Interesting reading re. Gulf Blue and Orange history.

[HHGT]

Gulf Oil was most synonymous for its association with auto racing, as it famously sponsored the John Wyer Automotive team in the 1960s and early '70s. The signature light blue and orange color scheme associated with its Ford GT40 and Porsche 917 is one of the most famous corporate racing colors and has been replicated by other racing teams sponsored by Gulf. Much of its popularity is attributed to the fact that in the 1971 film Le Mans, Steve McQueen's character, Michael Delaney, drives for the Gulf team. As a result of McQueen's increasing popularity following his death and the increasing popularity of the Heuer Monaco which he wore at the film, TAG Heuer released a limited edition of the watch with the Gulf logo and trademark color scheme. In the same era, Gulf Oil also sponsored Team McLaren during the Bruce McLaren days, which used a papaya orange color scheme with Gulf blue for lettering.

From 1963 to 1980, Gulf Oil had a formal agreement with Holiday Inn, the world's largest lodging chain, for which Holiday Inns in the U.S. and Canada would accept Gulf credit cards for food and lodging. In return, Gulf placed service stations on the premises of many Holiday Inn properties along major U.S. highways to provide one-stop availability for gasoline, auto service, food and lodging. Many older Holiday Inns still have those original Gulf stations on their properties, some in operation and some closed, but few operate today as Gulf stations.

Gulf No-Nox gasoline was promoted with a bucking horse leaving an imprint of two horseshoes. Several promotions centered around the two horseshoes. In 1966 bright orange 3-D plastic self-adhesive horseshoes for your bumper were given away. Another popular giveaway was during the 1968 election season, gold horseshoe lapel pins featuring either a democrat donkey or a republican elephant.

Full story here...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_Oil

Also, if you have been curious about racing colors by country...Full story here...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_international_auto_racing_colors

 

[Gulf GT]

My dad worked for Gulf Oil for 34 years, and the above is all true. We had tons of "Gulf" stuff around the house all the time.

 

[RALPHIE]

In line with this, at the Le Mans store at the track museum there is a current line of clothing available which is dedicated to Steve McQueen in the Gulf colors. Here's a link to some of them - http://www.lemans-store.com/collection-vintage

If you poke around the website, you may find others.

 

[Kingman]

Don't forget about the conglomerate 'Gulf-Western' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf+Western ) that had their hands in many things like the entertainment industry and the first planned community, Reston, VA (http://www.restonchamber.org/VisitorsCenter/HistoryofReston/tabid/2294/Default.aspx )