Thoni Oil

Thoni Oil was a petroleum products distributor that had three 24-hour filling stations in Pensacola. The company was owned by Richard Thoni of Grand Bay, Alabama and the local stations were managed by GB Ard of Cantonment. The Pensacola locations were at Palafox Street just north of Brent Lane, also East Cervantes at Knowles Street, and Ninth Avenue just north of Chadwick Street. The latter two locations also had double bays for mechanic work to be performed, but were mostly used just to store cases of oil, also tools, etc. 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 doing so. Most of their gasoline was supplied by excess fuel from trucks that worked for much larger companies such as Shell and Exxon. In early 1980, Thoni's changed their work shifts from 8 hours to 12. In the mid-1980's, the Pensacola locations closed. The Palafox Street location was sold to Pensacola Christian College, the Cervantes location was sold to AK Suter Elementary School, and both buildings were leveled. The Ninth Avenue building remained standing, and the location became a hair salon.