Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums Showcase and Stories, Petroliana COTM- The Denver Powerine Company

This article is dedicated to the pursuit of the Power-Lube tiger. Not a rare animal, but very desirable and highly sought after by collectors. The great graphics on their signs and cans started at 11 original company owned stations that were later distributed to over 450 stations, from the Rocky Mountain region and to the west coast. Today the old stuff is hard to find and usually expensive when you find it. Here is the tale of the tiger…Happy Hunting!



It was founded as “The Denver Powerine Company” on February 7, 1913, in Denver, Co. The original incorporators were J.R.Ross, W.S.Dawson, and Arther Ponsford. The charter gives the purposes, as to “buy, sell, and deal in, job and distribute gasoline, naphtha, kerosene and other petroleum products. The authorized capital stock was 50,000 shares, at a par value of $1.00. Fred Cramer a miner who had made his fortune in Breckenridge Colorado during the gold rush took over Powerine after only 6 months of operation. The “Power-Lube” brand name was introduced almost immediately, and that was joined by “Autocrat” in 1917. In 1918 the change to the final form, “AutOKrat”, was re-registered. The final form of Power-Lube was registered in 1925 (Tiger, lettering style, colors, etc.). Powerine was just as creative when it came to marketing their gasoline by using a Bearcat that represented the high test gasoline. Low end gasoline went by the name Crystal while mid grade was called "72" as in 72 octane. They added a fourth grade when an Ethyl blended product by the name of Bearcat Ethyl. They advertised this new product with some very popular but hard to find matchbooks showing the Bearcat and Ethyl getting married.



By March 1919, the par value of the stock had been raised to $5.00. The Cramer family also incorporated “The Powerine Company of California”, in the 1920’s, which was to engage in exploration, development, refining, transportation, and marketing in Arizona, California, and Nevada, and investment in real estate. They also incorporated the “Powerine Marketers, Inc.” to take over marketing in the states of Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming.



The company realized the advantages, at the time, of marketing Pennsylvania motor oil and they were fairly early member of the Pennsylvania Grade Crude Oil Association. Their signs and cans bore the organization’s “football-shaped” symbol with the permit #127.



On April 8, 1927 the company name was officially changed to “The Powerine Company”.



The end was in sight in 1945, when The Powerine Company, The Powerine Company of California, and Powerine Marketers, Inc. were completely bought out by a Jersey Standard subsidery-Penola. Penola immediately registered the Oval E trademark and started rebranding the 450+ Powerine stations and redesigning all the product containers. The end of Powerine came in with the beginning of 1946, with the acquisition of all it’s assets by the Carter Oil Company. The Carter Oval E signage disappeared around 1959, as it evolved into the Enco brand. Only five employees were offered severance packages because they were greater the 50 years of age. The compensation packages were less then $5,000 for each person depending on how many years they had worked at Powerine.



The Powerine stations, that operated in the Los Angeles area since that time, have nothing to do with the Cramer family or Jersey Standard/Exxon. They were operated by what had been the Rothchild Oil Company. Rothchild simply changed their name and re-registered the Powerine name when it was abandoned by Exxon in 1972. Definitely not to be confused with the Rocky Mountain Powerine. The artwork on their colorful cans has electrons orbiting around a large atom, with their name in the nucleus. The porcelain pump plates were a simple white background with red lettering.



The PowerLube porcelain signs are out there in number, and are very popular and sought after by collectors. The rare thing to find is a PowerLube or Powerine sign in excellent or better condition. There is the story of an irrigation ditch discovered outside of Pueblo, CO that was lined with Power-Lube signs. The owner sold them to a scrap metal dealer, and they were probably destined to be melted down at the big C.F.&I. steel refinery in Pueblo. A sign collector found them in the scrap yard, and was literally buying Power-Lube signs by the pound! He hauled them out to Iowa Gas, and resold them all to other sign collectors. I think that is why so many signs you see have that “white haze” damage, which will almost never buff out. They were once one of the many ditch signs, submerged underwater years ago, and oxidized with age. Another PowerLube sign discovery has surfaced recently on Ebay. The seller is putting about one sign a week up for auction, and has been selling them for quite a few weeks, maybe months. Soon we will here the story behind this great find!



