BOC gas stations and paraphernalia

[Chipm]

Forgive me if this is not the right forum, but I figured this was tangential to the Automobile Paraphernalia thread.

My mom and her family used to visit a gas station they called "the BOC" near the family lakehouse in rural Georgia, from probably the late fifties through late seventies. By the time I came around it was a BP station, but everyone still called it The BOC.

I have always been told it was British Oil Company, and confirmed today that my mom and her cousins believed the same thing. I was looking for an old logo sign and the internet appears to have no recollection of a BOC gas station chain in the southern US related to British Oil.

Do any of you have knowledge of a British Oil Company chain of gas stations, or perhaps a regional chain in and around Georgia using the initials BOC?

 

[Farmer J.]

I haven't been able to find any reference to 'British Oil Company', but interesting that it became a 'BP' station as British Petroleum went through several name changes over the years. I wonder if BOC was a regional name that they just used locally.

Maybe it was Burmah Oil Company which was known as BOC, and then acquired by BP.

Burmah Oil - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Was it by any chance previously operated by British Oxygen Company? They're usually known by the initials BOC.

BOC (company) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Chipm]

Thanks Farmer J. It appears you are running into pretty much the same dead end. I'm leaning towards a local or regional company and the "B" was something other than British.

 

[The Cobbler]

For what it's worth https://www.ebay.ca/itm/185535297338

 

[Farmer J.]

For what it's worth https://www.ebay.ca/itm/185535297338

Interesting. As that sign is in Gujarat, India it's from the days of the Burmah Oil Company.

 

[four.cycle]

^ Those "vintage" signs on ebay are 99.9% fake reproductions - that's been going on for several years now.
I really love the one where they took the scans that @Mark Stansbury made of my old Indestro catalogs and made phony "vintage" metal signs out of the images.

 

[Farmer J.]

^ Those "vintage" signs on ebay are 99.9% fake reproductions - that's been going on for several years now.
I really love the one where they took the scans that @Mark Stansbury made of my old Indestro catalogs and made phony "vintage" metal signs out of the images.

Yea. It's highly likely that the vendor in India is making up brand new 'old' signs, but it is an interesting design.

 

[four.cycle]

"Inspirational Wall Art" they call it:

Pardon Our Interruption...

Pardon Our Interruption...

actually, I found their selections from ITCL to be hilarious.

 

[Beerhippie]

Thanks Farmer J. It appears you are running into pretty much the same dead end. I'm leaning towards a local or regional company and the "B" was something other than British.

Rural Georgia? Could the B stand for Bubba?

 

[DetailSeeker]

Forgive me if this is not the right forum, but I figured this was tangential to the Automobile Paraphernalia thread.

My mom and her family used to visit a gas station they called "the BOC" near the family lakehouse in rural Georgia, from probably the late fifties through late seventies. By the time I came around it was a BP station, but everyone still called it The BOC.

I have always been told it was British Oil Company, and confirmed today that my mom and her cousins believed the same thing. I was looking for an old logo sign and the internet appears to have no recollection of a BOC gas station chain in the southern US related to British Oil.

Do any of you have knowledge of a British Oil Company chain of gas stations, or perhaps a regional chain in and around Georgia using the initials BOC?

The Burmah Oil Company (founded in 1883 in Glasgow) went by B.O.C. and was an absolute beast of a British oil company. I cannot speak to the images from the auctioneer in India, but B.O.C. in a diamond was definitely one of their logos. (I've seen it on pictures of oil cans, too, although they're from a period where they were usually called "motor spirits".)


I'm not sure where in rural Georgia (and am not asking you to share), but this site sorts its pictures by both county and town. Maybe there'll be something there?

Additionally, there's this 1945 alphabetical list of Fuel Oil Primary Suppliers from the US. There are several possibilities in there, especially if an "Oil & Gas Co" or "Gas & Oil Co" was shortened to "Oil Co" colloquially.