National Garages Smurfs (UK Petrol Promotion)

National Garages Smurfs are the Schleich PVC figures that British drivers picked up on the forecourt of National petrol stations between 1978 and 1982, and for a large share of UK collectors they were the first Smurfs they ever owned. A quick glossary for American readers: petrol is gasoline, a garage in this sense is a filling station, and National was the BP-owned petrol brand whose blue and white livery happened to match the Smurfs. This page covers what the promotion sold, which pieces exist only because of it, and how to tell a forecourt Smurf from the identical figure sold in Germany. For stamps and eras in general, start with our Smurf figures guide.

What the National promotion was

Vintage wristwatch with a Smurf on the yellow dial — A wind-up Smurf character watch by Bradley Time, made in Hong Kong.Photo: France1978 · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Flickr

National Benzole was founded in London in 1919, became wholly owned by Shell-Mex & BP through British Petroleum in 1957, and was shortened to plain "National" in the early 1960s. When Shell-Mex & BP split in 1976, BP kept the National brand going for more than a decade before phasing it out in favor of its own name in the early 1990s. That is why British collectors say "National Smurfs" and almost everyone else says "BP Smurfs": the stations said National, the license sat with BP.

The license was negotiated in September 1977 between BP's Dutch arm, Peyo and Schleich, which makes sense once you know that BP had sold Schleich Smurfs at its Dutch stations since 1969. A pilot ran at seven National stations around London from November 1977 to February 1978. The full launch followed on what the trade material called Smurf Day, 20 May 1978, backed by animated television adverts and the slogan "Service with a Smurf". New figures then arrived almost monthly until November 1982, when the last Smurfs in BP-licensed boxes were sold and the toy distributor Coronet took over the standard Schleich range for British toy shops.

How the figures were sold with petrol

Transistor radio shaped like a Smurf head — A Smurf-head AM radio, 1982, licensed by Wallace Berrie & Co.Photo: France1978 · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Flickr

Ask a British collector and you will hear two versions: "you got one when Dad filled up" and "they were on a rack by the till for pocket money". Both appear to be true. The dealer material quoted on collector forums gives a recommended retail price for each figure with a dealer margin built in, so the figures were stocked for sale rather than simply handed over. The pilot also offered two figures free against collected vouchers, collectors believe further voucher offers ran from late 1978, and memories of "a Smurf with a full tank" are everywhere, though the spend needed varies with every telling, so we do not state one. Stickers and a Smurf badge were free; Super Smurfs, houses and playsets were sold in their own UK boxes.

The one interruption came in the autumn of 1978, when a scare over lead in the paint of some figures reached the national press. The Times of 4 October 1978 is cited as reporting that Department of Health tests found no significant risk, and sales resumed. A collector whose father ran a National station has quoted the dealer bulletin of 9 November 1978, which says a reformulated paint had to be re-tested for the Toy Safety Act 1974, delaying the winter stock by about two weeks. That bulletin is the best trace of the episode we know of; the rest is secondhand, so treat the scare as background, not as a reason any figure is scarce.

Which Smurfs were in the promotion

Blue Smurf radio with a matching headset — A Smurf radio with headset by Nasta, 1981.Photo: France1978 · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Flickr

Everything sold at National was made by Schleich; unlike the Dutch BP stations, Britain never received Bully-made figures. The launch rack held ten regular Smurfs (Gardener, Mechanic, Guitar, Normal, Spy, Drummer, Smurfette, Astro, Brainy and Papa) alongside the large house and the garden playset in UK boxes. A footballer, named Striker by National, arrived in early summer 1978, and thirty figures were out by the end of the year. The chronology below follows the Swedish collector André Dahlqvist's reconstruction from dealer bulletins, adverts and dated shop displays; it is the best timeline available, not a company record.

Period	What National added
Nov 1977 to Feb 1978	Pilot at seven stations in the London area
May 1978	Launch with ten figures, the large house and the garden playset; Striker added in early summer
Autumn and winter 1978	Thirty figures out; Chimney and Sledder with yellow scarves; Postman with a Christmas envelope; the Saver Smurf planned and then withdrawn
A rainy-day job: washing a rediscovered childhood Smurf collection.Photo: Grayskullduggery · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Flickr
1979	Valentine Postman (January), National attendant with petrol pump (March), six FA Cup Strikers (April), Angler (July), Super Motoring Smurf (August), Golfer advertised in Look-In (October); Brainy switches to yellow glasses
1980	Doctor, First Aid and Cricket; Olympic sports Super Smurfs and the torchbearer; Hobby Horse Super Smurf; about forty regular figures on the late-1980 poster
1981	Five Nations rugby kits (January); thirteen new figures in spring and twelve more through the year; Windsurfer, Photographer, Fireman and Go-Kart Super Smurfs
1982	Releases in January, April and July; Coronet takes over distribution in June; last Smurfs in BP boxes sold in November

Three items belong to the promotion rather than merely passing through it. The National Cleaner Smurf, Schleich number 20052, wears white overalls with a National emblem and came boxed with a blue and white National pump, its gauge marked in gallons, on a cobbled base stamped 1979; it is the only playset box known with "National" on the front. The Saver Smurf, a coin-holding figure made for National in late 1978, was withdrawn before it reached a forecourt. And the Rugby Smurfs in team colors, most of them released for the 1981 Five Nations (the annual Wales, England, Scotland, Ireland and France championship), are the promotion's most recognizable legacy; the kits and the British Lions confusion are set out in our rare Smurfs guide.

UK variants and paint differences collectors look for

Vintage Smurf figures lined up on a museum display shelf beside china teacups — Vintage Smurf figures on display at the Museum of Childhood, London.Photo: Cristian Bortes from Cluj-Napoca, Romania · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

None of the following is in a Schleich catalog. Collectors have matched these variants to dated National displays and adverts, so read every line as collector-reported.

