Union 76 is a chain of gas stations located within the United States. The Union 76
brand is currently owned by ConocoPhillips. Union Oil Company of California,
dba Unocal, the original owner and creator of the Union 76 brand merged with Chevron
Corporation in 2005.
In 1997, Unocal sold its western United States
refining and marketing operations and the rights to the Union 76 brand for
use in refining and marketing operations to Tosco Corporation. Tosco has since
been purchased by Phillips Petroleum, which merged with Conoco to form ConocoPhillips.
Unocal continued to own the "76" trademark for use in its operations,
with the exception of the divested Refining and Marketing business. On August
10, 2005, Unocal Corporation and Union Oil Company of California were acquired
and merged into a subsidiary of Chevron Corporation.
Unlike many other
petroleum companies, Union 76 uses ethanol instead of MTBE as an oxygenate in
their gasoline.
76, Conoco, and Phillips 66 currently market their
brand of gasoline under the brand name PROclean. The previous brand name for their
gasoline was Propower, 76 gasoline stopped being marketed under this name
after the termination of the commercial relationship between NASCAR and 76. As
of October 2004, PROclean brand fuel was included onto the list of fuels recognized
as "Top Tier".
In the 1970s and '80s, the company used the slogan
"Go With the Spirit...the Spirit of '76." In recent years, that has been shortened
to simply "Get the Spirit".
Union 76 is famous for its signs,
which are large orange balls with '76' written in blue on them. Many stations
had the 76 ball rotate when the signs were lit up. The first such sign was designed
in 1962 by advertising creative director Ray Pedersen for the Seattle World's
Fair. |
