# SunDrop Golden Girl Cola



## digger mcdirt (Jun 10, 2009)

Here's a nice amber 1 gallon SunDrop Cola Syrup jug I got out of my truck load deal the other day . I have seen a few in clear but 1st amber one I have seen. Looks like as colorful as their bottle was the label would have been more than Gray and Black.


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## digger mcdirt (Jun 10, 2009)

Here's a few of my SunDrop Golden Girl bottles. The jug will make a good go with. bob


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## digger mcdirt (Jun 10, 2009)

And a few more. bob


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## kastoo (Jul 14, 2009)

Whatchu got in these you want to give UP?  Can be common..don't care, wife likes jugs...and we got those slick but one with a label would be cool.



> ORIGINAL:  digger mcdirt
> 
> Here's a nice amber 1 gallon SunDrop Cola Syrup jug I got out of my truck load deal the other day . I have seen a few in clear but 1st amber one I have seen. Looks like as colorful as their bottle was the label would have been more than Gray and Black.


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## daviswoodwork (Sep 18, 2009)

I am guessing that you maybe able to help me out. I am looking for a Golden Girl Cola (Sun Drop) paper label soda bottle. Saw and missed one on e-bay a couple years back but have never seen one since. I have a pretty extensive collection of Sun Drop (Golden Girl Cola) bottles and memorabilia but not that one or one like your "sugar free" in the pic.
 Thanks for your help,
 Mike


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## wonkapete (Sep 18, 2009)

Speaking of paper label and Sun Drops, here's my very early paper label Sun Drop.


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## morbious_fod (Sep 18, 2009)

> ORIGINAL:  wonkapete
> 
> Speaking of paper label and Sun Drops, here's my very early paper label Sun Drop.


 
 I spotted one of those about three months ago in an antique shop, I didn't think it what related to the modern Sun Drop so I didn't buy it.


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## daviswoodwork (Sep 19, 2009)

You selling that old Sundrop Lemonade bottle?
 Mike


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## morbious_fod (Dec 13, 2009)

I went back to the shop and picked up the Sun Drop paper label I mentioned. It is applied to a 1940 beer bottle with no neck label in sight. 






 Actually the other one of these pictured has a different font on the label. Other than that they are basically the same.


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## morbious_fod (Dec 13, 2009)

A closer look at the label. The label reads that it was bottled by the Peru Bottling Company of Plattsburg, NY, I also picked up a 1942 Mil-kay bottle from the same bottling company in the same booth. I did a bit of searching for Sun Drop Lemonade and found that caps that note "A Mil-Kay Product", finding a Mil-kay bottle from the same company makes a lot of sense. Of course this same connection does give me the logical link I personally needed to the modern Sun Drop brand. The Mil-Kay is posted on my new to the Morbious Fod collection thread.


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## morbious_fod (Dec 13, 2009)

I just found this old die cut advertisement photo for the brand online.


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## madman (Dec 13, 2009)

hey guys great bottles! joe i dug a hartmans  with a sundrop lable behind the school


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## morbious_fod (Dec 13, 2009)

Somehow I'm not surprised by that. Too bad it didn't survive, otherwise I'm sure you would have posted it, a hartmans's Sun Drop paper label would indeed be a nice find.


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## Sundropman05 (Jan 10, 2010)

Hi, Im new up here but I just thought I would put a little imput in on the Sun-drop lemonade bottle that some have posted. I do know that it was not distributed by Sun-drop the Golden cola which came from St.louis, M.O. and the Bottle with the paper label was made in N.Y by Mil-Kay which was 2 seperate companies. To my knowledge Sun-drop never had a paper label until the early 90s. The earliest bottle I know from the Sun-Drop company in St.Louis was from the 40s and they came in 3 flavors, Sun-Drop Orange, Lemonade, Punch and labels were painted, Here is a pic of one I was able to get that was still full.


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## Sundropman05 (Jan 10, 2010)

Also here is a pic of 3 bottle displays that was made by the Sun-drop company


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## morbious_fod (Jan 10, 2010)

That's a nice collection of Sun Drop bottles, but I'm afraid I have to disagree with you on the origins of the brand and it's connection to Mil-Kay. I decided to put some real research into the brand aside from that quick connection via bottle cap. I hit the usual sources, first the brand's official history taken from the official Sun Drop website, then I took it further by going to the real historical source the United States trademark registration site. Learning to use this site has helped me out considerably in my research of local bottlers, and of course has helped me again in this instance.

