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Traveling Michigan and Gassing up Before Self-Serve Column for March 20, 2004

Way before the 1973 Arab oil embargo changed the way we drive and get our gasoline forever, there were several oil companies big and small serving Michigan and competing for business. You may remember if you were around in the 1960s that several of them offered contests and premiums to get you to gas up and get your car repaired at their service station. Yes, there was a time when most gas stations were service stations with mechanics on duty long before drive-thru instant oil change shops became the norm. These gas stations even had attendants who pumped the gas and checked the oil for you!

This is a tribute to three Michigan-based gasoline retailers which all disappeared by the early 1970s, but one old gasoline brand would enjoy a great comeback. We begin our story in 1936 when a 2,500 barrel per day oil skimming plant with a 12 square foot lab and a four-room office was founded in Alma. From this, a full-fledged refining, distribution and retailing operation would develop which would sponsor a popular TV program which became must see TV for any Michigan outdoor hunting and fishing enthusiast on Thursday nights at seven called Michigan Outdoors hosted by Mort Neff. That company was Leonard Refineries. In the early 1960s, Leonard stations throughout Michigan offered Michigan Outdoors hunting and fishing guides to their customers. In 1970, the French-based oil company Total bought Leonard Refineries and their sponsorship of Michigan Outdoors ended when the Leonard stations were rebranded Total stations in 1971. In 1997, the American Total operations were sold to Ultramar Diamond Shamrock which retained the Total name. In 1999, UDS sold its Michigan transportation and marketing operations to Marathon Ashland Petroleum in a deal that included 179 company-operated stores, branded wholesale and contract businesses, five product terminals and 400 miles of product and crude oil pipelines. Unable to find a buyer for the 50,000 barrel per day refinery in Alma, UDS closed it down. Back home in Flint, a petroleum products distributor was established called Genesee Diamond Oil Company at 3638 S. Saginaw St. at Atherton Road around 1929. After World War II, it was renamed American Petroleum Company. American Petroleum was not affiliated with the Standard of Indiana-owned American Oil Company but more on that later. By 1950, it was renamed Cavalier Petroleum Company. Next door to the office was a gas station which sold its products. It would open additional gas stations throughout Michigan as far away as Cadillac at the intersection of US-131 and M-115. Cavalier was run by Barney Sherman who began in the energy business hauling a coal wagon and had as a prized possession in his home a framed picture of John F. Kennedy at a Cavalier station which I believe was taken during the 1960 Presidential campaign. Barney liked telling the story about how he got paid handsomely for selling the Michigan trademark rights to the American Oil name to Standard of Indiana so they could market American petroleum products in Michigan in place of Red Crown/Gold Crown. Around 1968, the Cavalier stations were converted to Best stations and, somewhere along the way, became a secondary brand of Total. I recall when the Phil Flint Oil Company (now RPF Oil Company), which distributed Total gasoline since 1972 (it had distributed Phillips 66 gas since 1933) switched brands to Amoco, the Flint area Best stations became Total stations.

Finally, I pay tribute to a brand which still exists in name only, "Speedway 79" which I put in quotes to avoid confusion with the present Speedway. Speedway 79 dates back to 1935 and was a Detroit-based chain of discount gasoline stations run by the Sucher family. They sold out to another Detroit-based firm, Aurora Oil Company, so that Aurora Oil could better compete with the bigger oil companies. The head of Aurora Oil was Max Fisher who joined his father’s oil reclamation business called Keystone Oil after graduating from Ohio State in 1930. Along with partners who owned Aurora Gasoline, Fisher built a refinery at the corner of Oakwood and Schaeffer in Detroit. Max Fisher became chairman of Aurora Oil in 1932. By the time Aurora Oil was sold in 1959 for $40 million to the Ohio Oil Company which marketed Marathon gasoline, the company Max Fisher built was one of the largest oil companies in the Midwest with 680 Speedway 79 gas stations. Afterwards, Max Fisher invested in real estate and became active in civic and philanthropic causes. The Max M. Fisher Music Center (a.k.a. "The Max"), incorporating historic Orchestra Hall, in Detroit is named in his honor. He is still active at 95!

Ohio Oil retained the Speedway 79 name and even introduced a new simpler logo to read better on freeway signs. On May 1962, Speedway/Marathon launched a joint campaign with a logo of a gift package saying Speedway Marathon. There was also a jingle which went "Speedway’s merged with Marathon, now two great traditions carry on" which meant that the company was consolidating brands. The obvious hint of what was to come was that the merger campaign mentioned that Speedway 79 stations were now pumping Marathon gasoline. The campaign climaxed with a new corporate name as the Ohio Oil Company (one of the original companies of the old Standard Oil Trust) was renamed the Marathon Oil Company and a new Marathon logo was introduced with the big red M that is still used today. The new Marathon logo replaced the old logo with the Pheidippides Greek runner and the "Best in the long run" slogan on a banner below him. The new much simpler logo was much better reading on expressway signs to be read by drivers going 70 mph. The new Marathon signs were installed on all Speedway 79 and Marathon stations. Marathon decided to expand its marketing presence by building new service stations up and down the I-75 corridor. That idea was abandoned because of the 1973 Arab Oil Embargo which left Marathon with several abandoned service stations. The solution came when several of these service stations were converted into high-volume gasoline and convenience stores with self-service pumps and brought back an old name, "Speedway", which became the brand for Marathon’s high-volume company-owned gasoline stations. Speedway became very successful and Marathon formed Emro Marketing (derived from MRO which either stands for Marathon Retail Operations or Marathon’s stock symbol on the New York Stock Exchange) to run the Speedway stations. In 1998 Marathon Oil and Ashland Oil combined their refining and marketing operations to create Marathon Ashland Petroleum LLC which added Ashland’s SuperAmerica stations to Speedway. When Marathon Ashland bought the Michigan Total stations the following year, most of the Total stations were rebranded Speedway with the remaining overlapping stations either rebranded Marathon or closed. Close to home on Center Road near I-69 bordering Flint and Burton, there was a Total (former Best, built by Texaco) station on the Flint side and a Speedway station (third building on the site which was originally Marathon) on the Burton side. The Total station, after Marathon/ashland took it over, first had decals saying that it was operated by Speedway before it was converted to Marathon with the gas usually priced 1¢ above the Speedway across Center Road before the Marathon station closed. That closed Marathon station, built in 1968 as a Texaco station, has just been torn down. One Flint gas station of note is at 509 S. Dort Highway which was originally Cavalier station #7. It became a Best station around 1968, then Total in 1986. In the 1990s, the old station was torn down and the site renovated to become a new Total station. It became Speedway in 2000. So if there is still a gas station in operation which was originally a Leonard, Cavalier or Speedway 79 and stayed with the same oil company, it’s now either a Marathon or Speedway station. Relevant Link: Speedway 79 Jingle, courtesy of Keener13.com