The common porcelain signs were made by at least 2 different manufacturers, the Wolverine Porcelain Company (with white-outlined letters) and the ENESCO Company (without the white-outlining). The common size is the 24”x28” two-sided sign. They also made a reflector-ized tin sign, in that same size, which was used as a curb sign. An original curb sign in it's wrought iron frame was discovered at the annual Big-3 Swap Meet in San Diego, at the Charger Stadium. It is held every February. There was also a small embossed, one-sided tin sign from the Cork & Badge Company, St.Louis, MO, however, to date only one sign known to exist. An interesting Ebay find!

Beware of the tin and porcelain signs from the AAA-Sign Company!!! They are all Reproductions, no matter how beat up they are! For that matter, never buy a sign from the Desperate Sign Company either! All Repros!

The most beautiful would probably be the big 3ft by 5ft 2-sided porcelain dealership sign. It is hard to find in excellent condition or better, but What a Sign! There are several versions of the larger sign; however there are only a very limited number of big signs known to exist. It is not known who the maker was, however it looks like the work of the Wolverine Co. There is a double-sided version with white outline and one without outlined letters, as well as a single sided version without the white outline. There were also differences in that some have grommet or holes for hanging and some where hung in a bracket without any holes at all. There was a discovery of several of these 3x5 signs that were used to line the floor of a root cellar in Colorado that was being remodeled. Lucky find!

Powerine had several different globes; however none are as plentiful as the red & white Powerine gas globes, that in comparison to the other products were very plain. There as an exciting Bearcat Fuel gas globe that is extremely rare, and very graphic. There is a super rare Crystal gas globe and Bearcat Ethyl globe, which were discovered recently in old station photos that were previously not known to exist. There is also a photo of a smaller PowerLube one-piece globe that topped their oil bottle towers, out by the gas pumps! The sad part is that none of these globes may have survived. For that matter, has anyone ever seen a PowerLube oil bottle? Tough stuff!

The oil cans are very special, as is the case with the signs, they are in high demand when good shape. Several sizes from quarts to 5 gallons exist, and in several varieties, from motor oil to greases. The style of these cans stayed pretty much the same for the life of the company with some minor changes to the colors and logo’s used. The most important difference was the color change of the tiger. The early cans were yellow & blue, like the porcelain signs. For some reason, around the early 1930's, the can colors were changed to orange & blue. There are no known signs done in the orange & blue colors. Maybe the color change was an unpopular one, a marketing flop?

Powerine was a marketing machine. Fred Cramer was president of the independent oil mans association and believed in marketing to ensure the company could compete with the ‘cut rate’ suppliers, as well as the better known national brands. The used door-to-door letter drops to introduce stations in the immediate area. Powerine used give-a-ways and Powerine stamp collecting to earn oil products, or other household products, such as dishes (without the Powerine logo). They also used other advertising media such as traveling billboards, ads in atlases, children’s' Speedtest board games, radio shows, midget racing sponsorship, pin the tail on the Bearcat promotion and many other gas station promotions. One of my favorite quotes from a the "Powerine Prompter" made note of the large number of old service station gas pumps that they had collected (and destroyed!) for the war effort in WWII.

Little known tiger trivia…

Legend has it that the early Power-Lube Tiger was copied in Great Britain, as the more familiar Esso Tiger. When the famous Esso / Exxon Tiger was imported to the U.S. from Great Britain, for the 1960’s “Put a Tiger in your Tank” ad campaign, it was actually the Power-Lube Tiger brought back, after being exported to Great Britain in the first place!

This article was written by Craig Palmer and Scott Wright. We have researched the company and facts with the information that was available. If you can add anything to it please do so!


