Check The Oil! - Letters From Europe

Check The Oil! magazine has two regular columns that are directly related to the topic of this Website. Letter from Europe looks at the relatively undeveloped Petroliana collecting scene in Europe and also at the history of European Petrol Companies. Dave Leach's regular map column covers Oil Company Road Maps from the USA and also internationally, including Europe.

Letters from Europe

November 2007: Roadside Memories Museum This letter features the museum established at Colyford, Devon, with its extensive collection of petroliana, including many petrol pumps rescued from small local filling stations. The museum is housed in a purpose built annex to the former garage in the village, which was originally built in the early 1930s and was frequented by T.E. Lawrence at one time.

September 2007: Five Gallon Cans Many British lubricants companies, especially those not affiliated to petrol suppliers, sold motor oils in five gallon cans that could be stored by motorists at home to provide oil when needed. The larger format also allowed the grpahic artists a more expasnive canvas on which to decorate the oil can. The example shown here copmes from Millers Pistoneeze from the 1960s; others shown in the article came from Bartoline, Coopers, Gamages, Liberty, Qualube, Silver Knight, Sternol, Thelson Oils, Vigzol and Vitafilm.

July 2007: The 2006 Beaulieu Autojumble In advance of the 2007 Autojumble, this letter looked back at the previous year's event. Among the items shown were the two globes here, from the British independent brands Sadler (which was acquired by Q8) and Baxter Johnson (which is now owned by WCF), with its Monty Pythonesque sign.

March 2007: Rob Griffin's Badge Collection Rob Griffin is a Welsh collector of enamel badges, from all industries (not just petrol or oil related). Some of his most interesting and graphic oil company items were featured, including the National Benzole and Mobiloil badges shown here.

January 2007: The tenth birthday of Letter from Europe This article celebrated over 10 years and 50 editions, by updating some of the earlier stories. Among other items, it featured a 1934 service station in Newbury with an unusual green pantile roof that the twentieth century society wish to preserve. It also added Veloxol and Vitamol to the list of V..L lubricant brands.

September 2006: Alcohol Blends

Taking its cue from a 1930s photograph of a Cedar Rapids, Nebraska gas station on the September page of the Check The Oil! calendar, this article looked at some of the suppliers of alcohol-petrol blends in Europe, including Agrola from Switzerland and Cleveland Discol from the UK.

July 2006: Shell's 1930s German Maps
The topic covered by this article needs no introduction to users of this website, as it focused on maps from pre-war Germany.

May 2006: V..L brands This Letter from Europe was written as the 45th, and offered a chance to look at V..L brands of petrol and oil in Europe: Veedol, Viscobil, Varol, Vigzol, Vanwil, VOL, Viwobil, Vaxol and two not ending in "L" - Valvoline and Vostaline. VOL Service station in Beek en Donk, Netherlands, 2000

January 2006: Beaulieu Autojumble

The annual review of the Autumn Autojumble included a number of signs - a valuable BP the Winner from the 1920s, an early Castrol Fill Your Sump from the Castrol pump and this Dutch No Smoking warning from Sunoco look-alike Deluxol. It also featured two-stroke pumps and a selection of plastic globes from the UK.

July 2005: Brussels Retro Festival and the Museo Fisogni

This Letter looked at two quite separate things: the October 2004 Brussels Retro Festival and the Museo Fisogni in Northern Italy. The annual Retro Festival has a limited amount of petroliana for sale and in 2004 it included a fine Toneline flange sign. In contrast, the Museo Fisogni is Europe's largest collection of petroliana, but it too is for sale...

March 2005: Beaulieu Autojumble March's Letter from Europe looked back to the Autumn Autojumble at Beaulieu. Among the items on offer were enamel signs for Royal Elephant paraffin and BP "Banish Pinking", as well as globes from NFO, EP and Avia. But one of the more interesting items was an early 1960s colouring book given away by Esso dealers called Uncle Bill's Surprise. Inside children were able to colour quite detailed scenes including Esso stations for both cars and boats.

