76 (formerly Union 76) is a chain of gas stations located within the United States. The 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 Chevron Corporation in 2005.
In 1997, Unocal sold its western United States refining and marketing operations and the rights to the Union 76 brand for use in refining and marketing operations to Tosco Corporation. Tosco has since been purchased by Phillips Petroleum, which 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 and Union Oil Company of California were acquired and merged into a subsidiary of Chevron Corporation.
76, Conoco, and Phillips 66 market their brand of gasoline under the brand name PROclean. The previous brand name for their gasoline was Propower. 76 gasoline stopped being marketed under the Propower name after the termination of the commercial relationship between NASCAR and 76 after the end of the 2003 season when the firm discontinued all motorsport fuels. As of October 2004, PROclean brand fuel was included onto the list of fuels recognized as "Top Tier".
In the 1970s and 1980s, the company used the slogan "Go With the Spirit...the Spirit of '76." This has been shortened to "Get the Spirit".
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Union Oil (for many years based in El Segundo, California, near Los Angeles) first introduced "76" gasoline in 1932. The name referred to the American "Spirit of '76," and was also the octane rating of the gasoline in 1932.[2]
76 signs are orange balls with '76' written in blue 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 a rebranding campaign to unify the design elements of each of the merged brands (76, Phillips, and Conoco). As a part of this re-branding, there was an initial decision to pull down all the Orange Ball signs and replace them with monument-style signs in the red orange and blue color scheme. In response to overwhelming negative publicity generated by a grassroots Save The 76 Ball campaign, ConocoPhillips backtracked on this decision in January 2007, agreeing to donate several of the classic orange 76 balls to museums and to erect approximately 100 balls in the new red orange and blue color scheme.
The 76 ball is a very popular logo in the "Cult Style" of European car tuning (especially on VW Golf Mk 1 GTIs due to the debut year of 1976), and is also used on many clothing items in Japan as of 2005.
The 76 Ball also made a brief appearance in the 1991 film Point Break during the final airport escape scene.
Until the end of 2003, 76 balls were located at the Daytona International Speedway. They were used as scoring points, had portholes, and were capable of holding a few people inside. One of these "balls" was given to the owner of Brumos Motor Cars in Jacksonville, FL, and now sits atop a building on the premises after ConocoPhillips terminated its NASCAR sponsorship. Similar balls had been placed near pit entrances at most NASCAR circuits until the sponsorship ended.
The 76 ball is also a landmark at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, where the only gas station on the premises of a major league ballpark is visible from the park beyond the outfield stands. Union Oil was a longtime sponsor of the Dodgers baseball team beginning with their relocation to Los Angeles from Brooklyn in 1958, and the sponsorship by the 76 brand continues to this day.
Long before Jack in the Box restaurants created their well-known 'Jack's Head' promotional radio antenna toppers, Union 76 invented the antenna topper concept. Beginning in 1967, Union 76 distributed tens of millions of orange 76 antenna balls. These were extremely popular, primarily in the Greater Los Angeles area, where they are still seen.
The 76 brand, originally owned by Union Oil Company of California, has been in Hawaii for nearly a century. With no local refineries, Union Oil initially shipped gasoline to the islands but would later build a terminal in Iwilei for gasoline storage.
In 1997, Tosco purchased Union Oil's assets in Hawaii including its Kawaihae and Honolulu terminals and trucking operations. Then, in 2001, Phillips purchased all of these assets from Tosco. Soon after, Phillips merged to form what is now Conoco-Phillips. Mid Pac Petroleum purchased Conoco-Phillips' Hawaii assets in 2004.
In September 2007, Koko'oha Investments, Inc. purchased Mid Pac Petroleum. And on January 1, 2011, Koko'oha Investments merged with Grace Pacific Corporation, the leading Hawaii roadway-paving contractor.[3]
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