Union 76

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Traditional Union 76 in Rocklin, California(2003) Three bays for auto service, and eight fuel dispensers; four serving diesel.

The traditional Union 76 gas station design

A newer design

Union 76 is a chain of gas stations located within the United States. The Union 76 brand is owned by ConocoPhillips. Union Oil Company of California, dba Unocal, the original owner and creator of the Union 76 brand merged with the Chevron Corporation in 2005.

In 1997, Unocal sold its western United States Refining and Marketing operations and the rights to the Union 76 brand to Tosco Corporation. Tosco has since been purchased by Phillips Petroleum who merged with Conoco to form ConocoPhillips. Unocal continued to own the "76" trademark for use in its operations, with the exception of the divested Refining and Marketing business. On August 10, 2005, Unocal Corporation was acquired and merged into a subsidiary of Chevron Corporation.

Unlike other petroleum companies, Union 76 uses ethanol instead of MTBE in their gasoline.

Union 76's gasoline additive is known as PROclean, 76 is also a "Top Tier" fuel.

[edit] The orange ball

Union 76 is famous for its signs, which are large orange balls with '76' written on them. Many stations had the 76 ball rotate when the signs were lit up. The first such sign was designed in 1962 by advertising creative director Ray Pedersen for the Seattle World's Fair.

In 2005, new corporate owners ConocoPhillips began rebranding the 76 stations, pulling down the popular orange and blue ball signs in favor of a "monument-style" sign in red and blue.

Long before Jack in the Box restaurants created their well-known 'Jack's Head' promotional radio antenna toppers, the orange 76 ball invented the concept. Beginning in 1967 tens of millions were made and distributed by Union 76. These were extremely popular, primarily in the Greater Los Angeles area, where they are still frequently seen.

In the popular film The Lost World: Jurassic Park, a T-Rex knocks the 76 ball off the sign, causing it to roll through the filling station, nearly crushing Ian Malcolm's Pontiac GTO.

The Union 76 ball is also a very popular logo in European tuning, in the "Cult Style." The 76 logo is also used on many clothing items in Japan as of 2005.