Gulf Livery

Podcast Episode: 0282
How many vehicles have worn the Gulf Livery?

​     This podcast episode delves into the history and significance of the Gulf livery in the automotive industry, exploring its origins, its impact on racing, and its enduring legacy in motorsports. The conversation highlights key moments in Gulf's history, including its partnerships with iconic brands like Ford, Porsche, and McLaren, and its role in popular culture through films and events.

      If you listen to this podcast, you must love the automobile industry. And with that, you must love what we're going to be talking about today. It's light blue and orange color scheme adorned on both McLarens, Porsches and the original the GT. Yeah. You know what we're talking about. We're talking about the Gulf livery. Yes. Gulf oil international or GOI as it's called today. And it's Gulf livery on cars.
 
       Next to Martini and Rothmans and hell, the standard red Ferrari. Nobody else even comes close to the Gulf livery on racing cars. But where did it come from? How did it get here? And what other products have been associated with the Gulf livery? Well, that's something we're to take a look at today on the AutoLooks podcast.
 
      Welcome back to the AutoLooks Podcast. I am your host as always, the doctor to the automotive industry, Mr. Everett Jay coming to from our host website at AutoLooks.net. If you haven't been there, stop by, check it out, read some of the reviews, check out some of the ratings, go to the corporate links website page, big or small, we have them all, car companies from around the globe, all available on one direct location. That is the AutoLooks.net website. The AutoLooks Podcast is brought to you by Ecomm Entertainment Group and distributed by Podbean.com. If you'd like to get in touch with us, send us an email over at [email protected].

       So, like we said in the intro, the Gulf livery. We all know the Gulf livery from either one of two things, the McQueen's Porsche 917 in the Le Mans movie, or one of those people that either watched Ford versus Ferrari or watched the race on TV, that original 1966 Le Mans race when they used a Ford GT with the Gulf livery. Yeah, Gulf has been around for a long time.
 
     Originally founded in January 30th, 1907 and coming to a final end essentially on March 15th, 1985, Gulf or Gulf Oil, as we all knew it, became so synonymous with racing and their own colors than any other oil company out there. We all get it. Everybody knows of Shell or BP or Aramco or Petronas. How Petronas is associated with Mercedes racing and F1, but Gulf.
 
        That blue and orange, you don't even have to put the logo on the side of the car and you know what it is. And last year in 2025 for the Brazil Grand Prix, the Williams F1 team painted their car in that famous blue and orange. Yes, the Gulf livery on a Formula One car. Now it originally didn't start on Formula One cars. No, it goes back even further. The original Gulf livery started out on airplanes in the nineteen thirties when their aviation manager, Major Alfred J Williams had his own Grumman aircraft engineering corporation construct two modified biplanes, essentially creating the Grumman F3F, a Navy fighter. He wanted these to go out and promote Gulf products. And with that, they adorned them with that special Gulf Oil color scheme, which at that point in time was just that bright pumpkin orange.
 
       Now they flew these from December 1936 into 1938. They went on tour in Europe and they went on tour to promote Gulf products. Now the most interesting thing about these airplanes is they had a special pump and five drain lines added to them so that the aircraft could be flown inverted for up to 30 minutes to really showcase the amazing products from Gulf.
 
      Essentially, it was just a marketing tool from Gulf to show its oil products, to get you from going to someone like Standard Oil and BP. They wanted you to take Gulf Oil because Gulf was so much better. They were marketing geniuses essentially when you think about it. Cause at that point in time, everybody just went to whatever gas station was around, but now Gulf realized that they could start promoting their products with specialty additions and by flying these things on tour and showcasing their products and adoring them with their colors made the Gulf name bigger in the mindset of the consumers. Now today you can actually see these vehicles at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. Back in the day when I took a tour, one of our vacations with my dad, we went there. Now I remember seeing the original Kitty Hawk, but I don't remember seeing these planes.

        They would have been there, but don't remember seeing them. Now today I'd be a little more, you know, inspired being like, Hey, that's the original Gulf product. So now when you go to it, you can see at the national air and space museum in Washington, DC, you can see the original marketing genius of Gulf Oil. Now Gulf from there decided to get into other products. Now they became major sponsors of NBC specialty events. And with that, they adorned their logo on so many things. And one of the most outrageous things that they ever used for marketing their products was one of the most watched television moments in history of our globe. The Apollo 11 landing. Yes, Gulf handed out free. I'm going to use that four letter word again, free promotional items during the Apollo 11 coverage, it was essentially a Gulf merchandise book with an Apollo 11 pictures, space stickers, sheets, and a punch out lunar module model kit that you can make yourself to get more kids into this. The space race was now on and Gulf was part of it. Now they were only part of it because of their NBC news things.
 