 First the Sun Drop brand

http://www.sundrop.net/history.php

 According to SunDropâ€™s own official history the drink has been around since 1928, at least eight years before the assumed invention of the acl process, and you would have me believe that this brand didnâ€™t have a paper label bottle until 1990?

 â€œIn 1928, in St. Louis, Missouri, Charles Lazier developed an entirely new soft drink which he named Sun-Drop. With the introduction of Sun-Drop an entirely new flavor category was born.â€ quote from the brandâ€™s official history.

 From the United States Patent office we find that the trademark for Sun Drop, note on the certificate that they use the Sun Drop Lemonade font from Wonkapeteâ€™s bottle and the advertising sign posted as the trademark, had been in use since August 29, 1929.

 â€œ(LAST LISTED OWNER) MIL-K-BOTL CORPORATION OF AMERICA, THE UNKNOWN ST. LOUIS, MO. REPUBLISHED BY SUN DROP SALES CORPORATION OF AMERICA,/ST. LOUIS, MO.â€


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## morbious_fod (Jan 10, 2010)

Next Mil-Kay.

 From the United States Patent office we find that the trademark for  Mil-kay was filed on September 28, 1940.

 â€œFIRST USE: 19400801. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 19400801

 (REGISTRANT) MIL-K-BOTL CORPORATION OF AMERICA, THE CORPORATION MISSOURI 3012 LOCUST STREET ST. LOUIS MISSOURI

 (LAST LISTED OWNER) LAZIER INDUSTRIES, INC. CORPORATION DELAWARE 1740 CHASE DRIVE FENTON MISSOURI 63026â€






 The funny thing is there is never a mention of New York in the registrations of either of these trademarks, even though the one I own was bottled there. Both of these companies are owned by Charles Lazier who created both brands. They arenâ€™t two separate companies at all.


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## Eric (Jan 10, 2010)

Awesome collection there Sundropman05... lets see more of it....


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## Sundropman05 (Jan 11, 2010)

morbious_fod : Thanks for the history on that, I always thought they were 2 seperate companies but after reading the patents I guess they are related, I knew that Charles Lazier invented Sun-Drop in the 20s but thought it didnt get patented till later. I have searched many times for the right information but always came up short. Glad you were able to find that. I do know that the Snapple group owns Sun-Drop now and that the Golden girl Cola debuted in 1951 http://www.drpeppersnapplegroup.com/brands/sundrop/ .


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## Sundropman05 (Jan 11, 2010)

Some of the signs from my Sun-Drop Collection


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## Sundropman05 (Jan 11, 2010)

A couple more of the signs


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## morbious_fod (Jan 11, 2010)

> ORIGINAL:  Sundropman05
> 
> morbious_fod : Thanks for the history on that, I always thought they were 2 seperate companies but after reading the patents I guess they are related, I knew that Charles Lazier invented Sun-Drop in the 20s but thought it didnt get patented till later. I have searched many times for the right information but always came up short. Glad you were able to find that. I do know that the Snapple group owns Sun-Drop now and that the Golden girl Cola debuted in 1951 http://www.drpeppersnapplegroup.com/brands/sundrop/ .


 
 The interesting thing is that this brand seems to have almost as convoluted story as Mountain Dew, except for the one common thread Of Charles Lazier. I first started wondering about the true age of the brand when after I had heard a bottler in North Carolina claim that their company was the first bottler ever to produce Sun Drop in 1953 according to their employee manual. I of course had an ad for both Mil-Kay and Sun Drop Lemonade being bottled by Tri-City Beverage as early as 1950. This had me scratching my head and that's when I found out about the 1928 date for the name from the Sun Drop website.

 I had never really looked into the trademark of either brand until you inspired me to do so, and now I think that the Sun Drop Lemonade that Tri-City first started bottling was the paper label version, because as you can see in the ad Lemonade is very prominent in the name, thus another possible Johnson City bottle is floating around out there with that paper label on them. Now finding them is the interesting part.

