I've got a set of Atlas tires on an old Hudson I bought and it also has an Atlas battery in it. Now, I remember Chevron Gas Stations out here (California) selling these parts, but did they also sell other parts as well (ignition, brakes, seals, etc.)? Just wondering if anyone knows the history on them. I saw an ad for an Atlas parts and accessories brochure and wondered about it.
I want to believe that they did have a line of ignition parts and branded filters. Up into the mid 60's a lot of people took their cars to the gas station for almost everything. Lube & oil changes, tune ups and tires. When I was a sophomore in auto shop class the instructor told us that to succeed at time a full service gas station needed 24 faithful customers that took their cars to it for everything that was done on that car. 50 years later it's almost impossible to find a full service gas station in this area. I think there may be one here in town.
Esso sold Atlas when I was younger, they had several grades of tires and batteries. The top grade tire was the Atlas Bucron, it was guaranteed not to squeal, you could leave a black mark 50 ft., and never make a sound. God I'm getting old.
If you do a search of the HAMB for Atlas Bucron, you'll find a really neat thread about that specific tire (a favorite of street racers before cheater slicks became common), and the whole Atlas line. According to it, Atlas was produced by Standard Oil's chemicals division (they invented butyl rubber), and were sold through Standard and Chevron stations. I think "Chevron" branded stations were independently owned and operated, and the "Standard" branded stations were company owned and operated. -Dave
Atlas also did oil filters and air filters. A actually have some for Corvair. Also Atlas spark plugs.
depends on how you search? "atlas" (seal,shock,belt,spark,filter) shows all kinds of stuff...shocks, belts, plugs, filters, caps, etc
i thought atlas was a SOHIO brand shows ya what i know ... not much my shoebox has atlas tires on it at the momment pretty sure atlas sold all types of "tune-up" maintence type items and fluids etc
Thanks everyone. Ratmotor, if you have a catalog, I'd be interested in seeing something like that, or if anyone had one from the late 70's, that might incorporate that time period and earlier. I assume they would be biggest in the 70's?
i still have some ignition parts The Atles Plycron tire was top of the tire line when i worked at a chevron station in CA i was told that the Atles Plycron was a Goodyear Double Eagle tire with a different tread design i ran them the wore good and good ride for that time perioad
For what it's worth, at the full service Chevron gas station that I worked at during my summers off in college (I graduated in May, so fairly recently), we still used some Atlas products. Everything we stocked were just filters and such, but there may still be an old catalog laying around, I can check the next time I'm back home.
I worked at a Chevron station from the age of 12 thru college, for my Dad. Atlas supplied all needed parts: oil, filters, batteries, plugs, points, condensers, belts, you name it.
my recollection is that there were no catalogs, per se. Application manuals for everything they made - tires, batteries, fan belts, oil filters, wheel seals, ignition parts (points, condensor, rotor, cap, wires, etc). Anything that could be serviced or replaced by your generic untrained mechanic. Standard Stations did no mechanical repairs beyond the usual LOF and front wheel bearing packs. As Dave pointed out, Chevron was the dealer arm of Standard Oil of California. Dealers were 'encouraged' to use Atlas TBA, but as long as they had some in stock, the 'retail rep' (area manager) couldn't say much. Chevron dealers were independent, so they were allowed to expand their services into other areas of automotive repair. Atlas products were of good-to-better quality, and - like Sears - were usually manufactured to SO's specs and branded appropriately. All the above is specific to Standard Oil of California - other ex-Rockefeller enterprises (after the Sherman Anti-trust Act was put into effect) such as ESSO (phonetic pronunciation of SO (Standard Oil) et al, handled Atlas products also, along with brands specific to their market. Back in the 60s you could look at the back of your Chevron Card and see a microcosm of brands that were sufficiently affiliated with SO to accept your card in reciprocal agreements for their card in your area. At one time, my Chevron card had an airplane on it, as they had noticed I was purchasing a lot of AvGas with it. Boat people got boats....car folks got cars...now there's just a Chevron emblem on them I think. I no longer carry one, as VISA is so acceptable everywhere and for everything. Anyway, that's the Atlas story (my version via recollections of my early days as a working stiff kid trying to stay out of pool halls and other noted dens of iniquity. dj
just bought 6 sets of 1957-74 Ford V8 Atlas tune up kits & distributor caps off e-pay so I'll have some history under my hood for awhile. The parts might be 40 years old but are clean & won't prematurely burn out like this imported junk from China. For now I'm running Wizard ignition parts, they were sold by Western Auto. Oh what memories!
Atlas Supply Co. was formed in 1930 by the Standard Oil 'sisters' (Standard Oils of New Jersey, Indiana, Ohio, and California) to give the now-broke-up companies a nation-wide brand with a uniform warrantee honored across the country. They offered a wide range of branded parts at different times, including tires, batteries and cables, belts, hoses, lamps, wiper blades, full line of tune-up parts, filters, shocks, wheel bearings, u-joints, and even new 'universal' alternators and regulators (I've still got a 'Atlas' alternator around here someplace). Some of the stuff was simply re-branded (Trico wipers, Gabriel shocks) but much was made to their specs and was quality built. They had really good tires, Atlas did their own design/testing then had them made by one of the majors to their spec. Until their first radial that is; that tire (Cushionaire?) was an unmitigated disaster and they ended up replacing most of those on warrantee. The hurriedly-acquired outside-design replacement wasn't much better, and worse yet, JC Penney sold the exact same tire (with their name on it) for 40% less.... After the late 60s, Atlas tires were generally just a rebranded version made by whoever met the spec and were no longer exclusive designs. Meanwhile, the various parent oil companies were being sued by their dealers for restraint of trade with the result that the dealers weren't limited to retailing only Atlas products. Atlas existed up to the early 90s when Exxon and Amoco bailed out, Chevron/BP sold the bankrupt remains in the mid 90s. But in their heyday, they sold some top-shelf parts and accessories; their chrome polish was the best I've ever seen and I was bummed when I finally ran out.... And some Standard Stations did do more than just oil changes; they opened some 'service bay' stations in certain markets in the late 60s. No major repairs like engines, transmissions, or suspension work, but brake jobs, full tune ups, water pumps, starters, etc were done (basically anything most dealers did), and some even had 'arrangements' with Midas for muffler work. That's where I got my 'formal' mechanic training before quitting in the mid-70s to go into the electrical trade. But by the end of the seventies, nearly all the 'service' stations were gone. If anybody has a early/mid-60 Atlas shock catalog, I've also got 2-3 boxes full of new Atlas shocks for late-50s/early 60s cars but no way to identify what fits what....
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