Mobil GO Prepaid Gas Cards

During the late 1990s, Mobil Oil Corporation introduced Mobil GO prepaid gas cards.  These cards could be purchased from local stations or directly from the company by mail and used at the pump to purchase gasoline.  It should be noted that these are not credit cards or ATM cards.  The first cards introduced were of a basic or "generic" design...

...and the earliest cards didn't even list the card number on the front.  Wording on the generic cards changed from the early "Original Card Value" to the final "Original Value" wording.

Collecting the cards became exciting when several different designs were introduced.  These designs include the following:

Mobil Racing Team GO Cards

The mintage of the Racing Team GO cards was reported to be 10,000 of each design.

Three Indy Car designs were created (design 1 appears above). 

The NASCAR design above was referred to by Mobil as "Collectors Series 4".  A Porsche card was also produced as part of the Racing Team series.

Ethinc Series

Three "Latino Series" cards and two "African-American" series cards were introduced.  The information appearing on the back of all Latino Series cards is entirely in Spanish.  The card pictured above is from the Latino Series.

Cobranded GO Cards

Several cobranded GO cards were produced, some of which are extremely difficult to find.

A special edition Mobil GO card was produced with the AT&T True Rewards logo.  Available to participants in the AT&T True Rewards program in a $100 denomination, an additional $25 card was available through the redemption of True Rewards points.

The introduction of the MCI PrePaid Mobil GO card was an interesting twist on the prepaid gas card, including prepaid phone card features and adding to the capabilities of the card.

The 1997 Pontiac Grand Am GT card was originally available with a test drive of the Pontiac at your local dealership.  The card was only available in a $10 denomination.

Two of the most rare GO cards are pictured below...

...and feature simple printing on the surface of a generic GO card.  They were reported to be from local promotions (not part of a nationwide marketing effort) and the quantities produced are believed to be extremely low when compared to cards released nationally.

In addition to the above cards, the NFL and Sprint teamed up to produce a GO card picturing a player from the Philadelphia Eagles and a player from the New York Giants along with the NFL and Sprint logos.

Other GO Cards

The "Nostalgia Card" was released by Mobil in June 1997.  This card was a snapshot of the history of Mobil Oil, with the cards featuring vintage glass gas pump globes.

Originally only available in a $100 denomination, the "1997 Corvette" card later became available in $25 and $50 denomiations and was very popular with not only card collectors but Corvette lovers as well.

The "Graduation Card" was originally released by Mobil in May 1997 and intended to be used as a graduation present.  Originally only available in a $25 denomination, the card later became available in $10, $50 and $100 denominations.

The "Back to school!" card was released subsequent to the "Graduation Card" (possibly to celebrate kids going off to college after graduating high school).

The "Fireworks" or "Fourth of July" card (not pictured due to limitations on the number of photos allowed in a guide) was an exciting, colorful addition to the GO card family.

Unfortunately, the Mobil GO card program struggled shortly after the introduction of the Mobil Speedpass keychain RFID payment in 1997.  The ability to waive a small wand in front of the pump to make payment captured the imagination of customers and quickly brought the GO program to an end.