Editing Sunoco (section)

===1800s to 1950s: founding and growth===
[[File:1920 Sunoco motor oil newspaper ad.png|thumb|left|Newspaper ad for Sunoco motor oil, then known as The Sun Oil Co. ''[[Tulsa Daily World]]'' (November 1, 1922).]]

The partnership began as The Peoples Natural Gas Company in [[Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania]]. In 1886, its partners {{En dash}} [[Joseph Newton Pew]], Philip Pisano, and Edward O. Emerson {{En dash}} decided to expand their fuel business with a stake in the new oil discoveries in [[Ohio]] and [[Pennsylvania]]. Four years later, the growing enterprise became the Sun Oil Company of Ohio. Sun Oil diversified quickly and became active in the production and distribution of oil as well as processing and marketing refined products. By 1901, the company was incorporated in [[New Jersey]] as Sun Company, Inc.

In 1902, the Sun Oil Refining Company was chartered in Texas, as it turned its interest to the new [[Spindletop]] field in [[Texas]].  Joseph Newton Pew's nephew, J. Edgar Pew, was able to buy the storage and transportation assets of Lone Star and Crescent Oil Company at a [[receivership]] [[auction]].  Spindletop oil was then shipped to the company's [[Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania]], refinery.<ref name=jl>{{cite book |last1=Linsley |first1=Judith |last2=Rienstrad |first2=Ellen |last3=Stiles |first3=Jo |title=Giant Under the Hill, A History of the Spindletop Oil Discovery at Beaumont, Texas in 1901 |date=2002 |publisher=Texas State Historical Association |location=Austin |isbn=9780876112366 |pages=196–199}}</ref><ref name=oo>{{cite book |last1=Olien |first1=Diana |last2=Olien |first2=Roger |title=Oil in Texas, The Gusher Age, 1895-1945 |date=2002 |publisher=University of Texas Press |location=Austin |isbn=0292760566 |page=48}}</ref>

Pew's sons, [[J. Howard Pew]] and [[Joseph N. Pew Jr.|Joseph N. Pew, Jr.]] would take over the company after their father's death.

With a growing portfolio of oil fields and refineries, Sun opened its first service station in [[Ardmore, Pennsylvania]], in 1920. In 1922, it changed its name back to Sun Oil Company and, in 1925, it became a [[public company]] via an [[initial public offering]] on the [[New York Stock Exchange]]. Sun Oil ranked 39th among United States corporations in the value of [[World War II]] production contracts.<ref>[[Whiz Kids (Department of Defense)|Peck, Merton J.]] & [[Frederic M. Scherer|Scherer, Frederic M.]] ''The Weapons Acquisition Process: An Economic Analysis'' (1962) [[Harvard Business School]] p. 620</ref> The company expanded internationally following the war. Its first Canadian refinery was built in 1953 in [[Sarnia, Ontario]], home to a burgeoning new [[petrochemical industry]]. Sun Oil established a facility at Venezuela's [[Lake Maracaibo]] in 1957, which produced over a billion barrels (159 trillion liters) before the operation was [[nationalized]] in 1975.

[[File:Vintage Sunoco Gas Pump Novelty Transistor Radio, Model 668, Made in Hong Kong (8676228154).jpg|thumb|right| Sunoco ''Custom{{En dash}}Blended'' fuel pump replica transistor radio]]

In 1956, the company introduced "Custom{{En dash}}Blended" fuel pumps, an innovation that allowed customers of Sunoco service stations to choose from several [[octane rating]]s through a single pump.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.poplargrovewingsandwheels.com/index.asp?SEC=E9585369-AE0A-4D82-AEA0-1FFD4C803E81&Type=B_BASIC|title=Sunoco Gas Station - Poplar Grove Vintage Wings & Wheels Museum}}</ref> Sunoco stations offered as many as eight grades of "Custom{{En dash}}Blended" fuels from its "Dial A Grade/Blend Selector" pumps ranging from subregular Sunoco 190 to Sunoco 260 and super-premium grade of 102 octane. The Sunoco 260 was advertised as "The Highest Octane Fuel You Can Buy!" and very popular with operators of [[V8 engine|V8]]{{En dash}}powered [[muscle cars]] of the 1960s.<ref>{{cite news | title=America's six finest gasoline grades custom-blended to fit any car today | url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/68232358/ | work=Shamokin News-Dispatch |location=Shamokin, Penn. | date=July 2, 1958 |url-access=subscription |postscript=. Advertisement.}}</ref>