 According to legend in the local area Charlie Gordon, who had a relationship with Lazier, helped him create the red and white acl for the bottles. Legends being legends I don't know how much to believe from this particular legend, but Gordon did redesign the Mountain Dew bottle to create a two color acl from a one color, so he had a history of that type of activity.

 You might want to check out Golden Girl Cola on the trademark site, it may give you more information on the brand. I always wondered why they used two different names for the same soft drink. That is a great collection you have there, I'm a Mountain Dew collector myself; however, I have picked up several Sun Drops as part of my Mountain Dew Imitator collection, I know Sun Drop is older than Mountain Dew, but I have to call that collection of Dew competitors something, and most of them are imitators. Both collections are listed below.

 Mountain Dew collection

http://www.tazewell-orange.com/mountiandew.html

 Mountain Dew imitators

http://www.tazewell-orange.com/mdimitators.html


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## morbious_fod (Jan 11, 2010)

Here I have a second, here it the certificate for Gold-en Girl cola, this is from 1963 an shows that they have been using the trademark since 1955, and by this time they have apparently not only changed the name of their company, but have moved to a new office.


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## madman (Jan 11, 2010)

great bottles and great info joe!


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## CreekWalker (Jan 13, 2010)

Very awesome jug, Bob! I have found those in a trash pit before, no label. It's nice to know they were not Purex or Clorox! Great collection guys, super colorful ACL and misc. items!


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## wam (Jul 22, 2011)

This Sun Drop Orange Letter isn't dated.  It's from the J.F. Lazier Mfg. Co., St. Louis, MO.  It was found among a lot of old Coca Cola letters in Georgia, and most of the letters were from 1929 to 1935.  Can you figure out about when it was written?

 "The dairies are out to get your Orange business.  Make no mistake about that.  If they haven't started in your territory with their Orange yet -- they will with the first few warm days of summer.  At least that's what is happening all over the country.

 As they are offering Orange Juice drinks, there's no use trying to fight 'em with an ordinary bottle of Orange Soda.  It takes the same kind of a drink but a better one to get the business.

 While this new competition is threatening, you needn't let it worry you because you can beat 'em a mile with our new dairy type Sun Drop Orangeade Concentrate.

 Without exception, the scores of bottles already using this new dairy type Orangeade say it is the most delicious Orange drink they have ever tasted.  Many have told us it is even better than the fresh Orange Juice they prepare in their own homes.

 And why not?  It is a fresh fruit drink that will keep.  It is made from the Juice of the finest California Oranges, Sun ripened on the trees -- not from Oranges ripened after picking, like you get in the grocery stores.  Only the Juice of a special variety of Oranges is used, the kind that produces the finest, richest Juice you ever tasted.

 This Orangeade has to be made up in advance -- during the winter months, when the special kind of Oranges we use are available.  From the way our regular trade is taking to it I doubt if we made this year's supply as large as we should.  So, we are not going to advertise it generally this year.  We are just going to offer it to our regular customers and a few selected bottlers like you, whose trade we would like to get.

 I want you to try just one case of this new Orangeade -- I believe that when you have tested it, you'll so appreciate the chance to get such Orange that you'll maybe later try us out on other flavors too.

 But take my word and try out one case now.  No one else in the country has an Orange like this and only a limited number of bottlers can have the privilege of bottling it this season.

 Yours very truly,

 J. F. Lazier Mfg. Co., Inc.

 C. E. Lazier,
 President"


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## morbious_fod (Jul 23, 2011)

I'd say you have a letterhead from the earliest incarnation of the brand. The speciman that was sent in with the registration of the Sun Drop name was for Orange Concentrate. I'd say 1929-1935 is about as close as we can get in dating this letter, but the time period is certainly right. Thanks for posting, I wouldn't mind finding one of those myself.


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## celerycola (Jul 23, 2011)

That's a terrific Sun Drop collection? I always appreciate the efforts of those who seek out the uncommon brands.

 And Morb gets the CSI:Soda award for his tremendous research on Sun Drop posted here and his previous insights into Mountain Dew. I've saved this entire thread - pictures and history - as a pdf so I can easily find it for future reference.


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## wam (Jul 23, 2011)

That's what I was thinking.  I am going to post the second page of that letter.


