Back in the 60’s, gas stations did interesting things to get your business. One such promotion was the Shell Mr. President’s game. A playing card is shown below:

Naturally, some coin were extremely rare – the ones required to finish a winning set – as illustrated by the blank spots above, and those coins also sometimes bore the motto “instant winner”.

These two samples are, of course, neither rare nor instant winners, but still an interesting little bit of cultural history.

Another incentive was this token, given out as a collector’s item:

Then there was Sunoco’s presidential collection:

And their Antique Car collection:

In 1967, Union 76 in California begam the antenna topper craze with their orange balls:

Nowadays, it’s a rare thing for a gas station to offer any sort of incentive other than reward cards or fleet discounts.

Those were the days.

The Old Wolf has spoken.