Rogue Gas Stations (Branding In-Tact, Not Actually Branded)

[a42887]

On my way from Cheyenne, Wyoming to Rapid City, South Dakota, I came across two rogue stations that show branding that I'm 99% sure they don't actually get product from anymore.

The first was in Mitchell, Nebraska.



They still fly the Texaco logo (and are currently selling gas), but a search on Texaco's website shows that they are not recognized by the company as a dealer.  The station still looks exactly as it does in the street-view.

The second was in Oelrichs, South Dakota.



This station still looks exactly as in the street-view as well.  The logo isn't even an Amoco sign, it still says Standard.  They also still have the old 2x2 style price board, with updated prices.  They are also still selling product, and a search of BP's site shows no station listed there.  BP pulled out of South Dakota a while ago anyways.

Does anyone else know of any other 'rogue' stations like these?

[corco]

When I saw the title of this thread I immediately thought of that Standard station- I drove by it in October and got a picture


I also have an incidental shot of that Texaco (it was behind a reassurance shield) from February 2009- looked about the same then


I don't know of any others in that area- I think there was a fake Sinclair in Newcastle but I can't find any evidence of it

[realjd]

As for stations labeled Standard, there are a few in existence still. Each Standard Oil child company owns the right to that trademark in their respective states. To keep that trademark, they must maintain at least one station in each state still branded Standard Oil. So you'll find at least one Chevron station in Florida that's labeled Standard, at least one BP/Amoco station in Indiana labeled Standard, at least one ExxonMobile station in NY labeled Standard, etc.

I thought Texaco got bought out by Chevron. Are there any actual Texaco-branded stations anymore?

[Truvelo]

I don't know what the situation is over there but here when a gas station closes or changes brands the first thing that goes is all the existing branding including the signs and often the colour of the fittings is changed to a neutral colour. Gas companies for some reason don't want to be associated with closed or run down sites. One thing that often gets overlooked is the digits on the price sign. You can tell by the style of the numbers what branding it originally was.

And another thing - every vehicle in the pictures posted in this thread is a gas guzzling pickup

[a42887]

Texaco is definitely alive and well. Chevron maintains the two brands separately, adding "with Techron" to Texaco signs on sites that they own. However, there are no Texacos left in Nebraska. The closest site is in Rock Springs, Wyoming.

As for the pickups, you try living in an area that routinely gets 12" of snow with multiple foot drifts while working in the cattle industry, and see how your little car does. You won't make it a foot.

[corco]

And another thing - every vehicle in the pictures posted in this thread is a gas guzzling pickup

This is the part of the country where people actually use their pickups for work and survival. It's not like Mr. Douchey McDouchebagerson in downtown Los Angeles who drives his F-350 to Safeway to buy Corona. That guy you can have a problem with. These folks- they need their pickups to tow giant trailers and haul ranch stuff around.

As for the roads themselves, you pretty much need a 4WD vehicle (not AWD, 4WD) to get around rural Wyoming/Nebraska/South Dakota/Montana/North Dakota in the winter. You can technically get by without one, but it's not advised, especially once you get off the major highways (as I know residents of the area do) where giant drifts build up.

Texaco is definitely alive and well. Chevron maintains the two brands separately, adding "with Techron" to Texaco signs on sites that they own. However, there are no Texacos left in Nebraska. The closest site is in Rock Springs, Wyoming.

From what I can tell, Texaco is pretty much used as a "backup" name these days in places- there's still plenty of them, but they're all within about 1/10 of a mile of a Chevron station from what I can tell.

[agentsteel53]

(not AWD, 4WD)

what is the difference? (on a four-wheeled car, that is)

[corco]

(not AWD, 4WD)

what is the difference? (on a four-wheeled car, that is)

The main difference is different range/torque settings. All wheel drive is the same as 4WD in a simple sense, in that all wheels are getting power. If you have a Jeep with SelecTrac 4WD for instance, you have four settings- 2WD, 4WD Full Time (which is essentially the same as AWD), 4WD Part Time which is good at lower  zpeeds but gives your car a bit more torque and you don't want to go more than 35 MPH, and 4WD Low, which you can't really go more than 5 MPH in but has uber torque.

