When Wayne and I finished the original two volume Gas Globes Books set back in 1998 or so, our biggest concern was the cross reference problem. We did the best we could with the limited space we had. Many globes can be found using that system back then, but there were just as many gaps. We realized a complete cross reference would wind up as big as one of the large books! So, if you find a gas globe that says, “Valor” which is a very rare Texaco globe, good luck finding it in the books! Today with current technology, gas globes can be searched on our Gas Globes CD we made in 2012 and this will also be the same in our new CD due out soon. Search functions are priceless in today’s fast changing techno society.
I tinkered with the idea of posting on FaceBook, gas globes which the company does not show their name on the globe, such as the “Valor” Texaco globe. I quickly realized the list would be too long but I did post the ones that I feel were the most interesting. These globes are from well known large or major companies and I found it interesting to post photos of a couple dozen of these on the page and also to share this information with our PCM Magazine readers.
Why did companies do this? There are a few main reasons and here they are. Many of these gas globes without a company name are Motor Grade gasolines and the company did not want to put their name on the inferior gasoline. Sometimes the company bought out another company and used their name instead on a sub grade product. Often it was just another logo to attract customers without interfering with their other products. There are perhaps more reasons but these, I would think, are the main ones.
After looking at the photos and seeing what company these represent, you can see how the search engines of today would find such a gas globe in the thousands out there. Some of the examples may surprise you, some you can kind of figure out yourself and others are so rare you would have no idea the company used such a gas globe unless you did a lot of research. One of my favorites is the “Valvoline” magnet gas globe. This globe is not only very rare; it pictures a large “magnet” on it and comes from a very well known and collectible company. Most other major companies used some type of gas globe without posting their name on it and these, to me, are the more interesting ones. It’s strange that sometimes the colors are completely different too!
So you can see from these photos and captions another fun facet of collecting gas pump globes. I’m sure you have something in your collection that falls into this category. Send us some photos!