Brainy with red glasses is the launch version; the familiar yellow glasses first show on National material in summer 1979.
Carolling Smurf with a red lantern. "Carolling" was National's name for the Lantern Smurf (BP Australia called him Watchman). The red lantern roof is the early version, later replaced by yellow.
Striker in an orange shirt with a red ball, and a white-shirt version, are early; six more Strikers in club colors followed for the 1979 FA Cup.
Hiker with a yellow flower, where every later casting uses a different color.
Postman with holly on the envelope from late 1978, then a heart for the Valentine Postman of January 1979.
Chimney Smurf and Sledder with yellow scarves, made in late 1978 and apparently sold that way from the start in Britain.
Names only National used. Striker, Rocker and Carolling on UK displays are Soccer, Bass Guitar and Watchman in Australia, which matters when reading an old British price list.

Black-and-white portrait of Peyo, an older man in glasses — Peyo, the Belgian cartoonist who created the Smurfs, photographed in 1990.Photo: Erling Mandelmann · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

American collectors call the pre-dot variants very rare; British collectors find them in job lots. It is the clearest case of a figure being rare only outside its home market.

The later BP promotions and how they differ

The British campaign was one of five. BP Netherlands had sold Smurfs at its pumps since 1969 and offered Bully as well as Schleich figures. BP Australia held its own Smurf Day on 9 September 1979, sold Hong Kong-made figures under Australian names, printed "Smurf is a trademark of BP Australia" on its packaging, and added the Australian Rules Smurf in 1981. BP South Africa started in 1979 and sold rugby figures in BP bags for the 1980 British Lions tour. BP New Zealand came last, from 1981, with Hong Kong figures that often carry the W. Berrie mark. Collectors place these campaigns at roughly 1979 to 1982, reconstructed from posters and packaging.

The practical difference is where the figures were made. The National figures were German-cast Schleich, painted in Germany at first and mainly in Portugal from about 1979, with only a handful of lines made in Hong Kong; the southern-hemisphere figures were mostly Hong Kong production. A Hong Kong-marked Rugby Smurf points south, and a W. Germany figure with a mustard dot points to a British forecourt.

How to recognize a UK promotional Smurf today

Black-and-white TV still of a bearded singer performing — Father Abraham (Vader Abraham), the Dutch singer of “The Smurf Song”, on Dutch television in 1983.Photo: Veronica Omroep Organisatie · CC BY-SA 3.0 nl · Wikimedia Commons

Read the sole. The 1977 and 1978 figures carry "W. Germany" with either the Schleich emblem or, from 1978, the printed word Schleich, plus Peyo, and usually no year. Figures cast in ex-Bully molds had the Bully emblem ground off, so an early UK Smurfette may show nothing but a cavity number.
Look for the dot. Collectors date the dot system to October 1978 and read the mustard-yellow dot most National-era figures carry as Portugal-painted. A brighter lemon-yellow dot on a few early pieces such as the Thinker and the Singer is debated; one collector argues it marks figures painted in Germany. Early marks and no dot means either before October 1978 or painted inside the EC, where no dot was needed.
Treat Hong Kong and Portugal marks with care. Hong Kong casting began in 1978 without a country mark, added in 1979; a few National lines were made there, but a Hong Kong figure more often came from Australia, South Africa or the United States. "Portugal" was first stamped around 1982, the campaign's last year.
Check the box, if you have one. Only the earliest UK boxes carry the National name, with the large house and garden playset numbered NB 30/78 and NB 31/78. Later boxes say BP, and the last six, from the Go-Kart of autumn 1981 onwards, are marked Maia-Portugal inside. Only the first thirty-two Super Smurfs exist in UK boxes.
Know where the brand appears. The National logo is on the Cleaner's overalls and pump, the boxes, the stickers and the badges, not on the regular figures. A loose Papa Smurf from a British forecourt is identical to one sold in Stuttgart; only a box or paperwork proves where it was bought.

Where the National Smurfs sit in the collector market

Black-and-white TV still of Father Abraham on stage — Father Abraham on the 1983 Dutch TV show Nederland Muziekland.Photo: Veronica Omroep Organisatie · CC BY-SA 3.0 nl · Wikimedia Commons

Most National Smurfs are common. The Gardener, Papa, Smurfette and the sports figures were sold at hundreds of forecourts for four years and across Europe for a decade more, so a loose, played-with example is a common-tier figure wherever it was bought. The premium sits with the pieces the promotion created or killed: the boxed Cleaner with his pump, Super Smurfs still in a UK box with the National name, the pre-dot color variants, the full run of rugby kits, and the Saver Smurf if a verified example ever surfaces. Demand splits by continent: American collectors chase the variants they cannot find at home, British buyers pay for nostalgia and complete sets, and a documented family set, like the one the Lakeland Motor Museum received, is worth keeping together.

We do not quote prices in the text. Each figure we have photographed and checked against single-figure sold listings appears in the table below with its range, sale count and the date last checked, following our price method. To place a figure first, use the vintage Smurf figures guide for the stamp and era, the character index if you cannot name the pose, and the most valuable vintage Smurfs list for the regular figures that sell highest.

Documented figures and values

Stall of second-hand toys and figures at an outdoor sale — Second-hand toys, Smurfs among them, at a car-boot sale in Vincelles, France, 2019.Photo: François GOGLINS · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

The photographed checklist is being prepared. Figure identities, foot stamps and sold examples must be verified before entries or prices are published.

Sources

Small PVC Smurf figure carrying a wrapped red-and-white gift — A rubber Smurf figure holding a present. Did you collect these too?Photo: JeepersMedia · CC BY 2.0 · Flickr

Editorial draft · Last reviewed 2026-11-04