My car (Jeep with CommandTrac) has 3 settings- 2WD, 4WD High, and 4WD Low. 2WD is good for 99% of driving. I can safely go up to 50 MPH (and faster! but it's bad for the car) in 4WD High, which gives me a bit more torque than a comparable AWD car, and 4 Low, which is the 5 MPH thing.

The advantage is that if you actually need 4WD/AWD, you really shouldn't be going more than 50 anyway (no, you don't gain anything by using 4WD on a long, flat, snowpacked straightaway that you can do 55-60 on, especially once you're already up to speed), and the engine generates more torque compared to the other system, which makes it easier to drive in unplowed snow. But that's not the important part.

When you're in rural Wyoming/SD/NE/MT/ID/Northern Plains & Mountain states, you need that 4WD Low. If you get stuck, 4-Low is a godsend. The main time you'll get stuck is pulling into an unplowed parking lot or something at night and not realizing quite how deep the snow is, or on the rural road out to some random ranch, you'll often encounter giant snow drifts or mudholes that can only really be driven through in 4WD Low. Part time/High doesn't give you enough torque, and AWD would leave you crying for you mommy. Those roads are often pretty minimally maintained and plowed, so from October to April and can be hard if not impossible to get a passenger car down them, hence all the pickup trucks. If you live in Rapid City or Cheyenne you can certainly get by without a truck, but if you live in Oelrichs or Mitchell, you very likely need one just to get home at night.

[agentsteel53]

gotcha.  I'm familiar with 4L - once motored my way up a 43% incline in Iceland, doing about 3mph at 4000 RPM!

[Andrew T.]

The tale with Texaco is a bit complicated.  In 1998, they entered a partnership with Shell (called Equilon and Motiva) to combine their refining and marketing assets.  The corporation merged with Chevron in 2001...under the condition that their interest in Equilon/Motiva was sold.  Shell then spent the next five years converting pre-existing Texaco stations to their own banner.

In 2004, Chevron gained the legal right to open stations under the Texaco name again.  Texaco has been (very) slowly reappearing in some areas; chiefly the west and south, since then.  Both "old" and "new" Texaco stations coexisted for a time...a bit confusing, since they wouldn't take each others' credit cards.  As if that wasn't complicated enough, a few errant stations seem to have managed jumping ship from the "old" Texaco (Equilon) to the "new" (Chevron) outright during the transition period; as if nothing had happened.

I've seen several "rogue" Union 76 stations in the upper midwest.  Unocal more or less exited the gasoline retailing and refining business in 1997, selling their west-coast assets to Tosco (who kept the 76 name in force, and was eventually absorbed into ConocoPhillips) and their midwest assets to Petroleos de Venezuela (whichever stations didn't switch to other brands became Citgo)...so it's anyone's guess where the gas for places like this comes from:

[mightyace]

I've seen several "rogue" Union 76 stations in the upper midwest.  Unocal more or less exited the gasoline retailing and refining business in 1997, selling their west-coast assets to Tosco (who kept the 76 name in force, and was eventually absorbed into ConocoPhillips) and their midwest assets to Petroleos de Venezuela (whichever stations didn't switch to other brands became Citgo)

I knew that corporate mergers and maneuvering were behind Union 76's exit from NASCAR.  But, I guess I didn't know the whole story.

It's odd to go to and/or watch races from places like Talladega and see the Sunoco logo instead of the Orange 76 ball that was as much a fixture of NASCAR as Winston's sponsorship of the series.  It's especially disconcerting seeing the logo in places that have either never had a Sunoco station or haven't in 30 or 40 years.

