Thoni Oil

Thoni Oil was a petroleum products distributor that had three 24-hour, full-service filling stations in Pensacola. It was owned by Richard Thoni of Grand Bay, Alabama and the local stations were managed by G.B. and Vera Ard of Cantonment. The Pensacola locations were at Palafox Street just north of Brent Lane, also East Cervantes at Pickens Street, and 4785 North Ninth Avenue. The latter two locations had double bays and lifts, but were mostly used just to store cases of oil, extra tools, old tires, etc. In addition to gasoline, Thoni's also sold their own brand of motor oils and transmission fluid, which the employees added to their customer's vehicles long after most area filling stations had stopped providing the service. Most of their gasoline was supplied by excess fuel from trucks that were owned by much larger companies such as Shell and Exxon.

During a time when Pensacola had only perhaps a half-dozen all-night gas stations, Thoni Oil was a favorite stop for late-night clubgoers, police officers, car enthusiasts, and those just wanting to purchase an inexpensive pack of cigarettes. In early 1980, Thoni's changed their work shifts from eight hours to twelve, and all employees worked from 7:30 to 7:30. On an early 1980's Halloween night, an attempted armed robbery at the Ninth Avenue location was thwarted by employee Virgil Dailey when he saw a masked man with a gun. Dailey threw the money in the safe and locked the would-be robber outside. The details of the incident were later published in the Pensacola News-Journal.

In the mid-1980's, all Pensacola locations were closed. The Palafox Street station was sold to Pensacola Christian College, the Cervantes Street station was sold for construction of the new A.K. Suter Elementary School, and both buildings were leveled. The Ninth Avenue building remained standing, and was transformed into a hair salon.