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Scott Wright-
Wanted Powerine, Bearcat and Powerlube Items- Lots to trade!

I thought that it might be fun to see some of the old stations to start this out. I have picked throught tons of old photos and some are better then others! There will be a lot of these photos to come. We will start with the company owned stations






All the stations above were company owned. Maybe the style is semi-southwestern?


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Scott Wright-
Wanted Powerine, Bearcat and Powerlube Items- Lots to trade!

Nice Job Scott! Thank you for the great history on the Denver Powerine Company. I need more tigers and bearcats for my garage.
You Rock!

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[email:capalmers@aol.com]capalmers@aol.com[/email]

Has anybody out there ever seen a PowerLube Handy Oiler? Please contact Scott or Craig, if you have a rare PowerLube / Powerine item that you could share a photo of?

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[email:capalmers@aol.com]capalmers@aol.com[/email]

Here are the different color 5 quart cans from the different PowerLube time periods.

Got any Rare PowerLube stuff or photos to share? Please contact Scott or Craig, even if you just ahve a question. Happy Hunting.

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[email:capalmers@aol.com]capalmers@aol.com[/email]

Got to have more Tigers! Got it bad for the PowerLube Tiger...
Got something Rare to share? Please contact Scott or Craig, even if you only have a question. Happy Hunting.

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[email:capalmers@aol.com]capalmers@aol.com[/email]

Got PowerLube? Got a question? Please contact Scott or Craig. It is all for fun!



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[email:capalmers@aol.com]capalmers@aol.com[/email]

Scott..Great Company history. Here is the exact Tiger image used in the 1923 Canon City, Colorado High School Annual. They were called the Canon City Tigers. Tha Annual was Nonac Regit..Canon Tigers backwards...

Dang it will be hard to follow those posts but lets go ahead and add some more photos:



Yep during the war even the ladies worked at the stations



I hope you all enjoy this thread as much as I am.

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Scott Wright-
Wanted Powerine, Bearcat and Powerlube Items- Lots to trade!

Do you see those cookie cutter tigers and bearcats on the roofs? Man I would love to find them!
This has to be the highest gas station in the world. Its sets at the top of Berthoud Pass in CO. If you have ever been to Winter Park CO to go skiing you have driven right past it.
Powerine was a premium fuel in its day. The police had to use Powerine to keep up the the robbers!

Notice the Crystal gas. The lowest grade of Powerine gas.


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Scott Wright-
Wanted Powerine, Bearcat and Powerlube Items- Lots to trade!

Powerine had its own full time sign painter and during the depression they used hand painted sign for most of the stations. There was a variety of signs that are now gone so I thought it would be great for us all to see what once existed in the stations of yesteryear. I scanned copies of some of the station signs that were painted however some are not the best quality... I want to thank the Smith family for allowing me to publish them for everyone to see.





This one was made to be seen from a distance.

Good Stuff Scott and Craig.
That Bearcat curb sign made my heart stop for a minute there!
I think I'm OK now!
chris

Scott...Please don't post anymore pictures..I'm already taking blood pressure pills..another curb sign might push me right over the edge! Ron

This is exelent one of the best com presentations I have seen. It must have taken many hrs of reserch. I realy appericate the effort put in to this. tis is one of the best topics on this forum. cant waite to see more. Thank you for all the hard work and info, is most enjoyable.
Thanks again guys!
Brandon

GEEEEEEEEZZZ, Anyone notice ALL them GLASS TOP Tok. 36B's !
GOTTA GET ME 1
db

Missed that DB.
Is that the pumps in the Longmont, CO picture? Thats where I live but I have no idea where that building is. Might be gone now.
Also an interesting oval looking Powerine sign in that photo that I have never seen before.
If you have any more info on this station let me know.
Need to find out where it was.
chris

Yup, & the pic above it [2 on right] & also in the station being painted [1 curbside].
db

Thanks for the kind words guys! There is still more to come. We will come back to some more station photos but lets move on to some other areas for a bit.