January 2005: Alan Vale's Collection

Alan Vale is a Surrey collector of vintage cars who, around five years ago, decided to add some petroliana to help display his collection. Since then he has become a major collector and restorer of petrol pumps, as well as having a number of high quality smaller items, including a pre-war Shell samples kit designed to show garage owners the range of Shell oils and greases available. A book about his collection can be ordered from www.petroliana.co.uk

September 2004: Total - the International Gasoline

The French company Total, which used the slogan "the International Gasoline" on its now sold-US operations, has through its recent acquisitions of Fina and Elf become one of the top 4 oil companies in the world. This article, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the introduction of the brand, traces its history and includes a rare image of a TOTAL-GB filling station, resulting from a short lived joint venture with Tenneco in the Netherlands.

July 2004: Dominion News Dominion started supplying petrol to English filling stations in the 1920s and was soon acquired by the US company Marland Oil. In 1934 Dominion Motor Spirit was sold to Shell-Mex & BP Ltd, but the name continued to be used as a discount brand at free stations. To help give a quality image, it gave away a monthly magazine, Dominion News, and this Letter looks at some of the illustrations and other content from the publication.

March 2004: Toy Rail Tankers

Earlier Letters from Europe have looked at toy road tankers, so this one turned instead to rail tankers, mainly made for the UK, French and German markets, by firms such as Hornby, Bachmann, Lima, Jouef and Märklin. One attraction is that they often model names found only rarely on maps, such as Burmah, Campsa or Elan, as well as early companies such as GLICO, Carburine and Trent Oil Products (Top). This OO gauge Airfix kit of an Esso tanker was also featured.

January 2004: The 2003 Beaulieu Autojumble

The 2003 Beaulieu Autojumble was blessed with hot sunny weather - so hot that some vendors thought buyers were reluctant to buy! Among the goods on offer was this pre-war enamel sign from Shell's Asiatic Petroleum Co with inscriptions in English, Chinese, Tamil and Malay.

November 2003: Brussels

Brussels has several different features for those interested in service station history, including displays of enamel signs from Elektrion Motor Oil and other companies in the Autoworld museum. It also still has service stations built underneath apartment blocks - and the Atomium, as featured on 1958 Esso maps.

September 2003: Spidoléine

Spido enamel signs, originally mounted on walls, are occasionally found (left). Spidoléine was the brand name used by S.A. A. André Fils of Paris, a lubricant company established in 1877. Like many such companies, it occasionally issued a "Guide Spido", with hints on choosing the right oil. The 1929 Guide was, typically for its age, augmented with stylish adverts for Spidoléine (right).

July 2003: Techno Classica Essen (and Service Station design according to Minale)

April saw the 15th Techno Classica Essen show, which is probably Europe's largest classic car show. Among the petroliana on display was a finely restored Esso Zapfstelle pump, dating from the 1930s. The same edition also included a report from Earl Ma on work done by the late Marcello Minale, including his designs for Lukoil service stations (seen right in Bucharest).

March 2003: French Standard Service Stations from the 1930s

This Letter from Europe looked at some photographs of Standard (Esso) service stations in France, shown in a book of Esso Itineraries, first published in 1934. Several distinct architectural influences were noted, including the US originated design shown left at Creteil, near Paris.

January 2003: The 2002 Beaulieu Autojumble

This was the second report on the petroliana available at the National Motor Museum's autumn autojumble and commented that it was a good year for globes, but less so for pumps. One of the more unusual globes came from John Hudson, an East Anglian independent that later joined Avia, but which had been converted into a Total by adding a self-adhesive decal.

November 2002: Petrol Tankers

There are possibly more people in the UK interested in road tankers than maps or general petroliana, so this letter reviewed a couple of fairly recent books devoted to the subject. Graham Edge's A Century of Petroleum Transport was highly recommended, although Hinton Sheryn's Illustrated History of Road Tankers also has points in its favour. The article started with the memory of a sighting of a Sotro tanker in 1967; it ended by showing a Sotro station overgrown with trees 25 years later.

September 2002: Memoires en Route - an exhibition in Paris

In May 2002, a group of French collectors arranged a small display of automobile and map related collections at the Autodrome of Linas/Montlhéry, just South of Paris. Among the collections on display were enamel signs owned by Luc Beunoit, including this fine example from Raffineries de Pechelbronn, showing its Antar, Socaline and PEN logos. Socaline (=Société Alsacienne des Pétroles) is not known to have issued maps, except through its joint venture in Switzerland with Petrofina, Socal Fina. Luc maintains an excellent web site displaying part of his collection: www.pubemail.com

May and July 2002: Trading Stamps in Europe

These two articles looked at trading stamps in Europe. May's started with those generally issued including Green Shield Stamps, S&H Pink Stamps (used as Sperry & Hutchinson could not use green), the Co-op, Blue Chip and the short-lived UK operation of King Korn (left). July's looked at Belgian names such as Valois and Melior, and those linked to service stations such as Look, or issued by petrol brands including Jet, Esso, Seca, Butler and Antol (right).

