Old Brand Names

[imoldernu]

This is a subject for a thread that could go on forever. It occurred to me twice today... Once, thinking about our 1941 Nash Rambler... became my first car, then Norge... our first washer...Now DW asked if Moxie was still around.

We have to be careful here, because old brand names are a big commodity today, with "rights" being sold to the highest bidder, and revivals coming from third world countries as well as US major competitors.

So toss out an old brand name, and we'll "fact check" to see if it's still in use.

Ummm... Like Lydia Pinkham's Linement

Lydia Pinkham's Vegetable Tonic was a popular remedy for "female complaints" and the elixer was promised to cure every womanly ailment from menstrual discomfort to infertility to the dreaded prolapses uteri. Advertisements claimed there was "a baby in every bottle," and women of the time, uncomfortable discussing feminine problems with male doctors, turned to Lydia. Many were scandalized when, as required by the new Pure Food and Drug act, it was revealed that the tonic was 20% alcohol.

 

[ERD50]

Zenith TV, Motorola TV, (the names are still around, but not for those products)

Kelvinator (old refrigerator?)

Wang word processors (business, not home use).

A bunch of airlines (TWA, etc)

A bunch of gas station names I don't see any more (may still be a round though) Texaco?

-ERD50

 

[meierlde]

Zenith TV, Motorola TV, (the names are still around, but not for those products)



A bunch of gas station names I don't see any more (may still be a round though) Texaco?

-ERD50

Texaco stations are still around in the South, There are some in Houston, etc. They are run by Chevron, as it took the brand back from Shell in 2004. All the old Texaco stations in general became Shell Stations. To show my age, how about Boron (the name for SoHio outside Ohio, or indeed SoHio itself, now BP, or Standard(Amoco) or Standard of Ky now Chevron)

 

[REattempt]

Oldest one that is still around AND owned by the same company (only one I KNOW is owned by same company...others below, I have no clue on ownership):

Ivory (1879)

Used to work in the plant that made it...

Others:
Tiffany (1851)
Brooks Brothers (1849)
Merriam-Webster (1847)
Scientific American (1845)
Poland Springs (1845) Duh...bottled water in the 1800s?
Schafer Beer (1842) All we drank in college
Remington (guns not shaving apparatus) (1818)
Crane & Co...(1801) paper products
Bakers Chocolate (1780)

 

[marko]

This is a subject for a thread that could go on forever. It occurred to me twice today...

Ummm... Like Lydia Pinkham's Linement

I can see Lydia Pinkham's former home (actually quite the castle) from my living room. "Knock on any Norge"

How about Jenny gas; Studebakers;
More recently, the precursor to MS Explorer: Mosaic; Atari; Intellivision: Beta Max

 

[Walt34]

Underwood typewriters. I learned [-]to type[/-] keyboarding on one of those.

F.W. Woolworths and Montgomery Ward stores

 

[Bestwifeever]

Trinitron.

And the name I still miss: Marshall Field's.

 

[Moemg]

Garanimals ( they were clothes for kids that all mixed and matched ) . I always thought they should have had them for men . Bobbi Brooks . I loved her clothes growing up . Buster Brown shoes and finally Liz Claiborne before she died and they still made decent clothes now they make crap .

 

[marko]

Was "Jarex" a national or just local product? Some sort of syrup you put in to make flavored water.

Jingle: "Ice...cold....Jaaaaarex!"

 

[antmary]

How about "Jiffy Toothache Drops"? I just found some in an old storage shed.
And, how "bout "Cup O Gold" candy? Do they still make it?

 

[Donzo]

Pan Am -
I had my first flight on Pan am as a youngster. They served Cornish hen stuffed with wild rice. I felt very fancy and grown...Nothing like that on flights now except maybe in first class.

 

[JoeWras]

My grandmother solved everything from a cut to a gash with Mecca Compound ointment.

The brand did die, but someone retained rights and every now and then a company buys the rights and tries to manufacture and sell some of the stuff.

 

[imoldernu]

More recently, the precursor to MS Explorer: Mosaic; Atari; Intellivision: Beta Max

Remember the GeoWorks operating system? We used it back in 1990, before Windows and Microsoft were big names. It was a toss-up of whether to use Windows 3.0 or Geos/Geoworks, a pretty close parallel with the Graphic Interface...

We stuck with GEO until Microsoft offered Windows 3.11. The ultimate...

 

[FreeAtLast]

Oldsmobile
Desoto
SCM typewriter
Plymouth
Sears Silvertone

 

[JoeWras]

Oldsmobile
Desoto
SCM typewriter
Plymouth
Sears Silvertone

Pontiac
Saturn

 

[imoldernu]

Just from the 1930's... before that, dozens of forgotten brands...

Packard
Henry J
Allstate
Kaiser
Frazer
Willys-Overland
Crosley
Cord
Hudson
Marmon
Jordan
Alvis
Riley
Tucker
Edsel
White
...............
From MontgomeryWard:
Signature (appliances)
PowrKraft (tools)
Airline (electronics)

 

[HFWR]

Eastern, Braniff, Piedmont, TWA, Pan Am, United, Allegheny, Northeast, Northwest, Southeast, Western, Ozark, Republic...

 

[RHLnFLA]

1st car was a Henry J, then a Kaiser, but my favorite was my Hudson Pacemaker. Its funny...now I have an "internal" pacemaker.

 

[Gumby]

...Now DW asked if Moxie was still around.

Yes, it is. You can buy it at the grocery in Maine. Don't know about anywhere else.

 

[MasterBlaster]

A bunch of gas station names I don't see any more (may still be a round though) Texaco?

-ERD50

Texaco was bought and merged into Chevron Corporation in 2001 but continues as a marketing brand name.

 

[imoldernu]

This is a stretch for "old brand names", but a fascinating story for those who like cars and electronics etc... Has to do with the way the brand name Motorola came about.
Car Radio, An Interesting Story - America in Uniform

 

[rbmrtn]

Remember the GeoWorks operating system? We used it back in 1990, before Windows and Microsoft were big names. It was a toss-up of whether to use Windows 3.0 or Geos/Geoworks, a pretty close parallel with the Graphic Interface...

We stuck with GEO until Microsoft offered Windows 3.11. The ultimate...

Yea, came in two version 8 bit/ 16 bit originally for commodre 64.

And then there was OS/2 and IBMs microchannel bus, both very good but didn't catch on.

 

[Chuckanut]

Where did those Stromberg-Carlson HiFi sets go to??

 

[ERD50]

Heath-kit
Western Auto

 

[NW-Bound]

Ah, Heathkit! I can still remember their catalog.

In my teenage years, I also used to spend countless hours thumbing through Allied Electronics catalogs, drooling over all the Hi-Fi, and electronics parts that were listed. Their brand name for electronics kits was Knight-Kit.

And that was before I came to this country. Allied later became or merged with RadioShack, I heard. There is an electronic distributor called Allied Electronics for industrial and commercial sales, but I do not know its relation to the old one that catered to hobbyists.