I address most of this in my e-book on the El Paso soda bottling
industry (which also has a lot of national data) at:

http://alamo.nmsu.edu/~lockhart/EPSodas/Chapter8/8c/chap8c.html

        A very few bottlers (including the Coca-Cola Bottling Co. at
Deming, New Mexico) still use 16-oz. returnable bottles, although
they mostly must get their supply from Mexico.  Some of these
companies (including the one in Deming) used 6.5 oz. returnables
until just a few years ago.

        When I was a route salesman for Pepsi-Cola in the early 1970s, I had
one of the last 6.5 oz. returnable bottle machines in use in the area
on my route.  A few individuals still owned such machines at that
time, and we sold to them, but for the most part, the small
returnable bottles were pretty much phased out by Pepsi by that time.
 I suspect that Coke mostly  phased out the small bottles a bit
later, but I do not know that for sure.

Bill

> Date:          Wed, 06 Feb 2002 14:30:34 -0800
> From:          shahira ashkar <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject:       Coca Cola bottles
> To:            [log in to unmask]
> Reply-to:      HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY <[log in to unmask]>

> Does anyone know when Coca Cola stopped making those little bottles (6
> or 6 ½ oz)?  Or can someone point me to a reference that might address
> such a thing?  I have found out that 10, 12, and 26 oz. bottles were
> made available, in addition to 6 ½ oz bottles, in the 1950s.
>
> Any help is appreciated.
>
> Thanks -
>
> Shahira Ashkar
>
Bill Lockhart
New Mexico State University
Alamogordo, NM
(505) 439-3732