Tin Sign Info

By Pamela McLoughlin, Register Staff
pmcloughlin@newhavenregister.com

Frank Perrelli offers full service and a cozy atmosphere at his Citgo gas station on the Boston Post Road, in Orange. (Melanie Stengel/Register)

ORANGE — Frank Perrelli Jr. says he can’t bring back old-fashioned gasoline prices, but he has brought back the old-fashioned service at his new Citgo station where customers have their gas pumped for them, their windshield washed and oil checked.

Then there are the more subtle touches of days gone by — a wooden bench in front, colorful flower baskets all around, a picnic table to the side, American flags and a wrought iron cart for newspapers. If there’s a dog in the car, there’s a bisquit waiting for him or her and kids get a piece of licorice.

Perrelli even got rid of the adult magazines and smoking paraphernalia the previous owner carried, so it’s no place to buy a rolling papers or a bong.

It may feel like Mayberry when customers drive into the station, but the location is anything but bucolic. Located at 347 Boston Post Road at the corner of Lambert Road, the station sits on one of the busiest and noisiest intersections in Orange.

Perrelli, an Orange resident, said he’s kept his prices at self-serve rates and drives the Boston Post Road from the Stratford line to West Haven every day to make sure his prices are competitive. His plan is to make up the financial difference in volume — and he says it’s working.

“I thought it would do well, but not in my wildest dreams did I think it would do this well,” he said. “A lot of people think touching the nozzle is like shaking hands with the devil.”

Perrelli says the full-service model, just about extinct now, has more than tripled his business in two months, with seniors, professional women and moms with children at the top of the fan list.

Michelle Pergolotti may not have thought that nozzle was quite the devil, but she’s glad not to have to touch it again.

“Usually, I have the kids and I don’t want to get out of the car because the kids are fighting,” Pergolotti said. “To get full service at the same price and allow them to stay out in the snow and rain works for me.”

It just goes to show you that the past is not always dead.  Frank Perrelli idea of bring back old fashion gas station is a great one. People love good customer service. So if you like old fashion gas station heres the tin sign for you.

Know when you go to a gas station you have to get out and pump the gas yourself . If you want anything else check you have to do it yourself and don’t have a question cause their is no one to help you. Isn’t self service great.

What happen to customer service when you actually talk to a real person who cared about what they where doing. I miss the good old days. I sometimes hate talking to a machine. I know things change all the time, but what happen to human contact. I guess this shows my age. I liked it when life moved a little slower. So for all you that want to remember the good old days here is authentic reproduction busted knuckle tin sign for you.

In 1962, the gasoline product lines marketed as Mobilgas and Mobilgas Special were rebranded as Mobil Regular and Mobil Premium in a move to emphasize the shortened brand name “Mobil” in promotional efforts although Mobiloil continued as a single word term until the 1970s. After a few years of advertising Mobil gasolines as “Megatane”-rated and as “High Energy” gasolines, Mobil began, in 1966, to promote both its Regular and Premium fuels as “Detergent Gasolines,” due to the inclusion of additives designed to clean carburetors and various internal engine parts. During the early 1970s, Mobil ran a TV commercial featuring a character known as “Mr. Dirt” to show the ruinous effects that dirt had on automotive engines for which a tank of Mobil Detergent Gasoline could provide a cure and preventive medicine against damage that could lead to costly repairs.

As automakers were switching en masse from carbureted to fuel injected engines during the early to mid-1980s, the detergent additives that existed in most available gasolines proved not to be enough to prevent injection clogging, leading to drivability problems, Mobil received accolades from General Motors and other automakers for increasing the detergency of its Super Unleaded gasoline in 1984 to prevent formation or deposit build-ups of the injectors but also remove existing deposits as well in normal driving. At the end of the 1980s Mobil sold its fuel stations in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark to Norsk Hydro, who converted them into Hydro stations.

This  gas sign makes a great gift.

Here is some history of what gas stations are called in other countries. So next time your gas gage is near empty think how far the next station is before going by the last one or you might end up walking.

