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was not new, cars fueled on neat benzole needed altered carburetor settings which was inconvenient for owners who had previously used petrol and the effectiveness of neat benzole as a paint stripper raised concern about the possible effect on carburettor floats made of varnished cork – a common feature in US vehicles which at the time were being imported in greater numbers. There was also concern about the variable quality and specification of the benzole. It was in the need to address these concerns, especially regarding consistency of fuel quality, that
Henshaw and his colleagues recognized their commercial opportunity.
198:(AA) itself set up twelve strategically located filling stations, supplying fuel only to its own members and making no profit from the transactions. Initially, the AA fuel stations supplied only National Benzole which was seen a particularly patriotic fuel choice because the coal shale which was the principal ingredient of benzole was domestically produced. In 1927, the AA dismantled its small chain of service stations as the growth of a commercially motivated service station network rendered them unnecessary, but by this time National Benzole was a nationally established fuel brand in the UK.
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Effectively promoted and distributed into the second half of the twentieth century, National
Benzole continued to be popular with British motorists and the National Benzole brand remained a common sight at the roadside. However the proportion of benzole in the mixture was reduced progressively after
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Switching from neat benzole to the fifty-fifty mixture was not a complete solution to the supply issue. It reduced but did not eliminate the company's dependence on the UK coal mining cartel, while it introduced an inherent tension in the relationship with the petroleum suppliers who were also major
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A group of men, including Samuel
Henshaw, then the chairman of the Staffordshire Chemical Company, reckoned there was money to be made from these surplus-to-requirements stocks. Henshaw became the first chairman of the National Benzole Company. Although the idea of using benzole to power automobiles
234:
Mr. Mercury, in
National Benzole's black and chrome gold corporate colours, became one of the most powerful marketing images of this age. Almost every service station in the 1930s had a National Benzole pump, for single-brand sites were unknown in those days. Eventually, Mr. Mercury's head was used
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Military service in World War I introduced many
British men to motoring for the first time: returning survivors began, where funds permitted, to purchase small motor cars or motor bikes, while others set up in business to maintain and repair the motor cars of the wealthy. Before the war, motor fuel
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that successfully completed a 10,000-mile reliability trial fuelled exclusively by
National Benzole. Problems arose in the same year from a coal strike which restricted benzole availability, and increased demand in the ensuing years led to frequent shortages of coal shale from which the benzole was
201:
During this period the company consciously "smartened up" its public face. Initially the enthusiastic driver/ salesmen delivery drivers had also been the company's sales force, touting relentlessly for new business as they made deliveries to existing customers. Ten years later the head office had
324:
In 1959, responding to the growing importance of benzole as a specialist chemical, it was decided to concentrate on this market by means of a new company named
Benzole Producers Limited. At the same time the motor fuel marketing business was now fully merged with Shell-Mex & BP. Benzole (no
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was a little strong for the average engine and started to mix it with petrol. This led in 1922 to the replacement of benzole fuel with a "fifty-fifty mixture" of benzole and petroleum which addressed the supply issue and could be seen as an early example of customer responsiveness. Neat benzole
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as the number of more lucrative specialist applications for the chemical grew with the development of the UK's chemical industry. During the late 1950s
Benzole was determined to be hazardous to health: its anti-knocking properties as a fuel ingredient were no longer so important for the smooth
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A distribution network was established consisting of a few (initially) storage depots round the country, supplied by a small fleet of used lorries with solid tyres, acquired from the War
Disposals Board. These transported the fuel in war-surplus drums and cans of 2, 4 or 50 gallons.
254:
As motoring passed from being a recreation for the leisure hours of a leisured class to a mainstream means of transport, the
National Benzole business continued its growth path. A partial solution to the supply concerns was a long term petroleum contract with the
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longer part of the mixture) was dropped from the fuel's name and Mr. Mercury's black and chrome gave way to sparkling new yellow, blue and white. Following the de-merger of Shell-Mex & BP in 1976, the National brand continued to be distinctively marketed by
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competitors for road fuel sales. The petroleum supply issue was to some extent addressed by "buying on the high seas" whereby the company, having no oil refining capacity of its own, contracted to buy from shippers full tanker loads of refined fuel.
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The now famous 50/50 blend became a resounding success. To sustain the success, an imaginative advertising campaign was developed, and in 1928, Mr Mercury – startlingly naked – leapt for the first time from the pages of the national newspapers.
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suppliers in the UK had typically included pharmacies, cycle shops or even blacksmiths, but after the war, commercial roadside garages began to appear albeit slowly at first. Because garages were initially sparse, the
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Mr. Mercury returned in 1953, now more modestly attired in the advertisements, though he retained his winged helmet, and National Benzole quickly re-established itself as a market leader.
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comic characters whose blue and white colouring matched the National colours. However, during the 1980s, the National brand declined as BP focused on the strength of the BP brand.
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356:. A number of outlets in Shetland and on Benbecula are still branded as National. The last National-branded filling station on the Isle of Wight closed in recent years.
