Need help with value of ACL bottles I found

[BullGill]

I think I will hold on to it, I do not like to sell things that have an undetermined value. One of a kind things are what I collect, I have about 10 things that I refuse to sell because I know I won't get what it's worth just because there is not determined value.

 

[Johnnysoda]

Perfectly understandable since we cant find any like it! It is a very nice bottle and if you ever change your mind ill be here.

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

You will recall this ad I posted earlier from ... The Warren Times & Observer ~ Warren, Pennsylvania ~ August 16, 1972 ... and that it was the earliest ad I could find connected to Barrelhead Root Beer. But did you notice in the lower right portion of the ad where it says ... Thorco, Incorporated ~ Johnsonburg, Pennsylvania I was curious who they were and discovered ... 1. The company founder was Luke Thorwart 2. They started out as The Whistle Bottling Company in 1919 3. They changed the name to Canada Dry Bottling in 1948 4. They became Thorco Incorporated in 1965 5. Over the years they bottled various brands, including ... Whistle ~ Canada Dry ~ Dr. Pepper ~ Wink ~ Barrelhead Root Beer Johnsonburg, Pennsylvania and Warren, Pennsylvania are about 50 miles apart What I'm trying to determine is where Barrelhead was first bottled and first distributed. Even though the 1972 ad is from Warren, Pennsylvania, I'm thinking that because the Thorwart's had their own bottling company in Johnsonburg, that it might have been introduced there. I have some more research to do on this and will post my findings as they develop.

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

P.S. I'm also trying to determine why the Canada Dry Company selected Thorco, Incorporated to handle Barrelhead instead of any one of a jillion other bottlers scattered throughout the country.

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

P.S. ~ P.S. In 1979 it appears that a millionaire, entrepreneur, art collector by the name of Norton Simon bought Canada Dry Bottling in New York and also took over the distribution of Barrelhead Root Beer at that time. I'll focus on him later, and for now will see what I can find out about the Thorwart's.

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

Narrowing things down ... As it turns out, Norton Simon bought the entire Canada Dry Company in 1964. The 1979 date was merely when he bought the Canada Dry bottling facility in New York. So this tells us that Thorco Inc. was only a distributor of Barrelhead Root Beer but did not own it outright - it was owned by Norton Simon Inc. Here is a timeline for Canada Dry according to Wikipedia (Which I found confirmation of on other websites). Norton Simon took an interest in the company [Canada Dry] in 1964, and it merged with Simon's other holdings, the McCall Corporation and Hunt Foods, to form Norton Simon Inc. Dr. Pepper bought Canada Dry from Norton Simon in 1982. In 1984, Dr. Pepper was acquired by Forstmann Little & Company, and Canada Dry was sold to R. J. Reynolds' Del Monte Foods unit to pay off acquisition debt. RJR Nabisco sold its soft drink business to Cadbury Schweppes in 1986. Today, Canada Dry is owned by Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, which was spun off from Cadbury Schweppes in 2008.


(To be continued)

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

I posted a similar 1972 Barrelhead trademark link earlier - but because it did not show who owned the trademark, I wanted to post this one to show it was owned by ... The Canada Dry Corporation 100 Park Ave. New York., N.Y. Please be reminded; When the Barrelhead trademark was registered on March 28, 1970, the Canada Dry Corporation was already owned by Norton Simon Inc., who purchased Canada Dry in 1964. Plus, I wanted to post the trademark image shown below which I wasn't able to do earlier http://www.trademarks411.com/marks/72359777-canada-dry-barrelhead

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

This map is a portion of Pennsylvania from GoogleEarth. I placed the yellow pins on four different towns so you will have a better understanding of the newspaper ads to follow and their proximity to one another. Johnsonburg was the location of Thorco Incorporated, who were the distributors of Barrelhead Root Beer. Warren is about 50 miles north of Johnsonsburg Johnsonburg, Wilcox, and Kane are all within about 5 or 10 miles of each other

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

P.S. I forgot to mention Oil City which is about 75 miles west of Johnsonburg

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

Speaking of Oil City, this ad is from ... The Oil City Derrick ~ Pennsylvania ~ March 14, 1973 Notice ... 1. The various Canada Dry brands listed, including Barrelhead Root Beer2. The brands are "A Product of Thorco Inc., Johnsonburg, Pa."3. The locations are not listed alphabetically - Johnsonburg is listed first even though the ad is from Oil City Note: This helps support my belief that Barrelhead was first introduced in Johnsonburg