March 2002: Theo multiple pumps
In the 1930s, the Liverpool-based firm of Theo & Company Ltd sold "multiple pumps" where a single fuel dispenser could sell up to six brands of fuel. These allowed UK service stations to offer all the popular grades without cluttering their forecourts.

January 2002: Alternative sources of petroliana in the UK

Petroliana can be quite hard to find in the UK. As well as the popular Beaulieu Autojumble, there are other events where it may be found, including the Great Dorset Steam Fair held every September, where the Vacuum Oil Company sign shown here was on sale.

November 2001: The origins of Elf
With the recent mergers to create TotalFinaElf, this letter took a timely look at its history, including some of the smaller names associated with it such as Elan, La Mure and NerVol.

September 2001: Romania

Romania claims to have the world's oldest oil industry, dating back to 1857. By the start of the Second World War it had many refineries and independent companies such as Steaua Romana, which issued the share certificate shown here in 1923. After the war it developed along national lines until the mid 1990s. This letter looks at some of the few surviving items from the pre-war industry, as well as decribing the Petroleum industry museum in Ploiesti.

July 2001: Susanne and Peter Bonito's Austrian Collection
Susanne and Peter Bonito live in Vienna and have an extensive collection of petroliana, featuring Mobil and Shell. This letter looks at how Susanne started their collection and focuses on some of their favourite items. They also maintain an excellent website.

May 2001: Rétromobile

Rétromobile takes place each February in Paris. The 2001 exhibition had a good selection of petroliana on sale, including cans, globes, pumps and metal signs, such as this 1930s example from Texaco, promoting Babytex lubricants sold in a half-litre container.

March 2001: More small collectibles Carrying on the theme of the October Letter, this article looked at more small collectibles issued by petrol and oil companies, including keyrings, such as those shown from Cepsa and Heron. Also featured were badges and some licence plates issued as a promotional item by Deutsche BP.

December 2000: The Beaulieu Autojumble

Each September, the National Motor Museum in Beaulieu, Hants. hosts Britain's largest autojumble. Many stalls have a selection of petroliana, and this report looked at some of the globes, signs and pumps on sale. One of the more unusual items was an early 1970s globe from Sheaf, made from three sheets of plastic and carrying Sheaf's distinctive purple and white colours.

October 2000: Oil Company Pins

Small lapel pins are amongst the most widely collected items of petroliana in Europe. This article shows 14 pins, mainly from the 1960s, used by service station attendants or tanker drivers, plus a further 13 more recent promotional pins from France.

August 2000: Five old pumps... A look at five old petrol pumps from Britain, each with a tale to tell. One of the five was an abandoned BP pump in Withington, Gloucs. (right). April 2000: Conoco in Europe A brief history of Conoco in Europe, starting with its 1960s acquisitions of Jet, SOPI and Seca. The article also looked at been more recent operations in Scandinavia where Conoco acquired the Maxi and ARA chains, and at the much earlier involvement of Conoco's predecessor company, Marland, when it set up the Sealand Petroleum company in London in 1926.

February 2000: Petrol companies as publishers European petrol companies have often published books, partly as a means of encouraging motorists to get out and see the countryside. This article looked at several examples from Britain, published by companies such as Shell, BP, National, Jet and Total. It also refers to some published in continental Europe.

December 1999: Tunisia in the 1930s This month the letter crossed the Mediterranean to Tunisia and looked up at the oil companies operating in there in the 1930s. There are copies of some classic adverts which were published in la Tunisie Automobile, the magazine of the A.C.T. Companies represented include Shell, Esso, Mobiloil, and Kervoline. A classic early 1960s Total station is also shown.

October 1999: The history of Fina Noting that Fina had just been acquired by TOTAL, this month's letter looked at the history of Fina from its origins in Belgium in the early 1920s. Starting with the production of oil in Romania and Chechnya, Fina soon developed a downstream activities in Belgium, France and Britain, where it acquired Citex.

