1990 3D Laser Etched Chevron Light

Summary: Maglite started laser etching lights in 1988 but didn't start accepting custom laser etched orders until around 1990. This is one of the first custom laser etchings and it was done for a Chevron refinery near Maglite's headquarters.

For you viewing pleasure is a professional Maglite that's not a cop light! Starting in 1990 when Maglite changed the grip size and went to a laser etched bezel on the D cells they also started doing custom laser engraving on a per order basis. There are tons and tons of custom orders that were intended as giveaways and promotional items and it's almost impossible to collect them all. The laser engraving is much rarer on the C and D cells than on the Mini Mags and Solitaires. The reason being was that Mag had minimum order numbers on laser engraved lights, usually around 100 or so. The D and C cells were much more expensive and as such not many companies wanted to shell out that much money for giveaways and promotional items.

I love professional lights, especially ones with a good story behind them. This D cell was done as part of a large batch for Chevron intended to be used by maintenance workers at their refineries. As stated on the barrel and to deter theft it was labelled as the property of Chevron and was used in their El Segundo refinery just south of LAX. I worked in petroleum for a long time and knew a bunch of folks at Chevron. I collected a lot of petroleum items during my time in that field so this goes well with that collection and my Maglite collection. The original owner was a longtime refinery employee that took the then outdated light with him when he retired. Not having much of a use for it in recent years he sold it. I imagine most of the rest of these lights were discarded after years of use.

This light is a 4,000,000 serial 3D and a "transitional" model, one with a reduced grip sized and laser etched bezel but still with the bigger barrel and non-letter serial. These models were produced only in 1990 and 1991. It is likely one of Mag's first batches of custom laser etched orders seeing as how close Chevron is to their factory.

It is also interesting to note that Chevron has a long storied history as well. Just like the company I worked for they are a spin off of the Standard Oil Company headed up by John D. Rockefeller and were once known as Standard Oil of California before companies in the US were prohibited from using the Standard name. There are many other former Standards like Exxon (Standard Oil of New Jersey), Mobil (Standard Oil of New York), and the old Amoco (Standard Oil of Indiana). I'm really interested in the history of different companies so I thought this might be of some interest to others out there too.

The other custom laser etched C cell lights I've frequently seen are the ever popular Chevy Trucks C cells which were supplied with a tool kit on Chevy Suburbans and Tahoes. I've also seen several D and C models done for railroads too. If you have an interesting laser etched C or D cell I'd love to see it because I don't know of many.

As always I'm looking to buy Vari-Beams and Vintage/Rare Mags. Please let me know if you have any, top dollar paid.