Hunter Oil Company, Inc.

Oil and GasTennessee, United States11-50 Employees

Hunter Oil Company got its start in 1956 when a young couple with a big dream began selling engine oil.  James and Margaret Hunter were struggling to support a family of six.  James, better known as Jim, was working as a sales representative for a distribution company.  Margaret worked full time at a manufacturing plant responsible for producing ceramic parts.

Jim spent prior years selling engine oil additives and truck accessories out of his Ford station wagon.  He was frequently asked about the popular yet hard to find product “RPM.”  RPM was a diesel engine oil produced by California Oil Company which was formed amid the 1911 antitrust breakup of John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil.

Jim and Margaret decided to write California Oil Company a letter requesting to become a distributor of the widely popular RPM oil.  Through mergers and acquisitions, RPM would later be known as Chevron RPM. Soon after writing the letter, they received a visit at their home in East Ridge, TN by representatives from California Oil.  They agreed to take a chance on Jim and Margaret and set them up as a distributor.

Hunter Oil Company became the first to distribute bulk Kendall and Chevron motor oils in the Chattanooga area.  Jim and Margaret’s two sons, Rick and Mike, started full time in the 1970’s shortly after graduating from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.  The company experienced steady growth under the brothers’ conservative and cautious leadership.  In 2000 Rick’s son, Charlie, joined the company after graduating from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.  Hunter Oil is now a 3rd generation company carrying on one hard-working couples’ vision.

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