       Now Gulf International Limited had an ambition to become the primary sponsor of all major news events in the United States, teaming up with NBC. This became it. The funny thing is that the Apollo 11 landing overshadowed anything else that went with it. Really, they're not because a lot of people just got them and just didn't think of it. And they didn't think to put these things together until after the lunar lander made contact. It wasn't cool until then. That was 1969. Just before that, they started getting into racing. Now in 1937, is when Gulf Oil got into racing. 

       Gulf International Limited had an ambition to become the primary sponsor of all major news events in the United States, teaming up with NBC. This became it. The funny thing is that the Apollo 11 landing overshadowed anything else that went with it. Really, they're not because a lot of people just got them and just didn't think of it. And they didn't think to put these things together until after the lunar lander made contact. It wasn't cool until then. That was 1969. Just before that, they started getting into racing. Now in 1937, is when Gulf Oil got into racing.
 
     Now it wasn't the same Gulf livery that you see today. We have to remember 1936, they were starting to build those Grumman aircrafts as they call them the Gulf Hawk II. They were building those for promotional tours, essentially on a European tour. But in North America, they got involved in racing and they got involved in a racing car project with Ira Vale and Harry Miller.
 
      They essentially brought their project into the Gulf Research and Development Company and produced new and innovative racing cars for the Indianapolis 500. Miller essentially created the first mid-engine race car to ever race at the Indianapolis 500 and with the help and technology behind Gulf Research, he was able to do it. He also added some other novel firsts. Disc brakes, supercharged six-cylinder engine, and they even tried out four-wheel drive systems. Now their only problem compared to everyone else was is that it had to use a standard Gulf fuel pump.

       Now, if you're at the track and you blow one, you don't have an extra, you're screwed because everybody else is using any other pump they can get their hands on. Your car is specific. Now they built four of these cars with only one being entered in 1938 for the 500, but did not qualify. Three of the Gulf Miller cars were entered in 1939, one driven by George Bailey making the race with a second-row qualifying position. Another of the cars crashed in practice and the third didn't even attempt qualifying. Unfortunately, the Bailey car dropped out of the race with a broken valve. And in 1940, a fatal practice accident caused the team to withdraw completely. And by 1941, two Gulf cars qualified, but one was destroyed the morning of the race by a garage fire. So essentially, they had to drop out.
 
       The only amazing thing that happened to their, to Gulf and Gulf research during their time working with the Miller Racing Group, and building these amazing Indianapolis 500 race cars. They may have never gotten on the podium, but their vehicle went on to create a car that was taken down by the big three. Preston Tucker. Yeah. The Preston Tucker, from Tucker Automotive. He bought one of the Gulf race cars and he ran it as the Tucker Torpedo special as this one and only appearance in racing. Yeah. The Tucker Torpedo was essentially a Gulf race car.  Makes it even cooler. Now there's a little bit of tie in with Tucker, but that was 1946.

​      In the fifties, Gulf had a lot of promotional stuff. They got into making maps and everything else. And by 1963, they just started to get into bed essentially from 1963 to 1980. Gulf and the longest partnership deal of all time was with Holiday Inn hotels. They added Gulf service stations to hotels along US interstates.
 
      Holiday Inn's and accepted Gulf credit cards for food and lodging. They had a one-stop shop for the motel stay with auto service and gas. And they were also involved in the business of making roadmaps. Like I said, back in the fifties, they could start on that. They had what they call a tour guide map and that's guide without a U in it. Guide spelled G I D E. Not really the best marketing because you misspelled the word, but it made you remember it. And it was made for the information for enthusiasts traveling through America.
 
       They wanted to make it so that anybody who stopped at a holiday inn would get Gulf merchandise and put Gulf stuff in their car, which means they'd fill up at Gulf stations and get changed with Gulf oil, thus cementing Gulf as part of American road traveling. And you got to remember this is 1963, sixties, seventies, and essentially the beginning of the eighties was one of those few times in history of wanderlust. The fifties really started it with the introduction of the interstate.
 