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## wam (Jul 23, 2011)

>> The speciman that was sent in with the registration of the Sun Drop name was for Orange Concentrate <<

 I had never seen that before.  Is there a link to a website for that?  Was it J.F. Lazier or C.E. Lazier, or the Lazier MFG Co.?

 I have tried to research J.F. Lazier, John Fredrick Lazier, aka "Soda Jack", but haven't found much.  What amazes me, is that this drink is just now going National.  Seems like the caffeine content is what is fueling the craze


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## morbious_fod (Jul 23, 2011)

> ORIGINAL:  wam
> 
> >> The speciman that was sent in with the registration of the Sun Drop name was for Orange Concentrate <<
> 
> ...


 
http://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/index.jsp  Click on the link that says "Search Marks" and look up Sun Drop, unfortunately the area that I was able to find information and specimens is no longer working.

 It was originally the J. F. Lazier Mfg Co., and Charles Lazier took over, it changed it's name several times over the years. Unfortunately there is very little online about the company. 

 The drink isn't just now going national, it is returning to the national scene, Sun Drop was a national brand during the 1940's -1950's. Just like it's sister drink Mil-Kay which was produced as far away as Hawaii. After Mountain Dew went national in 1964, it ended up dying off except in the southeast. I'm glad it is making a comeback, because in reality Mountain Dew owes much to Sun Drop who were the first to come up with the Citrus Lemon flavor back in 1952. Took Mountain Dew until the early 1960's to do the same. A bit of trivia, Tri-City Beverage was bottling the new formula of Sun Drop in 1953, and picked up the Lithinated Lemon (7-UP sytle) formula Mountain Dew in 1954. They are also given credit for creating the new formula by the official story, so one does have to wonder if they were deliberately ripping off Sun Drop. This would make Mountain Dew the original Imitator, don't tell 'em I said that. LOL!

 BTW the company still exists, but it's making concentrates for juice now.


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## morbious_fod (Jul 23, 2011)

Missed the embed button. Here goes.


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## wam (Jul 23, 2011)

Thank you for that info about Sun Drop.  I checked it out at:

 http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4010:8oj49r.2.34

 Speaking of 7-UP (about 1929) and other Lithiated Sodas of the early era ... I had another letter about one of the imitators of 7-UP ... see attached photo of it.  Look at some of the info on the Letterhead: "A Bracing Beverage" & "A Magic Mix".  That is an interesting way to promote a soda that had Lithium in it   I wonder about when they stopped using Lithium in sodas, such as 7-UP.

 Another thing that I am curious about, with the local bottlers that would bottle Sun Drop and other smaller brands.  Did they buy the concentrate directly from Sun Drop, or just use the branding?  The reason I am asking, is that among the paperwork that I have from the 1929 to 1935 era, is some directly from California, other citrus growers, suppliers, etc.  The Georgia Coca-Cola bottling company that this paperwork came from, also bottled many other brands of soda ... many, actually.


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## morbious_fod (Jul 23, 2011)

Yes the bottlers used concentrates provided by the companies that owned the brand.


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## sodapops (Jul 25, 2011)

Love the displays Sundropman, heres my golden cola


> ORIGINAL:  Sundropman05
> 
> Some of the signs from my Sun-Drop Collection


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## wam (Jul 25, 2011)

This early, maybe 1928 to 1929 sales brochure from Lazier Mfg. of St. Louis Missouri, has a lot of interesting information about Sun Drop Orange:

 First Page: SMASH that MILK BOTTLE COMPETITION with >


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## wam (Jul 25, 2011)

This early, maybe 1928 to 1929 sales brochure from Lazier Mfg. of St. Louis Missouri, has a lot of interesting information about Sun Drop Orange: 

 Second Page: Lazier's Dairy Type Orangeade Concentrate Made with the Richest Juice of the Finest California Oranges ... With or Without the Pulp.

 Two Types to Choose From:

 No. 1: Sun Drop Orangeade Concentrate -- (Dairy Type) -- For Making A still Orange Juice Drink (No Carbonation).

 No. 2: Sun Drop Orangeade Concentrate -- (Regular Bottlers Type) -- For Making A Carbonated Orange Juice Drink.