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production had been small scale. However, because it was as good at propelling shells as motor cars, production was expanded massively during
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By the early 1990s, the brand name was phased out in favour of BP. There was a brief re-appearance of the National Brand from 2000 when
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and continued trading as a UK retailer of petroleum products until the early 1990s, when the brand was phased out by parent company,
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was a petroleum brand used in the United Kingdom from 1919 to the 1990s. In 1957, the National Benzole Co. became wholly owned by
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121:(through British Petroleum) but continued its separate trading identity. In the early 1960s, National Benzole was re-branded as
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were now routinely included in refined petroleum. Therefore, from the early 1960s onwards National sold only petrol.
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branded its retail outlets as 'National'. These outlets have since been re-branded into the colours of
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as the brand's logo. At the outbreak of the Second World War, all petrol brands gave way to
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National Benzole was founded in February 1919 in a room next to the boiler house of the
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company: in the meantime National Benzole acquired oceangoing tankers of its own.
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Hastings, Harold (8 February 1969). "National Benzole: The stormy petrol...".
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running of engines, since various additives including, ironically,
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The young company received a boost in 1920 with the award of the
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In the 1970s and 1980s, the company's petrol stations sold
279:(1960) as a Little Chef in 2006. The petrol station, at
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Mr Mercury sign of a former National petrol station at
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painted yellow, which had become the company's colour.
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which foreshadowed still closer links with the future
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153:. This generally led to a post-war "benzole-lake".
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512:The Maps of the National Benzole Company
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145:. In the early years of the century,
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1068:BP America Production Co. v. Burton
656:(Northern CA, OR, and WA locations)
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1155:Defunct companies based in London
1080:Burmah Oil Co Ltd v Lord Advocate
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438:www.nationaltransporttrust.org.uk
1175:Oil and gas companies of England
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934:Alyeska Pipeline Service Company
190:performance enhancing additive.
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1145:1919 establishments in England
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910:Texas City refinery explosion
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1045:Trans-Alaska Pipeline System
317:National Benzole joined the
277:Markham Moor Scorer Building
246:The 1930s: Competitor issues
22:National Benzole Company Ltd
7:
984:Commonwealth Oil Refineries
787:BP Ultimate Acropolis Rally
767:BP Natural World Book Prize
10:
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1062:Anglo-Iranian Oil Co. case
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275:National Benzole's former
139:Gas Light and Coke Company
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949:Anglo-Persian Oil Company
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757:BP Ford World Rally Team
165:The 1920s: Rapid growth
16:British petroleum brand
1150:Former BP subsidiaries
1019:Llandarcy Oil Refinery
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196:Automobile Association
964:BP Biofuels Highlands
905:Prudhoe Bay oil spill
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853:Carl-Henric Svanberg
772:BP Pedestrian Bridge
434:"Heritage Locations"
178:Rolls-Royce 40/50 hp
329:for over a decade.
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1035:Shell-Mex & BP
959:Atlantic Richfield
319:Shell-Mex & BP
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287:, was designed by
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119:Shell-Mex & BP
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1086:D'Arcy Concession
990:Deepwater Horizon
888:Deepwater Horizon
880:Deepwater Horizon
777:BP Portrait Award
577:Prudhoe Bay Trust
422:. pp. 22–23.
267:Benzole phase out
261:British Petroleum
204:Grosvenor Gardens
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141:in London's
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79:Headquarters
71:Subsumed by
36:Company type
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1029:Pure Planet
813:John Browne
808:Sylvia Baca
590:BP Shipping
488:Google Maps
463:Google Maps
443:5 September
237:pool petrol
151:World War I
1139:Categories
729:Sullom Voe
712:Oil fields
669:Facilities
493:19 January
468:19 January
360:References
343:The Smurfs
289:Sam Scorer
214:Mr Mercury
133:Foundation
39:Subsidiary
918:oil spill
890:oil spill
882:explosion
723:Sea Quest
717:Sangachal
707:Northstar
688:Kingsbury
660:Thorntons
567:BP Canada
555:Divisions
339:figurines
291:and is a
1114:Category
969:BP Solar
782:BP Top 8
677:Atlantis
611:BP Pulse
584:(19.75%)
582:Rosneft
295:building
224:Friskney
123:National
93:Products
44:Industry
1124:Commons
974:Britoil
734:Sunbury
701:Mad Dog
616:Castrol
333:Decline
183:benzole
147:benzole
87:England
60:Defunct
52:Founded
979:Burmah
796:People
694:Iolair
637:Brands
628:Jio-bp
562:Air BP
102:Parent
96:Petrol
83:London
1055:Other
1047:(49%)
1040:Sohio
1031:(24%)
996:FPSO
939:Amoco
649:Amoco
420:Motor
176:to a
63:1990s
1096:Opal
1004:Iraq
954:Aral
654:ARCO
644:Ampm
606:Aral
495:2022
470:2022
445:2022
68:Fate
55:1919
341:of
171:RAC
47:Oil
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368:^
327:BP
285:A1
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127:BP
107:BP
85:,
73:BP
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