SINCLAIR

Brief History

Sinclair started marketing petrol (gasoline) in Belgium and the Netherlands before 1920 and rapidly became one of the largest distributors. By the early-1920s Sinclair, along with Texaco and Jersey Standard, had a combined 78% market share. Sinclair marketed in Belgium as late as 1969 when Arco acquired the operation and although there were still some Sinclair stations in 1975, they were by then probably independent of its US parent.

Maps:

Sinclair maps of Belgium are not common. Left dates from around 1965 and right from 1967, drawn to a scale of 1:300,000. Note how all the text is in (American) English on both maps. Images courtesy of Michel Breugelmans.

This Sinclair Opaline map comes from Switzerland and is undated. According to its former owner, it may be from the 1930s, or possibly as late as the 1960s! My own feeling is that it is probably pre-war, as the naturalistic dinosaur is similar to some used on US maps in the 1930s. It was produced by Auto Service Aeschenplatz AG of Basel, but it is not known if they were solely a distributor of Sinclair oils, or involved with petrol distribution as well. Image courtesy of Oliver Wileczelek.

Sinclair Refining was acquired by the AtlanticRichfield Company (ARCO) in 1969; Atlantic had also issued a few maps in Europe.

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