit like marrying your sister….AGAIN!!



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Richard Weir
"Pegasus"
Hillsboro, Ohio

Standard Vacuum never thought of it that way thanks for the history Richard.Nice stuff lets see MORE.
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THIS MOBIL SCOREBOARD CAME FROM THE FORD MUSEUM THEY HAD THREE AND LET TWO GO ITS IN NOS CONDITION AND FRAMED ALL THREE SIGNS ARE METAL EMBOSSED.

SUM FLANGE SIGNS,OF INTEREST IS THE SMALL FLANGE CALLED THE POSTAGE STAMP AND THE YELLOW FLANGE IS ALSO HTF.

STAROLINE IS WHITESTAR,2 SOCONY SIGNS AND A MOBILHEAT LITE-UP.

THE SOCONY IS DATED 1931.

THE MARINE SERVICE WAS IN THE GPM COFFEE SHOP BEAUTIFUL SIGN.

THANKS REX

If there's any question in your mind who MY collecting hero is, you haven't been looking closely at all these pictures and who's been posting them!! I've been there in person, and I'm still seeing things I missed! Hiram B. Everest would be proud, REX, without a doubt!!

Richard