 Salvaging a vintage motel sign
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Hard days work today salvaging what we could of a very classic (and damn cool!) motel sign from the '60s. Full of pink, red, and orange neon. City is getting ready to tear it down unfortunately, got permission to salvage what we can before she goes down.
Cool thing about this sign is, back in the early '70s, my father made a nearly identical sign to this for their first motel - the Town & Country.
This is also a very good cure for fear of heights! This sign is nearly 45 feet tall.
Last edited by Paul Bell; Mon Apr 13 2015 09:02 PM.
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 Re: Salvaging a vintage motel sign
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Wow where's that going up? That will be cool once she is re-assembled and lit up. Looks like it was on the set of the Jetsons. Paul way to go on the taking the initiative on this reclamation.
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 Re: Salvaging a vintage motel sign
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Fred, we are just going to rebuild the sections we can reasonably do. Doing the whole sign is too much $$$. We're going to work on the star, the channel letters, the title sign, and the no vacancy sign. Im imaging it being mounted on a wall somewhere? I've only been at this a couple days, and the sign is about to be torn down.
Last edited by Paul Bell; Mon Apr 13 2015 10:04 PM.
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 Re: Salvaging a vintage motel sign
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All done taking down what we can on this sign before the city turns it into a reclamation pond. Was searching for old images of this sign, and came across this video... Had no idea I should be looking up at the sky, I was more afraid of the ground! We were probably easy pickings for the aliens being 45 feet up in the boom too. The unexpected dangers of our hobby! https://www.youtube.com/watch/?v=e6igNiVZ2Bs
Last edited by Paul Bell; Tue Apr 14 2015 11:05 PM.
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 Re: Salvaging a vintage motel sign
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Told you straight from the Jetsons!
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 Re: Salvaging a vintage motel sign
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Very cool sign and I'm glad your saving it! Thanx for sharing.
LOOKING-4:WELDING SIGNS,Charter/Finance/PulOil/Trulite/TruTest-Oils,True's gas CORALINE/RAINBOW, Gardner 70 items of Yakima wa., Wa/Or/Id Chief items
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 Re: Salvaging a vintage motel sign
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Did get some work done on this sign before I need to take a break from it for a while. Have the VACANCY sign ready, kind of gives us a pattern for everything else, big project for sure.
Worked on the star some too, the star will have four layers of cascading neon built into it, should be really cool to see it operating again!
Glad a lot of this sign is porcelain.
Last edited by Paul Bell; Fri Apr 24 2015 10:10 PM.
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 Re: Salvaging a vintage motel sign
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Cat seems to like turning this sign off and on too!
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 Re: Salvaging a vintage motel sign
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Worked on the star a little more, first picture is plotting out the specific location of the neon and which circuit each tube is on (there are four). Neon cascades on a timer.
Second picture star stripped down to the original porcelain and cleaned up. All the insulators removed, cleaned, and rewired too. We put the star into a crate so it can be worked on more easily when time permits. Should make putting the neon, transformers, and timers in a whole lot easier!
Last edited by Paul Bell; Sun Apr 26 2015 09:12 PM.
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 Re: Salvaging a vintage motel sign
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Looking good Paul! Can't wait to see the cascading neon on this guy.
Aaron
Looking for National Old Trails Road Signs NOTR and Arizona State/US Route and Road Signs.
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 Re: Salvaging a vintage motel sign
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Can't wait to see them lit up.
Seeking Knowledge and a Good Deal. Always looking for neon signs and skins , Flying A ,& Wayne 60s.
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 Re: Salvaging a vintage motel sign
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Was this sign at Ladysmith?
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 Re: Salvaging a vintage motel sign
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Was this sign at Ladysmith? It's from Green Bay
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 Re: Salvaging a vintage motel sign
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There is a group looking to save the rest of the sign...would be cool if it were all put back together again. http://www.wearegreenbay.com/story/d/sto...ao0upsKlLFElHrA
Still looking for that Union 76 ball And I collect big old porcelain neon signs
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 Re: Salvaging a vintage motel sign
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...would be cool if it were all put back together again ...good luck with that now...
Looking for better Gulf items: signs, globes, cans and paper - especially porcelain Gulf flanges, and Gulf A-38 & A-62 ad glass...
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