Texaco Dalmatians Advertisements – 1952 (Lot of 2)

Description

The ads measure approximately 10.5 x 14 inches.
Texaco used Dalmatians in its advertising because they are linked to firefighters and fire houses. At the time the advertising started, two of Texaco’s gasolines were named “Fire Chief” and “Sky Chief” and they often used a fireman’s hat in the advertising as well (as seen on both ads).
Texaco, Inc. ("The Texas Company") is now a subsidiary of Chevron Corporation. Its flagship product is its fuel "Texaco with Techron." It also owns the Havoline motor oil brand. Texaco was an independent company until its refining operations merged into Chevron Corporation in 2001, at which time most of its station franchises were divested to the Shell Oil Company. It began as the Texas Fuel Company, founded in 1902 in Beaumont, Texas, upon the discovery of oil at Spindletop, Texas.
For many years, Texaco was the only company selling gasoline under the same brand name in all 50 states, as well as Canada, making it the most truly national brand among its competitors. It was also one of the Seven Sisters that dominated the global petroleum industry from the mid-1940s to the 1970s. Its current logo features a white star in a red circle (a reference to the lone star of Texas), leading to the long-running advertising jingles "You can trust your car to the man who wears the star" and "Star of the American Road."
In 1905, Texaco established an operation in Antwerp, Belgium, under the name Continental Petroleum Company, which it acquired control of in 1913. In 1928, Texaco became the first U.S. oil company to sell its gasoline nationwide under one single brand name in all 48 states.
In 1931, Texaco purchased Indian Oil Company, based in Illinois. This expanded Texaco's refining and marketing base in the Midwest and also gave Texaco the rights to Indian's Havoline motor oil, which became a Texaco product. The next year, Texaco introduced Fire Chief gasoline nationwide, a so-called "super-octane" motor fuel touted as meeting or exceeding government standards for gasoline for fire engines and other emergency vehicles. It was promoted through a radio program over NBC hosted by Ed Wynn, called the Texaco Fire Chief.
In 1938, Texaco introduced Sky Chief gasoline, a premium fuel developed from the ground up as a high-octane gasoline rather than just an ethylized regular product.
Texaco commissioned industrial designer Walter Dorwin Teague to develop a modern service station design in 1937. In 1939, Texaco became one of the first oil companies to introduce a "Registered Rest Room" program to ensure that restroom facilities at all Texaco stations nationwide maintained a standard level of cleanliness to the motoring public.
In 1958 Texaco became the sole sponsor of The Huntley-Brinkley Report on NBC-TV. In 1959, the Texas Company changed its corporate name to Texaco, Inc. to better reflect the value of the Texaco brand name, which represented the biggest selling gasoline brand in the U.S. and only marketer selling gasoline under one brand name in all 50 states. It also acquired McColl-Frontenac Oil Company Ltd. of Canada and changes its name to Texaco Canada Limited.
In 1964, Texaco introduced the "Matawan" service station design at a station in Matawan, New Jersey. In 1966, Texaco introduced a new hexagon logo. The new logo featured a red outline with TEXACO in black bold lettering and a small banjo logo with a red star and green T at bottom.
In 1970, in response to increasingly stringent federal emission standards that would ultimately lead to the mandating of unleaded gasoline in 1975, and later-model cars and trucks, Texaco introduced lead-free Texaco as the first regular-octane lead-free gasoline at stations in the Los Angeles area and throughout Southern California. Lead-free Texaco became available nationwide in 1974. In 1982, several product names were also changed with the advent of self-service including Lead-free Texaco to Texaco Unleaded, Fire Chief to Texaco Regular, and Super Lead-free Sky Chief to Texaco Super Unleaded.