The article shows Fina stations operating under a number of different signs, as well as the Socal Fina variants used in Switzerland. There is also mention of Fina collectables including the once ubiquitous inflatable toys and cars given away by British service stations.

August 1999: The London Classic Motor show and Britain's last globe?

The London Classic Motor show is held in late March each year at Alexandra Palace in North London. The 1999 show included some interesting small Petroliana, and featured an interesting display of cans and other small items from Mike Berry. The article also looked at a recently discovered design of Butler globe that appears to have been introduced as late as 1996.

April 1999: Speedwell Oils
Speedwell Oils were marketed by the British Oil and Turpentine Corporation under the slogan "running made easy" and showed a tiger chasing a native boy with a can of Speedwell Oil on his head. A 1935 booklet promoting the oil ran to 136 pages of hints, tips and delightful advertisements. The letter also looked briefly at the oil can collection of a Cambridgeshire collector.

February 1999: Ray Walls' globe collection Ray Walls has several hundred globes in his collection ranging from early examples by Shell, Bluebird and Pratt's to relatively modern plastic globes from companies such as Ultramar, Baxter Johnson, Sadler and Burmah. December 1998: Ray Walls' Petroliana collection Raymond Walls lives just outside Belfast in Northern Ireland. He has what is probably the largest collection for Petroliana in UK with several thousand items: mainly from Britain and Ireland, but with a few from France, Holland and the USA. Highlights include large numbers of lubricating oil cans, two gallon petrol cans and enamelled signs dating back from the 1920s.

October 1998: The Russians in Europe
Russian oil companies have time to time become involved in the Western European petrol markets. One of the first of these was ROP which sold cut price petrol in Britain in the 1920s and 30s under the ZIP brand. Another Russian operation used the Natfa brand in Sweden in the 1930s and this name was revived in the 1960s for use in Britain and Belgium. Nafta's British operation was sold to Q8, which had bought Gulf in the rest of Europe, and the letter also shows a rare UK Gulf globe still in use at a small Devon garage.

June 1998: Retromobile
Retromobile is the largest annual event devoted to Automobile and boat related materials in France. The February 1998 show had some excellent enamelled signs, cans and globes on display.

April 1998: Children's toy tankers and garages A look at children's toys produced by companies including Matchbox, Dinky, Hot Wheels (formerly Corgi) and Majorette. Two Indian models, based on early Dinky designs, were also featured in the colours of Bharat Petroleum and Indian Oil.

February 1998: The role of Petroleum Co-operatives in Europe
This letter featured the history of the OK co-operative based in Sweden. It also looked briefly at some of the agricultural co-operatives in the UK with retail fuel operations.

October 1997: Petroliana in Sweden To coincide with the opening of a large exhibition at the Nordiska Museet in Stockholm called "Bilen" (cars), the article looked at some of the Petroliana to be found in Sweden. Items were also featured from the Motor Museum in Motala, and there was an image of maps from a number of companies.

August 1997: Giveaways from British service stations There was a brief look some of the football related giveaways from British service stations as well as a small garage in Cheltenham that had been operating more or less continuously since 1912 under one family ownership.

June 1997: Two British Museums
This letter looked at the collections of Petroliana that can be found in the Cotswold Motor Museum in Bourton-on-the-Water and in the Lakeland Motor Museum at Holker Hall in Cumbria.

April 1997: Europe's secret service stations
Three American companies had small service station operations in Europe that were not publicised by in the USA. They were Kendall and Getty which both operated in Italy in the 1960s, and Phillips 66 which supplied the small chain in Britain under the TOPS brand.

February 1997: German Zapftstellen
In the 1930s when space in German cities was at a premium, many oil companies developed so-called Zapftstellen that were basically small sidewalk buildings that both stored and dispensed petrol. The letter shows examples from Olex, Leuna and BV.

December 1996: Finds in East Anglia
East Anglia is a predominantly rural area of England where there are still a reasonable number of smaller service stations. This letter showed a pair of Phoenix pumps plus an abandoned station on the A143 and described some of the other smaller names to be found in the area.

October 1996: BP and Mobil collectables As BP and Mobil were about to merge their downstream operations in Europe, this letter looked at some of the collectables to be found from the two companies, including a rare modern design of Mobil globe.

August 1996: the first letter from Europe
The first letter from Europe gave an introduction to the collecting hobby in Europe and showed advertising signs from BP and Dominion Motor Spirit.

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