Most companies that operated during teens through the 30's had more bodies that could work then money to pay for advertising so they did a lot of door to door grassroots advertising.

They stoped by each house to introduce the new station and manager. Often the offered a free lube job to try out the service. Remeber cars got there oil changed every 1000 miles then.

Sometimes they mailed letters too.


The company tried to assist new jobbers to get new locations to sell the powerine products as well.

Some unused letterhead from a jobber near my house that I have yet to find the location of...

How about the business card of the founder son George 'Geo' Cramer who was responsible for selling powerine to Carter... Thanks Geo!
Please add pictures or send them to me of any of your Powerlube items. Duplicates are OK!!!



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Scott Wright-
Wanted Powerine, Bearcat and Powerlube Items- Lots to trade!

Here is a rare tiger. When this can was offered to me, I really could not afford it. But I get so few calls, that I could not afford not to buy it. So sometimes you just have to grab the tiger by the tail...and later on you will be gald that you did.
Got PowerLube stuff? Or got a question? Please contact Scott or Craig

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[email:capalmers@aol.com]capalmers@aol.com[/email]

Here is a photo for Scott Shipers - Quart Can Collector extraordinaire and friend in the hobby! He spotted the can with the pretty girl - from the Thermoil Co. 1920's-1930's Elk City, OK.

Will always trade for PowerLube. Please contact Scott or Craig

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[email:capalmers@aol.com]capalmers@aol.com[/email]

Here is a photo for Scott Shipers - Quart Can Collector extraordinaire and friend in the hobby! He spotted the can with the pretty girl - from the Thermoil Co. 1920's-1930's Elk City, OK.

Will always trade for PowerLube. Please contact Scott or Craig

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[email:capalmers@aol.com]capalmers@aol.com[/email]

Here are a couple of bitchin' decals! Be sure to make plans to support Scott Wright and attend the Rocky Mountains Front Range Gas Bash this summer. Scott might have some extra PowerLube / Powerine to sell or trade...
Got PowerLube? Got a question? Please contact Scott or Craig. Got it bad for the tiger!

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[email:capalmers@aol.com]capalmers@aol.com[/email]

First off, excellent job Scott and Craig on the Powerlube thread. Next thanks Craig for taking the time to photograph that truly awesome anti-freeze quart can, I really appreciate that.

Great job guys and keep it going.

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Scott Shipers
Kansas City, MO

Cool stuff Craig!

some station uniforms

My favorite one!


Cool lighter. They were filled with Bearcat Motor Fuel!!!

More give aways. The red matches are a new find.

The model in the above photograph also worked in the bookeeping department. She went on to be marred to the sign painter who worked for powerine.

Another note about the sign painting, the painter son emailed me today. The Bearcat curb sign was painted on the lid of a barrel and he also made them for other companies. The original patterns for many of these signs still exist!

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Scott Wright-
Wanted Powerine, Bearcat and Powerlube Items- Lots to trade!

Where did all the pumps, signs, globe and other powerine items go?? Well these photos tell the sad story!

Powerine stations served as collection centers during the war effort for metal and rubber. This picture is of a nearby school who collected scrap metal and are delivering it to the station to be collected. Reading through all the station newsletters I nearly cried when I read:


Hey Dick more glass tops!!

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Scott Wright-
Wanted Powerine, Bearcat and Powerlube Items- Lots to trade!

[This message has been edited by powerlube (edited 04-03-2006).]

WE WANT MORE
Scott,
In Last picture, the pump by corner of building WHAT GLOBE IS ON TOP ?
db

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**PUT A LID ON IT**
1qt RE-LIDDING

I am glad you are enjoying this Dick. I hope others are as well. I will be out for the next couple of days so I am not sure if I will get to the computer to post more photos but I will try.

In the meantime enjoy these. This was sent to me by a fello oldgasser:

Did you notice those bearcats pulling santas sleigh?? AWESOME!

Anywhere there was a tank it was used to advertise for the company.





