You get the Very Best – at Supertest!

“You get the very best…at Supertest! Deedly-dum!”

That was the radio jingle for Supertest, Canada’s “all-Canadian petroleum company.” Mr. Jim Hearl owned the Supertest Station on the southeast corner of Jane Street and Wilson Avenue in suburban Toronto. Nearest to the road, a towering pole supported a bold orange maple leaf. On the sleek white gas station building, lightning-flash orange letters embodied the jet age. Over the glass and chrome entry door, a professionally painted sign in glittering gold letters proclaimed “Jim Hearl’s Courtesy Corner.”

Mr. Hearl, in his early 40’s, had the same neatly trimmed moustache as Clark Gable and Walt Disney. His brow furrowed a bit when he was amused, which was often, and his eyes always met yours with interest. His forest-green Supertest uniform was always spotless, and a dark green bow tie topped his pressed pale green shirt.

“They come for our fair prices,” he said in an interview for a trade magazine, “but they stay because of the way we treat them. That’s why we call it the Courtesy Corner.” He did business as if it was a sacred calling.

My mom was the bookkeeper there, or, as Mr. Hearl called her, “The Office Manager.” Anyone else would have called her “the girl.” My sister and I would go and pick her up from work after school, and if she wasn’t quite ready, Mr. Hearl would give us each a nickel to get an ice cream from the Dairy Queen, so she could finish up without distraction.

In 1968, when I was 15, Mom got wind of the fact that Supertest Corporate was planning a summer promotion. For three days each week, a different gas station in the city would host a special “Gold Key” Event.

Every customer who spent at least $2 in fuel (about half a tank of gas), would be given a duplicate of their ignition key, 14k gold-plated, and emblazoned with the Supertest maple leaf. In addition, coffee and donuts would be served.

Mom, always on the lookout for ways to improve the family finances, proposed to Mr. Hearl that I and two friends would be the perfect recruits. After all, we had earned our Girl Guide “hostessing” badges and had mothers who were Raising Us Properly.

It was our first job with a pay stub. At $1.25 an hour, fifteen hours per day for three days each week, it added up to – a fortune!

The writer as a “Gold Key Girl”, photo taken by her mother.
The gentleman in the photo is Mr. Ivan Boone, another Supertest employee, who passed away about 40 years ago.