Oldgas.com Home  

Click here for Original Gas Pump Plate auction listings

Home | Help | Events | Auctions | Parts | Pictures | Links | Contact
Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Page 1 of 3 1 2 3
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 4,961
Likes: 17
Moderator
OP Offline
Moderator
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 4,961
Likes: 17
After seeing Jarvis's post about his first gas pump 12 years ago, it got me thinking about a thread for members to show the item that got them started in this hobby.


I will start it off, here is my very first gas pump.

thepumpdump 720.jpg

FREEDOM oil items wanted.




Value Questions and Showcase forums

Please - NO offers to Buy or Sell in this forum category

Statements such as, "I'm thinking about selling this." are considered an offer to sell.
Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 3,940
G
Veteran Member
Offline
Veteran Member
G
Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 3,940
I lost the pic mad but it was a rough quaker state sign. The best thing is the short story IMO. A friend of mine lives on a large property. He showed us the "outline" of it and I came across the quaker state sign under some leaves. It had 2-3 rust holes in it, but the gloss was great! He said leave it. Than about a year later, I remembered it and asked to see if I could have it. He said" If you can find it, you can have it" So I found it. At the time I was not collecting it. I wish I would have kept it!! I sold it to a local collector on craigslsit for $70 cry
That is what started me in this hobby!!

Thanks
Noah


Looking for any cans! PM me what ya got!
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 9,346
G
Veteran Member
Offline
Veteran Member
G
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 9,346
My sickness didnt start till around 2000 like Johns. We bought a old farm house in the country & I wanted to make the attic a rec room. So I bought a couple small tire rack signs then this BF Goodrich Farm Tire sign & soon after that was the Standard Oil Dealer sign. So the madness started from there! This pic shows them hanging in my workshop in the basement. Needless to say the attic is for storage now & not a rec room LoL.



Wanted Owens Motor Oil & Mobiloil Gargoyle.
Brad Ralston & my website is
www.petrobarn.com
Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 3,004
Likes: 27
Veteran Member
Offline
Veteran Member
Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 3,004
Likes: 27
My brother who, collected in middle and high school, was always getting cool gas and oil stuff for Christmas from my father who is an antique dealer. Well after Christmas in 1999 after my brother once again got more cool stuff and I nothing in that catagory decided I was going to start collecting myself. I turned of course to E-bay knowing no where else to go at the time and bought this globe. I found out later from watching this site, I believe I bought it from oldgas member Mr Wadhams. Since then lots more from Ebay, shows, auctions, ect. I still have this globe and collect Sinclair although that is another story.

sinclairdino1.JPG

Drive with Care and Buy Sinclair!! I buy Sinclair globes, signs, cans, ect.
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 2,250
Veteran Member
Offline
Veteran Member
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 2,250

This is the first pump I ever bought and restored. I use to collect fire memorabilia and thought it would be neat to have a fire chief pump. I don't collect fire stuff anymore and have sold most of it to fund the gas pump sickness.


Originals only for me. Always looking for Simpson oil, Super A, and MFA oil cans and globes.
Shawn Morris
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 466
Likes: 1
Petro Enthusiast
Offline
Petro Enthusiast
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 466
Likes: 1
The 1st item I bought was not a petro item but make me jump into the petroliana as I collect petroliana, americana and soda pop item

it was a seeburg wallbox, I bought it after coming back from san francisco, I went to the lorris dinner and there were wallbox on every table and that makes me starting to collect 3 years ago ( starting with 1 wallbox and now I have 7 differents )


Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 1,749
Veteran Member
Offline
Veteran Member
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 1,749
The actual piece was really a Gilbert & Barker T-176 I used to help with at a mechanic's shop in the 1950's . They sold Amoco gasoline . To be more specific, they only sold the Leaded regular American in the "Butterscotch Yellow pump. Between this , and a huge collection of Gasoline issued road maps , I got started around 1957 or so . Yes, I said 1957. Listen, I was collecting a lot more as I worked at several different service stations in part time jobs as I got older . I'd save some of the Promtional items that caught my eye . While I never could afford a real visable , I did restorations of those who could own them, still do .

Here's a model of a Gilbert And barker I did back in 2000 as a Rainbow oil which I found out was a part of Standard/ Amoco oils family in the West :


Ed Shaver


see ya on the road folks !
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 6,272
Veteran Member
Offline
Veteran Member
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 6,272
Around 1963 or '64, I picked up this little beauty.... My Dad wanted it for his Collection. Even though, I was pretty young; I must have been a little more persuasive...LOL



Looking for Tide Water/ Tide Water-Associated/ Tidewater items
Joined: Apr 2012
Posts: 761
Petro Enthusiast
Offline
Petro Enthusiast
Joined: Apr 2012
Posts: 761
I got started this year with a few Texaco pump plates, then my first pump which was bought in June and has since been restored into a custom build to match my car. Since this ones been finished, I've grown into a few other brands and I'm now in the midst of restoring several more pumps for my own display.


