We Keep Them Special

Hess sold its gas stations in 2014, and the toy truck it gave out at those stations is still sold.^[1][2] I ordered this year's on October 19, for my son.^[6]

A New Jersey company

Hess says Leon Hess was born in Asbury Park, New Jersey, in 1914, and started the company with a used oil delivery truck in 1933, at 19.^[1] The first Hess-branded gas station opened in 1960. In 1964, as a goodwill gesture to customers at the holidays, Hess offered a toy truck, a replica of the company's first Mack tanker truck, with working lights and a tank that filled. It sold at the stations, with batteries included.^[1]

My father

My father pumped gas for Hess before he became a police officer. Most years he gave me a Hess toy truck for Christmas.

What the company did

In May 2014 Hess announced the sale of its retail business, 1,342 gas stations and convenience stores mostly on the East Coast, to Marathon Petroleum for $2.6 billion, to buy back shares and focus on finding and producing oil.^[2] The truck outlived the stations. Hess's own history says the toy continued as a direct-to-consumer tradition.^[1] When Chevron agreed to buy Hess in October 2023, Hess said the truck "will continue for future years."^[3] Chevron completed the purchase on July 18, 2025.^[4] The toy's site says it continues under the stewardship of John Hess and the Hess family.^[5]

What I hold

I give one to my son now. He has his own collection. Mine are mostly lost. I did not know I was being handed a legacy. The older trucks are unboxed around the tree when it goes up, usually December 1. The new one is wrapped and goes under the tree, and once it is open it joins the “family.” We keep them special. They are not toys in the traditional sense.

The 2026 truck is a hauler with a snow plow, and it is on the maker's site now.^[6] Hess no longer runs gas stations, and the gas station is where the gift began. My own trucks did not last, so I started my son's from zero, and we keep them special so he has something to pass on.

The company history is as Hess's own site tells it, and the retail sale figures are from the day it was announced. I did not find who owns the toy business today beyond the site's statement. My father's work at Hess and the trucks he gave me are my account, and so is why the trucks are kept.