A petrol station, filling station, gas station, fueling station, service station, garage, gasbar, petrol pump or petrol bunk (India) is a facility which sells fuel and lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold are petrol (known as gasoline in Canada and the U.S.) or diesel fuel.

Fuel dispensers are used to pump petrol (gasoline in Canada and U.S.), diesel, CNG, CGH2, HCNG, LPG, LH2, ethanol fuel, biofuels like biodiesel, kerosene, or other types of fuel into vehicles. Fuel dispensers are also known as bowsers (in Australia), petrol pumps (in Commonwealth countries), or gas pumps (in North America).

Many filling stations also have small “convenience stores,” and some also sell propane or butane and have added shops to their primary business. Conversely, some chain stores—supermarkets, discount superstores, warehouse clubs, and traditional convenience stores—offer filling stations on premises.

The term “gas station” is mostly used in the Canada and the United States, where the fuel is known as “gasoline” or “gas”. In some regions of Canada, the term “gas bar” is used. Elsewhere in the English-speaking world, where the fuel is usually known as “petrol”, the form “petrol station” or “petrol pump” is used. In the United Kingdom and South Africa “garage” is still commonly used, even though the petrol station may have no service/maintenance facilities which would justify this description. Similarly, in Australia, the term service station (“servo”) describes any petrol station. In Japanese English, it is called a “gasoline stand”. In Indian English, it is called a petrol pump or a petrol bunk. In some regions of America and Australia, filling stations have a mechanic on duty, but this is uncommon in other parts of the world.

Next time you need to pick up a few things from the store like bread, milk and need gas to remember you can stop at a local convenience store and get what you need all in one stop.  This authentic reproduction sign makes a great gift for any dad.

Motor oil, or engine oil, is an oil used for lubrication of various internal combustion engines. While the main function is to lubricate moving parts, motor oil also cleans, inhibits corrosion, improves sealing and cools the engine by carrying heat away from moving parts. Dieter Klamann’s text provides extensive technical detail about motor oils.

Motor oils are derived from petroleum-based and non-petroleum synthesized chemical compounds. Motor oils are today mainly blended by using base oils composed of hydrocarbons (mineral, polyalphaolefins (PAO), polyinternal ofefins (PIO), thus organic compounds consisting entirely of carbon and hydrogen. The base oils of some high-performance motor oils contain up to 20 wt.-% of esters.

This motor oil tin sign makes a great gift.

For more than 125 years, the Conoco brand has been providing high-performance petroleum products and excellent customer service. The origin and heritage of the Conoco brand can be traced back to 1875, when Isaac E. Blake founded the Continental Oil Company in Ogden, Utah to provide petroleum products for Western pioneers. Today, the Conoco brand is owned by ConocoPhillips and Conoco Quality PROclean Gasolines are sold at more than 3,100 retail fuel sites in the United States.

This is one of many gas tin signs that we carry, makes a great gift.

Esso is an international trade name for ExxonMobil and its related companies. Pronounced /ˈɛsoʊ/ (“S-O”), it is derived from the initials of the pre-1911 Standard Oil, and as such became the focus of much litigation and regulatory restriction in the United States. In 1973, it was largely replaced in the U.S. by the Exxon brand, while Esso remained widely used elsewhere. In most of the world, the Esso brand and the Mobil brand are the primary brand names of ExxonMobil, with the Exxon brand name still in use only in the United States alongside Mobil.

This gas tin sign is 12″ round and makes a great gift.

Motorhead Garage is made up of a group of expert mechanics who are obsessed with motors in ever sense of the word.
We Do it ALL!!!
From the old school hot rods to the bad ass 4 cylinder street racers.
General automotive repairs.
Compter and Electrical Diagnostics.
Tune ups and Maintenance.

We will take on ANY challenge or crazy idea you throw at us!!
We love to build and rebuild, manufacture and fabricate just about anything…
and
we may even throw a few crazy ideas in along the way!!!

This authenic reproduction tin sign makes a great gift.