{"product_id":"1970s-whistle-strawberry-soda-bottle-cap-tampa-florida-vintage-treasures","title":"Vintage 1970s Whistle Strawberry Soda Bottle Cap 🍓 from Tampa Florida","description":"\u003ch2\u003eRemember Whistle Strawberry Soda? 🍓 Vintage 1970s Bottle Cap From Tampa, Florida\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1 1\/4\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"max-width:315px;margin:0 auto 20px;\"\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:177.78%;height:0;overflow:hidden;\"\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xbJXBaTfens\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;encrypted-media;gyroscope;picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e🍓 A vintage 1970s \u003cstrong\u003eWhistle Strawberry Soda\u003c\/strong\u003e bottle cap from \u003cstrong\u003eTampa, Florida\u003c\/strong\u003e, New Old Stock and never crimped, so it measures 1 1\/4\" across like every uncrimped crown. \u003cstrong\u003eWHISTLE®\u003c\/strong\u003e in bold red letters inside a silver oval on a strawberry-red cap, \u003cstrong\u003eSTRAWBERRY SODA\u003c\/strong\u003e underneath, and the fine print \u003cem\u003eArtificially flavored \u0026amp; colored, preserved with benzoate of soda\u003c\/em\u003e. Inside, a plastic liner.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eTurn it on its side and the skirt names who bottled it: \u003cstrong\u003eMorgar Enterprises, Inc., Tampa, Fla. 33603\u003c\/strong\u003e. That ZIP code tells you it was printed after ZIP codes started in 1963, and the plastic liner fits the years after cork, right in line with the 1970s.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🍓 Whistle, from St. Louis\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis one is the \u003cstrong\u003estrawberry\u003c\/strong\u003e, one of the fruit flavors Whistle bottlers poured alongside the brand's original orange. Whistle came out of St. Louis, where \u003cstrong\u003eSylvester \"Vess\" Jones\u003c\/strong\u003e founded his company in 1916. The man who developed Whistle for him was \u003cstrong\u003eCharles Leiper Grigg\u003c\/strong\u003e, and it did so well that Grigg was made sales and marketing manager, until he and Vess had a falling-out and Grigg left. He went on to create a little lemon-lime drink you might have heard of: \u003cstrong\u003e7 Up\u003c\/strong\u003e. Whistle was at its most popular in the 1920s, and by the 1990s the company was still turning out a whole lineup of flavors. Vess was bought by Cott Beverages in 1994, and a giant Vess bottle still stands near the Gateway Arch in St. Louis as a protected landmark.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhistle was a Midwestern soda by birth, but it sure didn't stay home. The earliest Orange Whistle newspaper ads ran in April 1916, for bottlers in Bloomington and Mattoon, Illinois. A month later the ads were showing up in nine nearby states, and by the end of that first year it was fifteen, all across the South and the Midwest. By the middle of 1917 there were Whistle plants in St. Louis, Dallas, Birmingham, Chattanooga, Greenville, South Carolina, and Evansville, Indiana, plus one clear down in Havana, Cuba. In 1922 the advertising trade magazine Printers' Ink counted Whistle syrup plants in sixteen big American cities and three in Canada, feeding 1,200 bottlers. Whistle was bottled under franchise far from home, and this strawberry cap is proof it made it all the way down to Tampa.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFor collectors, this Whistle Strawberry Soda bottle cap adds a splash of color and a great Florida connection to any display, and it's a conversation starter for anyone who appreciates vintage soda history.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"relatedBlock\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🔎 More From The Vintage \u0026amp; Antique Gifts Archive\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1970s-brewers-root-beer-bottle-cap-reading-pa-americana-treasures\"\u003eVintage NOS 1970s Brewers Root Beer Bottle Cap 🍺 Reading Pennsylvania\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/1970s-caravan-strawberry-soda-bottle-cap-egyptian-pyramid-vintage\"\u003eVintage NOS Caravan Strawberry Soda Bottle Cap 🍓 Piedmont Cheerwine • NC • 1970s\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1970s-sun-crest-orange-soda-bottle-cap-atlanta-ga-treasures\"\u003eVintage 1970s Sun Crest Orange Soda Bottle Cap 🍊 Atlanta, Georgia\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45213186654440,"sku":"VAG-8488747991272","price":5.5,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.5577708098_fyxy.jpg?v=1785440674","url":"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/1970s-whistle-strawberry-soda-bottle-cap-tampa-florida-vintage-treasures","provider":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","version":"1.0","type":"link"}