Hess Toy Trucks

[556063]

I'm not a Hess Toy Truck collector, but this should come as good news for those of you who are, I guess.

I am a Sinclair collector, and being able to stop at a Sinclair station when traveling west is still a big kick for me. Sinclair left Indiana in the early 70's. I still have the inflatable Dino given to me at a station as a toddler in the 60's.

Hess stations will soon disappear. I don't know of any in my area:

http://money.cnn.com/2014/05/22/news/companies/hess-toy-truck/index.html

[Warren Webb]

I'm sorry to hear them going away. Hess provided good competition but when they closed the refinery in Port Reading, N.J. a couple years ago I wondered how long it would be till those clean, white gas stations went away. They didn't sell soda or potato chips, lube oil & filters or any of the things gas stations have these days.

Leon Hess started in 1939 with one tanker truck & built an empire. Its a shame it's vanishing.

[JBOYLE]

In my part of the country we have just a few brands: 76, Chevron, Texaco, Conoco...I'd like to see a Sinclair or Gulf. Haven't seen one for years.
And a question for our Midwest friends...does DX and Skelly survive?

[studegary]

We have a very nice Hess station 2.5 miles away and another about 8 miles away and another about 12 miles away. They are all nice clean stations with a convenience store attached and have the lowest prices around.
They are being bought out by Marathon, but will carry a different name (Speedway). I will then stay away from them since Marathon was the station in South Bend that dispensed bad gasoline that gave many of us major problems with our cars.

[raprice]

I hadn't heard that Marathon was buying Hess. On Long Island, it seems like Hess is expanding. In fact, they are building a new Hess self-service station only a few blocks from an existing one in Commack.
We'll see what happens.
Rog

[j.byrd]

Here is an update about the Hess sale and some info on the toy trucks. I had a fairly large collection of them, buying and selling through the years, and some of those little rascals bring pretty good money !

http://money.cnn.com/2014/05/22/news/companies/hess-toy-truck/

[Swifster]

Our Hess stations are relatively popular. It's hard to find a Marathon station.

[556063]

DX disappeared from Indiana even before Sinclair. DX was absorbed into what is now Sunoco at some point. Sunoco only has a handful of stations left around here. The last DX station I remember was in Fulton, IN, and that is going back before I could drive. Skelly has been long gone, and I don't recall a Skelly station in this area.

There's been so much consolidation, and with the state of the business, it's pretty clear the brand names don't hold the exclusivity of product they once did. I fondly remember some of the local independents like Hoosier Pete, Zingo, Super Chief, etc. Of those independents, I think locally only Clark survives, and they have lost many outlets the last five years. Shell recently took over a station I frequent, but before that happened, I would have guessed they were giving up on Northern Indiana. Some stations locally have switched brand affiliation several times over the past ten years. Keeps the decal, sign and painting contractors busy, I guess.