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Scott Wright-
Wanted Powerine, Bearcat and Powerlube Items- Lots to trade!

Scott,
ENLARGE the details [bearcat/santa], some of US don't have the eyesight you younger guys do ! LOL
DB

Sorry about that Dick. :0

While I am out here I will add some more. Powerine was in trouble early on with the pricing of there gasoline. They priced it 3 cents per gallon more then the 'cut rate' gas stations.

The Denver Post a major newspaper in Denver launched an campaign to end the price gouging and actually was able to get powerine to lower the price. Could you imagine paying 50 cents more per gallon of gas at a powerine station then the stations down the street? Well that what happened, in today's money the price powerine sold there gas for and the price that the other smaller stations sold the gas for was a 50 cent difference... How did they get that premium? ADVERTISING plain and simple. People believed that Powerine Bearcat fuel gave them better perfomance.

Powerine sponsored all the races and advertised in all the newspapers. Everywhere you looked Powerine was there.


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Scott Wright-
Wanted Powerine, Bearcat and Powerlube Items- Lots to trade!

Need a reminder? How about a PowerLube Oil Change Reminder Tag? Another Important Reminder ... Be sure to make plans to support Scott Wright and attend the Rocky Mountains Front Range Gas Bash this August. Scott might have some extra PowerLube / Powerine to sell or trade!...
Got PowerLube? Got a question? Please contact Scott or Craig. Happy Hunting!

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[email:capalmers@aol.com]capalmers@aol.com[/email]

[This message has been edited by TigerHunter (edited 04-05-2006).]

[This message has been edited by TigerHunter (edited 04-05-2006).]

[This message has been edited by TigerHunter (edited 04-06-2006).]

Here are some old Powerine ads I have. Six Total. One ad is dated 1926 in the text. All six ads are dated 1926 on the back side with a stamp. These were cut out of a Denver newspaper by someone.
This first one addresses what Scott had mentioned earlier about the price of their gas. It says "Forget the extra nickel"

The next one is also interesting as it has a sidebar that says Powerines employees ar not allowed to accept tips and that taking a tip is a "can-able" offense.





[This message has been edited by RARIN TO GO (edited 04-05-2006).]

Need a light? How about a PowerLube / Powerine matches and lighter? ... Be sure to make plans to support Scott Wright and attend the Rocky Mountains Front Range Gas Bash this August. Scott might have some extra PowerLube / Powerine to sell or trade!...
Got PowerLube? Got a question? Please contact Scott or Craig. Happy Hunting!


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[email:capalmers@aol.com]capalmers@aol.com[/email]

WOW Chris- Those are great ad's. THe denver post at one point pulled the Powerine ad's and refused to market for them becuase of the price differance. That forced powerine to lower there prices.

Cool matches Craig. The white matches is how Powerine introduced Ethyl being added to the bearcat gasoline. Them getting married is a cute little advertising collectable. Does anyone else have any other matches?

That lighter is the best. Being that they wanted it filled with Bearcat Motor Fuel ads to the coolness.

Anybody else have pictures to post? Duplicates are Good! Anyone have some maps?

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Scott Wright-
Wanted Powerine, Bearcat and Powerlube Items- Lots to trade!

How many of these have you seen?

The only powerlube one I have ever seen for sure!



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Scott Wright-
Wanted Powerine, Bearcat and Powerlube Items- Lots to trade!

Here's my tiger.

And my Powerine sign.

And my Powerine globe. One of my favorite globes.

More about Powerine. Lets start with this one to piggyback on Chris's globe:


The center globe is for the Crystal Gas- No known examples exist. Man I bet that is a neat globe

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Scott Wright-
Wanted Powerine, Bearcat and Powerlube Items- Lots to trade!

A few more for tonight, don't get tired yet we still have over 130 pictures to go!

Fred Cramer the president of powerine did not die till near the end of powerine but prior to that his son George 'Geo' was really running the show in Colorado and California.

