Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion Real or Reproduction??

Thoughts?

"OLD STYLE" The shape of the thermometer is the same as some of the 50's Pepsi thermometers

I sure see a lot of these. That probably tells you something. I'd like to know for sure, too.

Its a repro from the late 70's or early 80's. Originals were much darker blue. Maybe porcelain too.

I agree REPOP I have seen to many for sale over the years.

junk

In the 1980's I went to K-Mart one day and they had a bunch of these on clearance for $1.50, I picked up two and still have the Packard one on my patio.

THESE WERE POPPED IN THE LATE 70'S AND UP INTO THE 80'S DECADE, SOLD THRU NOSTALGIA TYPE CATALOGS.

The packard thermometer and the red pepsi thermometer are two of our hobby's biggest offenders! I can't tell you how many times I've walked into an antique mall and seen these thermometers with $150 tag on it!!! How many thousands of people have been ripped of by these??? Bought for $5 in 1985, put on side of garage for 10 years and presto it's a valuable piece of vintage advertising!! All they had to do is put a date on these and it would of put a lot if money back into our hobby!!!

Just so no one misses it;
"Its a repro from the late 70's or early 80's. Originals were much darker blue. Maybe porcelain too."

Absolutely thermoman. I've thought the same about the Pepsi.

How do you tell the difference on the red Pepsi therm thats sized like this Packard one?

I've got the Packard 8" wide version by 40"? tall.
There is no way its original. There are several out there similar to it(I've seen a Marilyn Monroe version of the same size)

Thanks guys. Will pass the info on to the owner. He gotit from his Aunt's service station off the building where he got the lights. It was a Texaco station, but maybe she bought the temometer at Wally World. He isn't sure. Didn't strike as the type of guy to want to pass along a fake. Thanks again.

Fake! Bought one for $5.00 to get the thermometer out of it for fixing another one.

Hi Alex,

Intersting comments on your last post.It came from "Aunt's service station",not the "type of guy to want to pass along a fake".I've run into a similiar situation on occasion;no one is trying to pass off a repop as an original,they simply don't know.

Sometimes I think we become so consumed by an aversion to repops that we forget that honest people can be making a mistake from ignorance with no intent to misrepresent or defraud.

I've put some people down REALLY hard when I know they were trying to "hustle"me and I have also treated others very gently and with respect in explaining that something is a repop without pointing fingers at anyone.It worked out both ways for me.Just my experience,nothing more.

Old Iron: I agree. I know where his Aunt's service station was, just out of West Yellowstone. In fact, I am the one that pointed out the thermometer on his wall to him after he showed me the lights and he wasn't trying to sell the thermometer. He was just curious. I agree that sometimes we get caught up on someone trying to "con" us and some people just don't know what they have. Have a good one.