I'm surprised I don't have more. Oh, I've enough to indicate how things looked from year to year, but it's hardly . . . exhaustive. Get it? Sorry. It can't be the limitations of the source material, because I'm using publications that contained ads for everything from tires to quick-set pudding.

Perhaps they just didn't advertise that much. Perhaps they realized that buying gas rarely comes down to the things they tout. But perhaps, he said, thinking out loud, having not expected to write this index page today, it might be brand reinforcement for people who actually had a preference. Perhaps people were much more selective about gas brands. Nowadays we select for price if we have the time, and if we don't, we hit the first station we see. Perhaps back then there were guys who really did insist on a particular brand, because of its additives.

Perhaps the point of the ad was to get the name out there without . . . driving anyone away. (Sorry.) Preservation of minimal customer awareness, an attempt to give the brand a certain cachet that meant you'd chose it when there was also another gas station on the corner across the street.

But even then you'd choose based on which one best fit your route when you exited.