Here in 1934 he ordered some of the powerine lighters for the California operation from the Denver headquarters

Internal order forms for the stations


How about some of the old postcards?

They were used to remind patrons to change there oil.

The above card is a new version and a new find. I need one of those signs!

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Scott Wright-
Wanted Powerine, Bearcat and Powerlube Items- Lots to trade!

[This message has been edited by powerlube (edited 04-07-2006).]

Anybody like to play board games? Powerine had a special board game made called speedtest.






They also had a marketing campaign to push Powerlube as the oil for the 'high speed' age

Has anyone ever seen another one of these games?
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Scott Wright-
Wanted Powerine, Bearcat and Powerlube Items- Lots to trade!

[This message has been edited by powerlube (edited 04-08-2006).]

NO!! Do you have it? Larry

WOW super stuff everyone and great job Scott!
I put a sign up so people would know I am a disposal/recycling facility for old gas pumps and signs but nothing yet. Must have been the war.

100+ more pics? You're killing me.
Regards,
May COTM

I do have one of the games but there are only a couple more that I know of in family members of the company hands. A few more station pictures for you all:




I wish this picture was better, notice the two powerine globes on the sign? I need that one. OK who am I kidding I need it all!!

Notice the truck? Check out this tire cover. They put a decal on it but under the first coat of paint you can see powerine and powerlube script.


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Scott Wright-
Wanted Powerine, Bearcat and Powerlube Items- Lots to trade!

Wow Scott! Keep it coming!
I love the pic with the 3 different Powerine globes. Good Stuff!!!

Lets look at some of the paper items:
Another ad-



This atlas also is found with blue text instead of green.

Some artist blocks


They marketed the oil as the best for Chevrolet and ford. You name it Powerine was the best for it.

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Scott Wright-
Wanted Powerine, Bearcat and Powerlube Items- Lots to trade!

Scott are you making a Bearcat globe and decal?? As i have an Erie 53 like the 3 in your pic...would look great done up in Bearcat!!

The globe art is in the works and I should have something in the next week to show everyone.
While we are on the topic of globes- Grab your drool bucket:

I wish this one was in my collection!

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Scott Wright-
Wanted Powerine, Bearcat and Powerlube Items- Lots to trade!

WOW, Nice stuff. How many globe exist? Any idea? Larry

There was some conection with the Parco gas company as many station photos I have seen also include some Parco items.




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Scott Wright-
Wanted Powerine, Bearcat and Powerlube Items- Lots to trade!

Some more items:




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Scott Wright-
Wanted Powerine, Bearcat and Powerlube Items- Lots to trade!

some more stuff

Has different marks for tanks such as Model A etc.

I think the badge may have been for a hat





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Scott Wright-
Wanted Powerine, Bearcat and Powerlube Items- Lots to trade!

Anybody have any other powerine planes?


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Scott Wright-
Wanted Powerine, Bearcat and Powerlube Items- Lots to trade!

The powerine company had a biweekly station update magazine that they sent to all of there stations. The thought was that by sharing the ideas that were working at one garage would in turn help another jobber be successful. The station owners or lease's may have been good mechanics but not all were the best businessmen. Likewise some were good at business but not changing oil or fixing common problem's. The magazine 'Prompter' was a very valuable part of me researching this company. I have uploaded all the original scans that I have to my website for any that care to read them. They are all from 1940-1943 during the war years. WARNING- Not for dialup users as the files are very large... Enjoy and let me know what you think!
http://www.frontrangegas.com/powerweb/prompter/

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Scott Wright-
Wanted Powerine, Bearcat and Powerlube Items- Lots to trade!

Wow Scott!!!
Reading all that should keep me entertained for a while!

AWESOME SITE.
I have dial-up, pictures load fast & clear, Newsletters take alittle longer.
Dick

No peeking at the other photos yet Dick!!!

Glad you are enjoying. The best is yet to come!

One more for tonight- First let me state that this was from the WAR time and Powerine was in no way racist company.



