This is a vintage Gulf Oil sign from 1989, it measures in at 28″ wide by 25″ tall and it has internal illumination via a series of fluorescent tubes.
The legendary Gulf logo and colors are displayed on the front, a logo that’ll be immediately familiar to any fan of motor racing. Signs like this would have been made to install outside of gas stations and perhaps auto parts stores.
This was the original Gulf Oil logo, as you can see the colors would remain the same, but it would have been significantly modernized by the 1960s. Image courtesy of Gulf Oil.
Founded in 1901 with the discovery of oil at Spindletop near Beaumont, Texas, Gulf Oil quickly emerged as one of the major American oil companies. This discovery was a significant event, marking the birth of the modern petroleum industry by demonstrating the potential of large-scale oil production and vertically integrated businesses in the oil industry including exploration, production, transport, refining, marketing, and consumer sales.
The company would be the first to create the first drive-in service station all the way back in 1913, they also pioneered complimentary road maps, drilling for oil over water, and they developed the catalytic cracking refining process.
Gulf’s initial foray into motorsport sponsorship can be traced back to the 1930s when it began sponsoring various races in the United States. However, the company’s most significant involvement in motorsport started in the 1960s. This era saw the company make a strategic decision to sponsor high-profile racing teams and events, aiming to further improve its brand visibility and associate itself with the high-speed, no-holds-barred world of racing.
One of Gulf Oil’s most famous sponsorships was with the Ford GT40 in the 1960s. The partnership led to multiple wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The Gulf-liveried Ford GT40, with its striking blue and orange colors, became an icon 1960s motorsport.
Following the success with Ford, Gulf Oil formed a partnership with Porsche in the early 1970s. The Porsche 917, dressed in Gulf colors, continued the legacy of success by winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1970 and 1971. The Gulf Oil branding on the Porsche 917 is often considered the most memorable racing car livery of all time.
The vintage Gulf Oil sign you see here is a great showcase of one of the most famous and recognizable logos in motor racing history. As noted further up it’s quite large, measuring in at over two feet wide and just over two feet wide.
This Gulf Oil sign measures in at 28″ wide by 25″ tall and it has internal illumination via a series of fluorescent tubes.
It’s wired for 120 volt US electrical plugs and there are pre-drilled mounting holes on the back. Stickers on the sign show that the manufacturer was General Indicator Corporation of Buena Vista, Virginia, and that it was manufactured in March of 1989.
If you’d like to read more about this sign or place a bid you can visit the listing here on Bring a Trailer. It’s being offered for sale out of Bertram, Texas and it has no reserve.
Images courtesy of Gulf Oil
Articles that Ben has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
