The efforts made by gas/oil companies to get customers were amazing. These 90 year old Sinclair road maps are 3 panel and 5 panel examples, given away free to anyone that rolled in to get some gas. I framed some of mine to display in my garage. If I posted these before, my apologies. I post so much about my petroliana hobby and collection I can't remember.
What's road map? lol. I remember when we used to get "Trip-Tiks" from AAA. It was a series of one-page spiral bound maps. Now, they give you digital maps.
^^^ Yeah, my (navigator) wife is real unhappy about the AAA digital maps. We have a GPS but it can lead you into some strange places at times. Nothing beats a physical map in your hands, especially as a back-up. When you are crossing the Lake Pontchartrain bridge in the middle, and the GPS tells you to take a left, you know something is amiss. It actually happened. At night you might be sleeping with the fishes.
I once had to go to a viewing in north Jersey. My GPS took me into the middle of a residential housing development that was 15 miles away from the funeral home that was on a main highway. I now use the free Waze app on my cell phone. It is more accurate and give traffic delays, accidents, stranded cars and police alerts. https://www.waze.com/live-map/
I think it would be interesting to see the NC roadmap from the 30's to see what roads existed back then. Boy, all this brings back memories. As a teenager I remember passing out the tri-fold Ohio maps when I worked at a Sohio (BP) station in the 70s. Remember Green Stamps and Eagle stamps? Customers would get some based on amount of money spent and then glue them into "savings books". We had a "US Merchandise" store where you would purchase all kinds of stuff with the filled books. Didn't know AAA stopped the flip over Trip Tiks. The last time I needed one, I just did the digital online version because I needed it right away. I wonder if they still have all the printed state maps they use to offer.
Technology has really made finding addresses much easier. Years ago, for work, I had to spend hours plotting my daily routes using state and municipal street maps to find individual residences. Now, you just use GPS or apps like Waze.
I'll flip one over and take a photo for you. AAA still sends the free paper maps but the paper quality is ultra poor. They rip real easy and basically have no use after one trip. My wife and I cashed in many Green stamp books during our early years in the 70's. This sign (on the right side) in our garage brings back the memories.
B5blueRT here you go. Different sections of NC. I live west of Asheville in Franklin. I also included a 92 year old Shell map from 1930 since that is where you live (last two photos). I just hope these photos are legible. They are tough to photograph. ***Edit: Now that I see them posted, they aren't that great. Sorry.
The maps look great - good idea! I remember my local Sinclair station. I used to go up there and get the Sinclair green dinosaur shaped soap.