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Scott Wright-
Wanted Powerine, Bearcat and Powerlube Items- Lots to trade!

Another atlas with Bearcat advertising

A decal version of the race car give at the stations


I would love to find this sign!

These big signs have the BEST color, a little lighter then the small ones.
See ya tomorrow!

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Scott Wright-
Wanted Powerine, Bearcat and Powerlube Items- Lots to trade!

A couple more


Powerine headquarters back in the day.

Powerine Headquarters now...

The WAYNE 60 on the left appears to have a BEARCAT ETHYL GLOBE the same as the 36B pump door decal posted [in color]. Am I seeing things correct ? Or hoping ?
db

Good eyes Dick- My question is that a real globe or a decal on a globe. More about that later.

Scott

We are getting closer on the bearcat ethyl globe image and I thought you all would like to see a preview:

We are still finishing it up and working on the colors. It's AWESOME!!!

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Scott Wright-
Wanted Powerine, Bearcat and Powerlube Items- Lots to trade!

Wow Dick! You don't miss a thing!
I also think that may be a decal on a glass body.
So Scott is the globe going to look like the decal or like the known Bearcat Motor Fuel globe pictured earlier?
chris

Scott is the decal not going to have "motor fuel" around the bottom like the original? mm

looks like a glass body with a sticker possibly.
Brandon

That will be AWESOME when it's finished. Lots of work getting it to this point.
db

I hesitated posting that picture, yep it will have motor fuel on the bottom just like the original, just working on the colors... More on the decals/globe use soon.

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Scott Wright-
Wanted Powerine, Bearcat and Powerlube Items- Lots to trade!

"SOON"
Your killing me here Scott.

About the decals...


Above are the front and back of the bearcat decals. Now I do not 100% know what they were used for but my BEST guess is that they were globe decals. Notice how the eyes and the words on the back are cut out for light to pass through and how th eyelashes and the eyes are a faint green that would light up. I think that for some of the stations these decals were used on milk glass globes to advertise bearcat motor fuel.

Anybody else have another explanation? These decals would fit perfectly on a globe as they are pretty large.

Scott

I've never seen a Powerlube handy oiler. Are they positively known to exist?

I would like to point out a difference in the "Bearcat" decals. The decal on the 36B door, now in Scott's collection, has the Bearcat going to the right, whereas the globe decal, he is facing the left. I have no explanation for this, it was just a little detail that I noticed.

I'd like to thank Scott for his work on this, and for allowing me to stop by the other day to see some of this stuff.

AWSOME Scott!!!! Thanks!!!

BTW. I wonder which one of the 36Bs in the photos are mine now?????

Welcome Bearcat our new member from Colorado! Years ago there was a famous Colorado can collector, named Ed Love, that published one of the early publications in the hobby, called the "Tiger Rag". The "Tiger Rag" was a newspaper that preceeded the modern magazines, like the "C.T.O." and the "P.C.M."... By the way, Ed Love is still alive! God bless him! Scott has talked to him recently!
In one issue of the "Tiger Rag",
there is a mention of a Rare Handy Oiler, that was discovered in Montana or the Dakotas. I do not remember which...and I am afraid that Ed would not remember either... It is amazing that he is still alive!
We think that there is a Rare Handy Oiler out there somewhere, but as of yet, there have been no photos or confirmations. Anybody else heard of one?
Hey Bearcat, are you a fellow Powerine/PowerLube collector too? Got cool stuff?
Happy Hunting, Craig

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[email:capalmers@aol.com]capalmers@aol.com[/email]

So where are all the cans? Here are a couple I have photographed:

This can went on this wagon- sorry for the crummy picture


From a collectors showcase

Does anyone have any autokrat cans?

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Scott Wright-
Wanted Powerine, Bearcat and Powerlube Items- Lots to trade!

Here is what I believe is a new Powerine item. It called the Katz Eye Tail Light. The address is the headquarters of the powerine company but the name is the Saftey Light Corporation. Also the cat logo is to much of a coincidence with the powerlube tiger and bearcat. Just another new item from this small company!


