BRIEF COMPANY HISTORY

GAMAGES (A.W.GAMAGE LTD) started trading out of small premises in Holborn, London in 1878. Formed by Arthur Walter Gamage and Frank Spain the store was to grow to be a large rambling and expansive department store with many diverse departments. Frank Spain was bought out in 1881 leaving Arthur Gamage to develop the business as the "People's Popular Emporium". The store had many departments - household, clothing, leisure, pets, motoring, motorcycling, cycling etc. Wherever a penny could be turned Arthur turned it - his motto was "Tall Oaks from Little Acorns Grow." Arthur died in 1930 but his business continued to trade until 1972.

Gamages not only sold Motor Cars but everything to do with them as well. The company's motor oil products have left a rich legacy of design. The containers were graphically designed to emphasize speed and power which during the 1920's and 30's were taking technological leaps on land, sea and in the air. There are many designs along this theme which were printed on small grease tins right up to the large 5 gallon motor oil containers some of which can be seen by following the link below.

LINKS - Gamages Motor Oil

If you have further interesting information on this company or photographic images that you would like to send then please contact us by email.

LINKS - Gandy Signage

If you have further interesting information on this company or photographic images that you would like to send then please contact us by email.

JET PETROLEUM LTD was set up in 1954 by John Roberts - known as Bill. During the war years petrol had been regulated and in 1954 this came to an end so Bill took the opportunity of applying his skills and experiences to the formation of a new company to be called Jet. This was the jet age and the company logo became a jet airplane in a vertical pose but this was not the sole reason for the name. Bill had grown up in Yorkshire and vehicle registration numbers for his area were preceded with the letters JET so it was a fair bet that his company vehicles would have personalised number plates. His first tanker had the registration number JET 855 and what a marketing coup this was. Jet was taken over in 1961 by Conoco Inc and today the company is still going strong with over 400 independent garages.

Early Jet petrol globes were made of glass and had the company logo of a Jet on the sides together with the octane rating of petrol or diesel. There was no set colour scheme with some logos being red whilst others were in green. With the development and evolution of the "jet aircraft" the companies logo would have looked dated within a decade or so. By the 1960's/1970's modernisation was taking place and Jet globes were made in yellow plastic with black lettering - JET. It is not known if there was a transition globe between the first glass ones and the later plastic ones but one may turn up.

LINKS - Jet Globes

If you have further interesting information on this company or photographic images that you would like to send then please contact us by email.