[JREwing78]

corco's explanation of 2WD and 4WD systems is a bit off

2WD - Self-explanatory
AWD - Can drive all 4 wheels, all differentials are unlocked (so the fronts and the rears can travel at different speeds)
4WD High - Same gear ratios as above (so torque output is the same), center differential is locked so that front wheels can't travel at a different speed than the rears.
4WD Low - Same as 4WD High, but with very short gearing (much greater torque, but slow speeds)

Some vehicles can not only lock the center differential, but the front and rear differentials as well, so that all 4 wheels move at the same rate regardless of surface.

[corco]

^
|
|
--- He's right, although I will add that  a SelecTrac Jeep in 4WD Full Time functions the same way as the AWD you describe. Same with the default 4WD setting on many post-1997 Ford trucks (either called A4WD or 4WD Auto). I'm not sure about GM.

[elsmere241]

Back in 2004, I saw a gas station in Pittsville, Maryland (at MD 346 and MD 353) that clearly had once been an Amoco.  The only thing that was missing was the name.

[a42887]

I've seen several "rogue" Union 76 stations in the upper midwest.  Unocal more or less exited the gasoline retailing and refining business in 1997, selling their west-coast assets to Tosco (who kept the 76 name in force, and was eventually absorbed into ConocoPhillips) and their midwest assets to Petroleos de Venezuela (whichever stations didn't switch to other brands became Citgo)...so it's anyone's guess where the gas for places like this comes from:

Where is this station located?

[Andrew T.]

Where is this station located?

That particular one is in downtown Sheboygan.  I've seen others in Cleveland, Wisconsin and (IIRC; it may be gone now) Paradise, Michigan.

[golden eagle]

There's a station up the street from me that still has evidence of it once being a Conoco station.

[msubulldog]

As for stations labeled Standard, there are a few in existence still. Each Standard Oil child company owns the right to that trademark in their respective states. To keep that trademark, they must maintain at least one station in each state still branded Standard Oil. So you'll find at least one Chevron station in Florida that's labeled Standard, at least one BP/Amoco station in Indiana labeled Standard, at least one ExxonMobile station in NY labeled Standard, etc.

As far as ExxonMobil's stations are concerned, the only reference I have seen to "Standard" (or "Esso" to be exact) is that stations in states like North Carolina, Tennessee, et al that still have the right to market the brand offering "Esso Diesel." I even saw "Esso Uniflo Motor Oil" back in 2004 at a truck stop in Arkansas. I have yet to see any stations themselves with the Esso name. Is what they have done with Diesel and Motor Oil good enough to maintain their rights to the Esso brand?

[1995hoo]

Around here most of the Texacos became Shells, although I know of one that is now a Gulf (the only Gulf I know of around here). 

[msubulldog]

Gulf is making a comeback, especially in the South. A year and a half ago a convenience store chain in New England that has had the right to use the name in that region purchased the right to use Gulf in all 50 states from Chevron.

[TheStranger]

A former Arco in Dixon, CA recently became a Texaco in the last year...around the same time, a non-ampm Arco in Rancho Cordova (one of the few Arcos to accept credit cards) switched over to the circle star as well.

Don't know if I've seen one in the Bay Area yet, I do recall there being one up in Oroville a few years back as Chevron was reintroducing the brand.

[us175]

Gulf is making a comeback, especially in the South. A year and a half ago a convenience store chain in New England that has had the right to use the name in that region purchased the right to use Gulf in all 50 states from Chevron.

It's strange to see a Gulf logo image as one of the billboard ads at Rangers Ballpark.  There haven't been any Gulf stations in this part of TX since the 1984-1988 transition to Chevron.

[Brian556]

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=32.011814,-97.130121&spn=0.000005,0.006845&z=18&vpsrc=6&layer=c&cbll=32.011814,-97.130121&panoid=OcmNaX1ymHVcdVTN1T1uDQ&cbp=12,320.89,,1,0
This old Gulf station is in Hillsboro TX . I did some poking and found out that it has been restored. I visited this area a few months ago.

[InterstateNG]

Where is this station located?

That particular one is in downtown Sheboygan.  I've seen others in Cleveland, Wisconsin and (IIRC; it may be gone now) Paradise, Michigan.

There's another Union 76 in Downtown Alpena.