Tidewater Petroleum

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Tidewater Petroleum was a petroleum company.

It sold its products under the trademarks Tydol, Veedol, and Flying A. It was eventually taken over by Getty Oil, and now is incorporated in ChevronTexaco.

"Flying A" was a major gasoline brand in the U.S. in the late 1950's and early 1960's, and its disappearance was a surprise to many people. The brand was a sponsor of New York Yankee television broadcasts in one of the company's final years, with the slogan, "Ooooh, do we worry!" and featuring a dog named Axelrod. The commercials sometimes had a jingle with a creative if somewhat odd rhyme: "At Flying A we worry......about your carburetor.....your sparkplugs, muffler, tail lights and your voltage regulator." The Yankees that year had a very poor season. One wonders if maybe a better year by the Yanks might have made the company survive.

The “Flying A” logo history: “Flying A” Gasoline was a product of Tidewater Refinery, at the lower end of Bayonne, NJ. The “Flying A” gas station was well known by automobile owners up to the 1960’s. The history of the “Flying A:” logo is diverse. In 1878 Tidewater Oil Company of Pennsylvania moved to Bayonne, NJ. In 1928, Pacific Western Oil Corporation incorporated as a holding company for Edward L. Dohery and family which subsequently came under the control of J. Paul Getty. In 1938, Tidewater merged with Associated Oil from the west coast to form Tide Water Associated Oil which began to use the “Flying A” symbol of Associated Oil. In 1966, “Flying A” stations on the west coast were sold and the new east coast company became the Getty Oil Company, and in 1969 the brand became Getty. Getty was later acquired by Texaco in 1984.