       But it really wasn't until the sixties that tons of people started crisscrossing many different nations on road trip. And Gulf was essentially there. But from that, Gulf wanted to do something even bigger.

​      It had famously sponsored the John Weir automotive team during the 1960s and into the early seventies with their signature light blue and orange color scheme. They adorned a 1966 Ford GT for the 24 hour Le Mans.
 
       They did this again in 67 with those four GTs winning. If you've watched Ford versus Ferrari, yeah. Two more Le Mans titles came in 68 and 69. Now that color scheme became so synonymous with racing. Like I said, with the likes of Martini and Rothmans as well, Gulf was cementing itself in history with racing and winning at Le Mans with a brand-new car. Made it even more special. The color code, a 3707 Zenith blue with a 3957 Tangerine colors have famously adorned a GT-40 and the Porsche 917K from the 1971 Le Mans movie starring none other than Steve McQueen. And if you want to know more about Steve McQueen, go and look for our podcast. He wasn't the world's biggest automotive racer and he didn't do some of the biggest automotive movies in history.
 
       But he is very synonymous with the automotive scene. And we actually uncover that in our podcast, Steve McQueen from AutoLooks. Go back and take a listen after this one. The car that Porsche 917K with the Gulf livery was driven by Steve McQueen playing the part of Michael Delaney. That color scheme cemented both Porsche and Gulf as the Gulf livery in cinematic history. The orange disc logo, it is now a part of motorsports prestige in history.
 
        It was, and still today is, one the most noticeable liveries you can ever see on a racing car. And there's been many more since then. Now wasn't just Porsche and Ford. Ford did it many times in their GT40s. But the Mirage Racing Team, part of research, created multiple cars for Le Mans and even a Mirage Formula Ford for Indianapolis 500. They wanted to go after racing in all its main areas. With that.
 
      They adorned all of these cars with their famous light blue and orange color schemes so that everybody would notice their cars from miles away. This was only in the sixties and seventies. The actual first racing direct from Gulf was Gulf oils. Vice president Grady Davis's own GT. He painted it his own color, but had Gulf logos painted on it. It was painted dark blue with an orange racing stripe and Gulf logos on it. You know, essentially just on the doors like they always did back in those days. He competed in the Daytona international speedway and Sebring international race in 1967. Just before the light blue and orange adorned Ford GTs made their way to Le Mans. Their own vice president brought their vehicles to Daytona and Sebring to ensure that Gulf can get to Le Mans.
 
     When Ford pulled out of the deal, Gulf just bought the team, John Wyer Automotive. Ford didn't want to be associated with it and they didn't want to give money to it. So, when they pulled the plug, they bought the team out and John Wyer Automotive became part of Gulf research. Now they used a modified GT40s with a brand-new roof line and body, new painted and Gulf powder blue or P030-8013 and marigold P030-3393 colors. If you're ever looking to paint your car that color, they're known internationally as the Mirage lightweight racing car. Like we said before, Gulf brought them into their own research laboratory and built racing cars and they went racing throughout the seventies. Gulf essentially had their own racing team, which they went after all the main automotive companies. Since then, they've also joined forces with Porsche, McLaren and Williams F1.

      Now Ford was their main foray into the racing scene. And when the team, essentially when Ford decided to pull out of it, they decided to buy out the team and make Mirage. And the Mirage racing cars were part of Gulf. That's why they're adorned with Gulf liveries. But again, in the seventies, because of the rise of the Le Mans movie and Steve McQueen, they had their 917Ks, but they also did a 911 and then the 908 in 1971. And then in 76, they decided to go off-roading.
 
     They created the 911 2.7 Carrera RS. Gulf was going to get dirty. And with that, they were going to start to see some different products. Eventually from 1983, they got into F1 with the Ralt RT3. Wasn't really one of the biggest cars out there, but Gulf was still back. This was just after their short stint with Tyrell in 1974, where Cosworth preferred to have their own navy blue color on it as opposed to the Gulf livery short-lived.

      But Gulf was there after that between the eighties and into the nineties Gulf was kind of all over the place teaming up with Porsche, with McLaren, with Audi, with Courage, Aston Martin, and even Lamborghini before settling to McLaren just before Williams got their hand on it. Now during the nineties, they had, like I said, their major stints at Le Mans, but they also did GT3 in Japanese touring car circuits with the McLaren F1. They had their short tail and their long tail and everybody remembers those cars. They were fortunes and they all wanted that amazing McLaren and helped boost McLaren's image and created the McLaren F1 so that more people would want it in the future. For that, they decided that maybe, maybe they just didn't need to go racing anymore. This was also at a changing time.

