Self Serv Discount Gas Photos
(Pioneer Oil Company)
There were several of these in the Fort Worth and
Dallas Texas area, and much farther afield as we will see.
This one is at 210 Bedford Road W., Hurst, Texas.
Taken Oct. 1997 by Bryan Sherrieb.
Self-Serv Discount at 6955 Grapevine Hwy (SH 26) between Rufe Snow and Glenview,
in North Richland Hills, Texas.
Photo taken July 4, 2004 by John Cirillo.
A Self-Serv Discount in Dilley, Texas.
Taken Oct. 2004 by David Aldred.
Another Self-Serv Discount showing the Pioneer name this time.
Taken Nov. 2004 by David Aldred at DeLeon, Texas.
A Self-Serv Discount station in Comanche, TX.
Taken Nov. 2003 by David Aldred.
The farthest away from Dallas yet, this is in Galena, Kansas at 7th and Elm
(7th is Route 66 along here).
Photo taken July 5, 2003 by John Cirillo.
Some possible history on this brand, from David Aldred:
I believe this is the brand sign used by the Pioneer Oil Company
which might be based out of Fort Worth, TX (I'm not 100% on this).
There is or was an office for this company (might still be, I haven't
gone by there lately) on Grapevine Hwy. near North Hills Mall which
had a bunch of these signs out back along with other hardware
such as pumps and the like.
I also remember a station in Alvarado, TX which had a billboard next to
the building with this logo and the caption "Hey Podner...That's our Brand"
with "Pioneer Oil Company" in small print at bottom (this was in the
'80's off of I-35W). Third clue...In Uvalde, TX there is a station called
Pioneer Mart with this sign. May be that these are three unrelated
coincidences, may be not. There are still many of these stations all over
Texas using this sign (I've seen them from Laredo up to Wichita Falls and
everywhere in between).
More info (2009) from the present owners of the Pioneer Oil property:
"...Came across your website and saw that you had information about Self Serve Discount Gas.
We now own the building that housed the corporate offices of Pioneer Oil Company.
The office you reference on Grapevine highway was a location for one of the stations that
had land with it and they stored some extra signs at that location, but
the corporate office was in Poly (east side of Fort Worth). In their hey day (60s and 70s),
they had approximately 600 stations with the Self-Serve Discount Gas signs and a few more
that were more convenience style called Hoppy's. There was one of these on Division
in Arlington. The owner (Leon McDaniel) had a stroke about 1995 and his wife has been
trying to dissolve the company since then, so it has not been operating stations since
about 1997 or 1998. They were the first self serve stations in this part of the country."
(Name withheld by request)