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Flying A tanker trucks

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  • Member since
    November 2022
  • 28 posts
Flying A tanker trucks
Posted by Calapooya on Friday, December 1, 2023 1:16 PM

Does anyone know what color Tidewater Associated painted their tank trucks?  My very dim childhood recollection is pale green.

Mark

  • Member since
    September 2003
  • 21,669 posts
Posted by Overmod on Saturday, December 2, 2023 3:53 AM

I remember them as solid red, the same color as the red on the signs --I think I had one so painted as a toy.  This would have been the early '60s, roughly at the time of this Tidewater commercial:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RnUlPXltBhU

Even allowing for B&W filters, that truck doesn't look as if it were pale green to me.

But that is a tiny, and restricted, snapshot of the company's operation.  The 'Associated' and 'Tydol' brands were abandoned a year before I was born, and the company itself was essentially completely rebranded after 1966 (to Conoco/Phillips 66 in the west, and Getty in the east where I was.)

It might have been logical for a company focused on growth to rebrand its image with different colors, even if there were some risk of confusion with Texaco tank trucks.  The whole span involved from 1956 to 1966 is only a decade!

They had some strange ideas about advertising in those years.  You get a boomer gold star if you remember what breed Axelrod was (I don't remember even one commercial with him in it!) or the signs with the flying Road Runner...)

  • Member since
    July 2006
  • From: west coast
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Posted by rrebell on Saturday, December 2, 2023 6:52 AM

They were bright red with white lettering. Think the lettering had a black outline.

  • Member since
    July 2006
  • From: west coast
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Posted by rrebell on Saturday, December 2, 2023 7:06 AM

I can see why you are having issues with finding this, the majic controls on google are no longer as effective as the used to be.

  • Member since
    November 2022
  • 28 posts
Posted by Calapooya on Sunday, December 3, 2023 5:31 PM

Now I am confused.  The eferenced video is definitely a dark tank body with white lettering.  I have some decals from Graphics on Demand which have red lettering.  I'm emailing them to ask for advice.

 

MH

  • Member since
    December 2004
  • From: Bedford, MA, USA
  • 21,483 posts
Posted by MisterBeasley on Sunday, December 3, 2023 7:28 PM

I've Googled for pictures and found several, but no consistent colors.  Some were red, some white.  You're not painting a fleet, so pick what you like.

A small local company might not choose to paint an entire truck, and might decide that just printing the logo in a contrasting color was sufficient.

It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse. 

  • Member since
    July 2006
  • From: west coast
  • 7,667 posts
Posted by rrebell on Monday, December 4, 2023 8:26 AM

Flying A used varius paint scheems over the years but most were the red with white lettering.

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