        In 1985, Gulf had lost its way. It was essentially on the brink of collapse when it was bought out by Standard Oil at that point in time being called Chevron. Now Chevron took them over and essentially merged all the Gulf stations into it, subsidizing them out, having BP take over a lot of the ones in European markets. So, Gulf was no more. Gulf was no longer a gas station. It was no longer its own corporation. The Gulf Oil International started making a comeback thanks to its liveries. And outside of the United States, Spain and Portugal, Gulf Oil International, owned by the Hinduju Group, acquired a large share of ownership. The former governor of Saudi Petroleum and Mineral Organization, a board member of Aramco, decided to help buy it out knowing that the Gulf name and Gulf livery was so famous in racing.
 
      A few stations eventually moved into using Gulf names in both UK, Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Slovakia, Czechia, Netherlands, Jordan, Finland, Armenia, and even Turkey. You could still find Gulf stations to this day. Besides that, anywhere else you'll find the livery. Thanks to the original movies and big racing presents, they've been there. Now, like we said, back in the sixties, they teamed up with Ford and Ford pulled the plug and they got into Mirage.
 
      At the same point in time, Bruce McLaren needed a sponsorship for his McLaren racing team. didn't want to give them the main livery because they were using it for the Mirage racing cars and in partnership deals with both Porsche, Tyrell, they didn't want to give that up. So, McLaren actually utilized the original orange color scheme from those old Grumman fighter jets for their racing cars. Have you ever seen those old McLarens, that bright orange racing cars from Bruce McLaren Racing. That's actually a Gulf Orange, but the original Gulf Orange is what his racing cars were adorned with. As the standard light blue and orange went to main Gulf liveries, McLaren held title on the original color scheme, which they have actually brought back on McLaren cars. Now when McLaren decided to come back into the automotive scene with the MP412C, they decided to make a brand-new Gulf livery for it.

        Now this is after the nineties and early two thousand days when I said Gulf was with bringing back liveries for the new Ford GT Aston Martin, Lola, Lamborghini, and even Audi and Porsche. Now they were starting to get back into bed with McLaren, hence the original creator of McLaren, Bruce McLaren, utilizing Gulf colors for their cars. Hell, the orange that's so synonymous with McLaren, very close to the original Gulf color scheme. And McLaren wanted to live up to that original livery. They wanted to have Gulf back on their cars. And with that, they started releasing special editions. The MP4 12C Gulf livery of 2011. 2018, we had the MSO 675 LT. From there, the Autura Gulf livery, the 720 Gulf livery, the MSO 720S Gulf livery, and the Artura GT3 for the streets. Hell, you can even get an Elva with the Gulf livery. McLaren and Gulf were together, but Gulf wasn't in bed directly with McLaren. They were doing it through the previous partnership deals because of the Bruce McLaren days.
 
      They were also allowing these liveries out onto the Porsche 918. And for the third generation Ford GT they had the Ford GT Heritage Edition and the GT 69 Heritage Edition. On top of that, to try and bring back the original 911s from the 1970s that were adorned with the Gulf livery. Those old RS 11s by Everrati, not myself but ​Everrati the auto company created the Gulf livery on their 911 electric version. The first EV adorned with the Gulf livery. But the deal for racing was with McLaren because McLaren and Gulf were together and they're creating specialty vehicles.
 
     And in 2021, McLaren adorned their Formula One car with a Gulf livery, as well as a 2.17 LMP racing car. Gulf was there and Gulf was part of the team. This one stayed forever as the Gulf was rebuilding itself through brand new deals for gas stations and liveries. It was moving away from being a partner of McLaren and becoming a partner of the Williams F1 team. And in 2023 Williams and Gulf adorned the FW45 Williams F1 car with a Gulf livery for the Singapore race. They did this for many other races, but the most notable one came and in 2025 at the Brazil, Interlagos Brazil for the Gulf livery on their F1 car. We all saw it and we all remembered what it was like. Gulf was back. Gulf was here. They're not just colors on a car. They're Gulf. It's a livery we can all understand and all remember. It's been on a multitude of different racing cars from Le Mans to GT to touring to super bike and Formula One, hell even a special edition Fighter Jet. The Gulf livery has been there.