 At the bottom of this page:

 Sun Drop Orangeade can be bottled under your name -- or we have a complete line of effective advertising including Window Streamers, Bottle Cutouts, Display Cards and Crowns if you wish to use them.


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## wam (Jul 25, 2011)

This early, maybe 1928 to 1929 sales brochure from Lazier Mfg. of St. Louis Missouri, has a lot of interesting information about Sun Drop Orange: 

 Third Page: The Most Delicious Orange Drink You Ever Tasted.
 Easy to Bottle


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## wam (Jul 25, 2011)

This early, maybe 1928 to 1929 sales brochure from Lazier Mfg. of St. Louis Missouri, has a lot of interesting information about Sun Drop Orange: 

 Fourth & Last Page: Don't Overlook These Old Standbys This Summer:

 Knight Club Ginger Ale
 Indian Queen Root Beer
 Natural Set Up Lithiated Lemon
 Cream Flavor
 Cinderella Pure Orange Extract
 Mother Goose Pure Orange Extract
 Blue Bell Grape
 Red Riding Hood Strawberry


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## wam (Jul 26, 2011)

> ORIGINAL:  wam
> 
> This early, maybe 1928 to 1929 sales brochure from Lazier Mfg. of St. Louis Missouri, has a lot of interesting information about Sun Drop Orange:
> 
> ...


 
 Notice the "Natural Set Up Lithiated Lemon".  Doesn't that sound similar to 7-UP, which was also a Lithiated Lemon drink, and started in 1929.


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## morbious_fod (Jul 26, 2011)

Natural Set Up was one of their most famous flavors, and yes it was in direct competition with Seven Up. I've heard of Cinderella Orange, but Knight Klub Ginger Ale is a new one, along with Indian Queen Root Beer, Mother Goose Orange, Blue Bell Grape (which is most likely a precursor to Little Boy Blue Grape), and Red Riding Hood Strawberry is also a new one to me. Lazier's early concentrates and extracts were based upon nursery rhymes. Missing is Peter Pan Cherry.

 Keep posting these I loving it.


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## wam (Jul 26, 2011)

I'm confused as to how old this old 4-page sales brochure really is.  They say: "Sun Drop Orangeade can be bottled under your name -- or we have a complete line of effective advertising including Window Streamers, Bottle Cutouts, Display Cards and Crowns if you wish to use them."  Can you imagine Coke letting a small bottling company do that?

 I wonder if this was before they registered the Trademark for Sun Drop?  There is no mention of any of these drinks being copyrighted, or with a trademark.  It's a shame that there isn't a date on this.  But, it's not in the best of shape, as you can see from the photos.  Good Info, though ...


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## morbious_fod (Jul 27, 2011)

I'd say it is from the same time period as your Sun Drop letterhead which with it's introducing the brand would make it 1929 or so. The difference between Coca-Cola and the Lazier Company is that Coca-Cola was selling the brand, while Lazier was a concentrate and extract company. They were more interested in selling extracts for other companies' flavor lines than brand building at this point. I think they started trying to build brands when they start changing their name. The first was the Natural Set Up Sales Company, then Mil-Kay Orange Corporation of America, and eventually the Sun Drop Sales Company after the reformulation of that brand in the early 1950's.


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## wam (Aug 9, 2011)

> ORIGINAL:  morbious_fod
> 
> I'd say you have a letterhead from the earliest incarnation of the brand. The speciman that was sent in with the registration of the Sun Drop name was for Orange Concentrate. I'd say 1929-1935 is about as close as we can get in dating this letter, but the time period is certainly right. Thanks for posting, I wouldn't mind finding one of those myself.


 
 It is now available ...


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## ryan86 (Aug 27, 2013)

Has anyone ever seen a cooler like this?  My grandfathers garage that he bought back in 1920s.  Not sure how old this cooler is.


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## Eric (Aug 27, 2013)

Looks a lot like a Quikold made by S&S in Lima Ohio or a TRUE... should be a tag on the compressor, I would say late 50s (not from the 20s) most electric coolers are post War.


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## Johnnymac (Aug 13, 2015)

Hey digger mcdirt my name is John and I like the green sugar free sundrop bottle is it for sale ?


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