[This message has been edited by powerlube (edited 04-17-2006).]

This is from when they one had two stations, very early

I think I still have some issues of the "Tiger Rag". Ill have to look.

Here are a couple from the Tiger Rag:

Ed Love and a business partner negotiated for the rights to the powerlube tiger from Mobil. They were in talks to buy a small gas chain and rebrand it with the powerlube tiger. The gas chain deal feel through, man I wish I could fill my car up with Bearcat motor fuel!!!


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Scott Wright-
Wanted Powerine, Bearcat and Powerlube Items- Lots to trade!

DB strikes again!!! Well I am not sure how old Dick is but I have proof that he or one of his relatives lived near this station:




This is the Headquarters statiion

I free pack of Powerine matches to the first person who catches me in posting a photo twice that wasn't planned...

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Scott Wright-
Wanted Powerine, Bearcat and Powerlube Items- Lots to trade!

Scott: Keep up the great job.. I am falling in love with Powerine stuff.. Oh didn't you post the picture of the Company Headquarters already??
Ric

[This message has been edited by DuceCpe (edited 04-18-2006).]

There are two pictures of the station at 14th & Tremont, but one is the actual photo, and the other is the same photo printed in a magazine article. Tricky,Scott. The real duplicate is that top half of the "letters ad"(which I don't have restored yet). Since I have inside information, give the matchbook to the runnerup. Speaking of inside information, my grandfather worked in the office from about 1920 'til the sale. Most of what Scott is posting came from him, and I have a theory about this motley collection. I think we're looking at the (partial?) contents of his desk on the day he cleaned it out. (the recommenation letter didn't pan out). Gary

I like that gary, the contents of his desk. Since you brought up the letter:

Not much after serving the company for 20 years.


I have not calculated that return on an annual basis but something tells me that $900 in 1945 would buy a lot of stuff but still nothing in comparison to a pension.


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Scott Wright-
Wanted Powerine, Bearcat and Powerlube Items- Lots to trade!

I am starting to get confused myself so I am going to post a lot of the photos today and leave just a few for the rest of the month...



They had a radio show and sponsor football game broadcasts

The first maps from this company were folded into a envelope the size of a business card



[This message has been edited by powerlube (edited 04-19-2006).]

The stamp books that were filled also could be used later in the companies history to buy real merchandise such as radios, dishes etc


40 filled books for a radio phongraph!

Another cartoon! Does your car need a visit to the Lube-Serv-Atory?


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Scott Wright-
Wanted Powerine, Bearcat and Powerlube Items- Lots to trade!

[This message has been edited by powerlube (edited 04-19-2006).]

A denver business journal highlighted the company. Yes this is a picture I shown before:


No layoffs during the wars or the depression. WOW!

Christmas party place cards


The above tails were from games that were played at the station. Kids played pin the bearcat tail on the bearcat for prizes. If the kids wanted to come to the station then the parents would be buying something.

Scott in the headquarters picture on the left side...there is 2 looks to be oil jar stands with globes..can you tell from the picture itself what they are? thx mm

One piece powerlube. Was it painted and fired or did it use the decal like the one below?


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Scott Wright-
Wanted Powerine, Bearcat and Powerlube Items- Lots to trade!

Bring on the cans!!! Does anyone have a picture of a one quart AutoKrat can?

Very rare and early AutoKrat can

The most rare can that I know of for Powerlube sorry for the flash in the photo.

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Scott Wright-
Wanted Powerine, Bearcat and Powerlube Items- Lots to trade!

I'll post the rest of the station pics today.






Notice the Parco tanker in the background? I wonder what the connection was between the companies.

This station still exists today.






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Scott Wright-
Wanted Powerine, Bearcat and Powerlube Items- Lots to trade!

Sorry abot the conoco can but I thought you all would enjoy!

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Scott Wright-
Wanted Powerine, Bearcat and Powerlube Items- Lots to trade!