​          They have won over 40 races throughout the history of the Gulf livery. The first F1 in GTR victory, 1996 BPR global endurance racing was the most famous Gulf McLaren F1. From Le Mans to tracks, now McLaren and F1, McLaren and Williams. The Gulf livery is still standing by. People know it. People love it. People care about it. People even have their own cars wrapped in it because this livery is so famous and the most famous Gulf livery of all time. Yeah, we can all say Bruce McLaren and his bright orange or Steve McQueen with his 917.
 
       But, one of the most famous ones that nobody ever thinks about is how the second-generation Ford GT when it came out, there was a special Gulf livery edition created, photographed and sold off. Go back and listen to our 99th episode of our podcast. And our 99th episode of the AutoLooks podcast is about hockey and cars. Two things that don't go together at all. And trust me, I know this growing up with hockey people, hockey people, my hometown see cars as point A to point B. You just use it to get yourself around. That's it. Race car drivers aren't athletes at all. And racing is not a sport where cars are completely different. We know them. We love them. We live and breathe them.
 
        We did an episode about this. There's not a lot of big superstars in the NHL that have famous cars. They're really not car people. And it shows even with their personal lives, except for one, Wayne Gretzky. Yes, the king of hockey and one of the old-time record holders in the NHL. When he bought the Edmonton Oilers, whose colors conveniently enough are blue and orange.
 
        He was gifted a Ford GT with a custom Gulf livery, but the number on the side of the car wasn't 01, wasn't 14, wasn't any other number ever adorned on a McLaren livery. It was 99 in Gretzky's number. Gretzky held the car as long as he held the Edmonton Oilers. When he sold his share off and walked away from the Oilers, he sold his Ford GT off for charity, autographing the 99 on the hood with its own signature, the car became one the most expensive Ford GTs ever sold from the second generation. All having to do with hockey. Kind of interesting that there's even a portion of hockey related to the Gulf livery. For myself, the Edmonton Oilers, they use a similar orange, but their blue is more of the Navy blue adorned. If you're on looking at our website, 412 C Gulf GT3 racing car the darker blue with the darker orange, not the original powder, standard blue and standard orange. That's the Edmonton Oilers, that's Gulf. And the most amazing thing about it is the Edmonton Oilers are from a city of oil. Edmonton is an oil city with an oil name on its team and use an oil company's colors as its signature. So, the Gulf livery can die out. In my home country, being an automotive enthusiast, the Gulf livery will never fully disappear.
 
       Thanks to the Edmonton Oilers, I'll always see their colors as the Gulf livery. For movie buffs, Steve McQueen and his Porsche 917 won't let Gulf livery disappear. And for true Le Mans fans and racing fans, McLaren, Williams, and even the original 4GT won't let you live down that original Gulf livery. It's here. It's still going. And we all remember it. The Gulf livery, whether it be straight orange, dark blue with dark orange, or light blue with orange.

​​        Gulf livery is one of the most famous liveries ever on racing cars that you'll ever find. With only Martini and Rothmans being close to them, Gulf holds the title as the number one racing livery of all time. Now, Gulf could just get itself back on its feet and give us back our holiday ends with gas stations? Maybe, just maybe, they'll be a little more wanderlust with Gulf products.

        So, if you like this podcast, be like, share, comment about any major social feeds or streaming sites that you've found the auto looks podcast on. Like us, share us, comment about us, tell your friends, tell your family, tell your well wishers, do whatever you want. Just get the voice out there. Tell people about the Gulf livery. What was their famous Gulf livery vehicle of all time? Which one did they love? Which car did they enjoy the most with the Gulf livery. And after that, stop by the website, read some of the reviews, check out some of the ratings, go to the corporate links website page, big or small, we have them all, companies from around the globe, all available in one direct location. That is the AutoLooks.net website. While they're stopped by like us, comment about us and share us with your friends, not just the podcast, but the site as well. Get the auto looks.net website out there to everyone that you know, all available from the autolooks.net website.

       The AutoLooks podcast is brought to you by Ecomm Entertainment Group and distributed by Podbean.com. If you'd like to get in touch with us, send us an email over to email at AutoLooks.net. for myself Everett Jay, the AutoLooks.net website and podbean.com and Ecomm Entertainment Group. Strap yourself in for this one fun wild ride that the Gulf livery is going to take us on.

Everett J.
​#autolooks