Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums Showcase and Stories, Petroliana abandoned texaco station raid

So, for a number of reasons, i was unable to make it to columbus today. However, for two hours today, i was able to photo and walk through an abandoned texaco station and came away with some great memories and some great stuff for the collection. Met a great new friend and hope to go back to see what else i can dig up. Got this huge texaco hexagon (left the 16' pole though) and got these nice pump plates which had the word "no lead" hand painted on the back sides and mounted back on the gas pumps facing outward. Glad i took them off to see what was on the other side!Also got a nice texaco credit card machine to boot and a nice "emblem" can. So, all in all, great day locally. Question though.....this big texaco has no date, yet is porcelain. Would these have been used in the 1960's or late 50's????? I am not sure i have wall space for this sign as it is 7' long i think. Not a whole lot of info on this style of sign when i search the oldgas google search.

Good job in saving some history, Kevin!

I will let the Texaco experts chime in on the sign, I have an idea but not sure it is correct... So better I stand back and let those with some real knowledge give you the correct answer...

They had no dates on them they were used in the 70`s. You need to go back and get the pole. Nice finds did you get pics of the inside of the building?

There is Always the Ceiling when ya run out of wall space!

I got pics of the inside area except for the counter area. Why i didnt i am not sure. Excitement i guess at being in there. Behind the counter area there was a little hallway leading to the bathroom. Almost didnt go in there, but something said check the shelves and tucked away at the top was the credit card machine! Got pics of the outside and where the pumps and sign stood, but they are on my ipad and cant figure how to get em on here at all. The pole was laying outside and was certainly 16' tall. One side of the metal seemed thin and fragile, but it was there. Just no way to get it home! I left some items there such as an old metal monkey grip patch display and some rolling grease barrels and some big marfak grease barrels and some small porcelain lead free signs, but i ran out of space and room....oh, and money! Lol. Am hoping to go back to snoop some more but the farmer is busy with hay for the rest of the week. He was a nice man and i enjoyed his stories of working in the staton. Oh, one cool thing was a cushman truckster covered up and i think for sale. I am no expert on those, but it was under a tarp and looked cool as cool can be! It was a really cool place and i am sure i missed things i would like to have. So, they were still making porcelain signs into the 70's??

Oh....sky chiefs dated 1960 and fire chief pair each dated 1947. Odd thing though is that they were mounted on the fronts and backs of some gilbarco pumps that had a bigger square head and left at $.66 per gallon. When i asked about 1947 plates on non 1940's pumps, he just said that owning a gas station meant recycling everything and since they only sold texaco, they got used! Just a neat man all the way around!

IF it has an Attic/Basement/covered over Lube Pit, check those also.

Will do! Bob.....no veedol or flying a, but i looked for ya for sure!

Check for any items on Roof.

I think it was around 1963 they went to the Hexagon logo. Isn't it fun to go through an old station? The way you describe the station it sounds like it may have been a Matawan style with the brownish rock work. That hallway you talked about...was it on the side of the building? Did it feel like it was once on the outside and they built a wall creating a new outside wall creating a hallway? That is what they did to one of the Butte Texaco stations when they refurbished it.

LOL... Thanks for looking Kev!

Thanks for the good info! The office, small hallway and bathroom were on the left side of the building and through the right door of the office was the garage area and near the back of the garage area was a tire area and it looked like two small rooms that perhaps were later added on? The exterior was at some point, before it closed, covered in Shake siding it looked like. Speaking of that rear area tire section, this man pointed out three distinct notches heavily worn into the edge of the metal top of the counter that were from all the tire rims rubbing against it as part of the tire change process and him as a youth maybe not being strong enough to lift the rims onto the top without hitting an edge. I thought to myself that the amount of rims rubbing against it to wear three grooves into metal had to be a lot! Poor gent now says the DEP or someone local is hounding him over the tanks in the ground and he has no funds to address it (well, he has more funds as of yesterday, so I would like to think I did my part to help!! Lol). Just a nice man trying to keep his farm and his home from being ravaged by wetlands preservationalists and the tax man!

That is a dream come true. I raided an old Sinclair station last year and found nothing but garbage and dead leaves. Youre lucky.

Alex is correct around 1962 and 63 when Texaco changed over to the Hex logo. They did a big push in the states around 1967 and 68.

Nice find...

So, with no date on the sign and no experience as to when porcelain signs were no longer made, coupled with sky chief porcelain plates dated 1960 and a perhaps 1960's credit card machine, would it be a safe assumption that this hexagonal sign dates mid to late 1960's? Also, with regards to the credit machine, would this have been specifically for texaco station credit cards only? Sorry for the ?'s, but the pics I have and the hours spent with this fellow make the items special and worthy of more knowledge surrounding them