Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums Showcase and Stories, Petroliana COTM- The Colorado Brands!

This month we will be doing something a little different. We will be covering all the brands that are native to Colorful Colorado. Many of the colorado crew will be adding to this thread and we will try to add history, as much as is know where possible. Below is a list of brands:
Powerine, Fargo, Oriental, Navy, Frontier, Cliff Brice, Red Dot, Speedway, Sommners, Motoroyal, Gasmat, Gates, Conoco, Autolene, Paramount, Hortons and there may be a few more. We were thinking of starting alphabetically but now looking at the list I say, postem if you got em!

We will be reposting some items and history from companies already featured in COTM so don't hold back if you forgot to post some pics.


[This message has been edited by powerlube (edited 02-01-2008).]

Autolene was a cut rate marketer of oil products in denver. I will try to dig around for some history but they did have bold looking oil cans:

Also pictures is an oil can from Red Dot Oil, I will try to find my grease can for a photo.

I FOUND THIS GLOBE IN THE EARLY 80'S ON A FARM IN NEBRASKA.I HAD STOPPED TO INQUIRE ABOUT A PUMP THAT HAD 2 SINCLAIR SIGNS ON IT.THE GLOBE WAS OVER HEAD IN A CORN CRIB.

A few Colorado contributions from California. Jerry Thompson collection in Los Alamos, CA. He's a fan of anything with a horse on it.







[This message has been edited by the poor mans museum (edited 02-02-2008).]

In an effort to kick start this a little bit...Here is Speedway done by RTOIL:
Speedway was the brand name of the United Dividend Corporation. It was started in 1930 by Finis Renfrow and his sons in Canon City, Colorado. He started with 2 stations in Canon City & 1 station in nearby Florence, Colorado. At one time there were 4 Speedway stations in Canon City & 1 in Florence, quite a few for such a small area. Through the 1930's stations were added most every year and reached their highest number just before WWII at about 43. Most of the stations were along Highway 50 in Southern Colorado stretching from Lamar, Colorado to Grand Junction, Colorado. In 1933 one of the Speedway stations in Canon City started staying open 24 hours. I have a letter from Mr. Renfrow to the mayor of Ogden, Utah about expanding Speedway into Utah in 1937, but, nothing ever came of this. As with many smaller stations WWII saw its decline. A Grandson of the owner told me he thought most of the stations were sold to Texaco in 1942 or 1943. By the end of the war there were only about 17 stations, by the late 50's just 2, with the last Speedway station in Canon City closing in the mid 60's. At one point Mr. Renfrow & a partner tried starting up stations with the brand name of Gold State, with at least 1 station in Antonito, Colorado, but, this brandname never caught on and soon disappeared. Mr. Renfrow had company banquets, sponsored a basketball team, entered floats in the town parades, and put out a monthly newsletter sent to all the dealers. I have a picture of a Speedway float with a Red Ripple body Speedway globe set on each corner of the float, If he only knew what they would be worth 1 day. Most of the pumps in the pictures I have seem to be Tokheims 36 & 36B.

At its start Speedway sold Champlin gasoline, I'm not sure how long this partnership lasted. They sold their own Speedway branded oils & greases. Speedway containers that I know to exist are..1 quart..2 gallons..5 gallons...1 pound grease..5 pound grease..most in 2 different styles. early style is dark green can with red lettering...later it was a cream colored can with red & green lettering. I have seen about 4 different globe styles. There are not many signs from Speedway...I have pictures of many of their stations and most of the signs were painted on wood. I have never seen a pump plate in any picture, but, who knows what's out there. As far as I know Speedway put out 3 styles of maps, all before the war. As with other stations, they put out calendars, salt shakers, matchbooks, etc. Besides Speedway oils, they also sold Quaker State & Veedol at various times, I have a Veedol oil sign that is printed on the back, property of United Dividend Corporation. I have included pics of the Speedway items I have, with my best 1 being the large neon sign which hung out by the street. I don't have any of the globes. I found the neon sign here in Canon City after I put an ad in the paper for Speedway items. A man who had just bought the original UCD office in Canon City said there was an old Speedway sign on the third floor & he didn't want it...a lucky find, the Veedol sign was there too. The Speedway nose sign was off Ebay. If you have others I'd like to hear about them. There must have been some confusion at times at whether it was Speedway or Speed-Way...I have a Speedway map with both variations on it, which seems kind of funny. I don't get out to shows like I used to, but I think Speedway stuff is a little hard to find,,,,I put ads in the paper once a year & all the antique dealers here know I'm looking for Speedway stuff, but, finds come slowly.

a few station photos:



Thanks Ron, awesome stuff. If you ever tire of that neon I would love to own it!

Anyone care to post a picture of the globes?

Ok I searched the archives and came up with this one, who will put the high dollar one up?

Great Speedway stuff Ron.
I have a pic of that "high dollar" one but can't post the picture. Bummer!

HERE are some items from the Motoroyal company.

5 QT


1 QT Viscoil

Household Oil


This Bay station has a Motoroyal "Royal Oil" sign on the front of the building and there are two curb signs below the bulk tanks. I'd sure like to have one of those curb signs! More about Bay later!

Its about time that I get involved here..... Another, small, Denver based company was Far-Go.


This 1934 listing, shows the company headquarters at 2900 Walnut Street in Denver, now, the home of Threewitt Cooper Cement Co. I spoke with the current president, a while back. He told me that the current building was built in 1958. During the demolition and construction, they found a "lot of pipes" in the ground.


Here is a pic, of one of the Far-Go stations, on South Broadway Blvd, at Maple, in Denver. Owned by Frank L. Hansen, who actually owned two Far-Go stations on Broadway. This is station 2, shot some time between 1930 & 1940. According to Bruce hanson, of the Denver Public Library, the last listing, in the Denver City Directory, was in 1953.



[This message has been edited by Thunder II (edited 02-03-2008).]

the Far-Go oil, was known as Penn Far-Go.

Picture deleted..... The picture pirates are stealing the images....

Here is a pic of a two sided, hand painted sign.

[This message has been edited by Thunder II (edited 02-12-2008).]

Good stuff Thunder!
Here is another Fargo sign from my archives.

Thunder..I love that Fargo station pic....If we could just find that neon sign. Does anyone own a Fargo globe?

Ron, I've asked just about everybody, and nobody has been able to show me a Far-Go globe yet. While at Clyde Hodges place, I saw two Far-Go lubesters. The decals were covered over with decals from Colorado Petroleum. I contacted the president, and he told me that he had no knowledge, of his company, taking over any Far-Go assets. They were more than likley, just old dispensers, that were re-identified. That, has so far been my best lead to any Far-Go items.
Now how about some of your Far-Go stuff Ron?

[This message has been edited by Thunder II (edited 02-03-2008).]