Before (as found in Montana June 2012)


During (my first pump restoration)


Completion (just waiting on some custom globes and ad glass)

Last edited by GasCan; Tue Nov 06 2012 02:39 PM.
Joined: Sep 2012
Posts: 2,194
Veteran Member
Offline
Veteran Member
Joined: Sep 2012
Posts: 2,194
Mobil can on the right is the one bought first about 4months ago.


Quart and Liter can relidding and dent removal services.PM for detail and pricing.
Collecting Mobil and other graphic quart cans.
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 1,452
Veteran Member
Offline
Veteran Member
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 1,452
Sorry I don't have any before pictures.
This is the first pump I bought unrestored from Bob L, back in the mid 90's.

HARLEY PUMP (3) Resized.jpg
Last edited by LC 336; Tue Nov 06 2012 03:02 PM.

Looking for anything JENNEY OIL OR GAS
Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 480
Likes: 16
Petro Enthusiast
Offline
Petro Enthusiast
Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 480
Likes: 16
My dad kept a few North Star and Shell items from the gas station after it was sold in 1970 and we moved into a house. We lived in the station for 15 years. First photo shows the few cans that he kept plus a few larger tins that I bought at my first antique show sometime in the mid 1980s. Second photo is the same corner and shows just a small section of the rapidly expanding chronic incurable disease 'petrolitis'. Cheers, Don.

photo1.jpg photo2.jpg
Last edited by coopersplace; Tue Nov 06 2012 03:16 PM.
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 5,979
Likes: 24
C
Veteran Member
Offline
Veteran Member
C
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 5,979
Likes: 24
LC is it the gas pump or the girl in the poster?


Craig
Joined: Dec 2011
Posts: 8,818
Likes: 2
Veteran Member
Offline
Veteran Member
Joined: Dec 2011
Posts: 8,818
Likes: 2
This was the first gas pump I bought (2004). I restored it and sold it for a profit. I have tried on several occasions to buy it back...but it's not for sale. I didn't start collecting until late 2005.

Ben 766 BA-A2.jpg Ben 766 BA-A1.jpg

Dave GILL,
Dave's Garage & Memorabilia, Inc.
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 22,780
Likes: 5
Veteran Member
Offline
Veteran Member
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 22,780
Likes: 5
1978 1st pump was a HAYES 15gal Senior. Just a frame used as a corner post for a pig pen in Okla. Took me 4hrs in 100+ heat/humidity to replace post & w/ 2 diagonals to please the farmer. Took another 5-7 yrs to find all the missing parts. Next day I was able to buy a complete painted RUSH H in a small antique shop in Gotebo, Okla [Kyle Moore's Uncle Bruce Davis had it there on consignment. W/ a Bell Regular Capco Globe].

HAYES 15gal Senior.jpg
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 300
G
Petro Enthusiast
Offline
Petro Enthusiast
G
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 300
Got two of these tire holders from my brothers junk yard when i was 12 years old. That was 24 years ago and I still have them.
Ryan, Gotta love the Mileage!

phpz0qtSSPM.jpg
Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 228
Likes: 2
F
Petro Enthusiast
Offline
Petro Enthusiast
F
Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 228
Likes: 2
I had always been into dirt bikes and street cars and never had much interest in stock or antique items until this car. It is a 1928 Model A my Great-great-uncle traded a team of mules and a wagon to the dealer for, in Oklahoma, in 1928. My great uncle used to take me for rides in it when I was young. It has never been out of the family and I dreamed of it for years. Once I began taking care of the car, and began to appreciate items from this period, one old thing led to another!

photo.JPG
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 2,735
Likes: 60
D
Veteran Member
Online Content
Veteran Member
D
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 2,735
Likes: 60
It would be hard for me to pinpoint the very first petro related item I collected, but I believe it would be a Mobilgas WW2 atlas I saved when I was helping my grandparents clean out a farmhouse they got with the purchase of farmland when I was probably 10 years old, around 1986. I still have it. If I would have known then what I know now, I would have saved almost everything we burned!
The item that REALLY piqued my interest in collecting, and my reason for joining this site in Sept of 2007 is my Red Crown thermometer. I bought it September 15, 2007 from a family member of the original owner who owned the Standard station in a very small local town. To know it has been in Hillsdale County for all these years is pretty neat. It's something I'll never get rid of! My brother found it for me. He called and said he found this thermometer, which I assumed right away was one of those 12" give away types. When he said "NO! It's like 6 feet tall and it's porcelain!" I knew I better take a look. My pen was smoking as I wrote the check but being it was my first "real" sign, I had no idea what it was really worth. All I will say is I got a heck of a deal on it. It's still one of my prized items, always will be!
Darin
The first pic is as found, the second after it was cleaned and framed. The sign is not touched up or even waxed in the picture and has beautiful gloss.



Darin Sheffer
Always looking for Mobil and Marathon items I don't already have!
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 1,273
Likes: 1
Veteran Member
Offline
Veteran Member
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 1,273
Likes: 1
Darin, that Red Crown thermometer is KILLER !!


Ron Gordon
Cell: 815.762.2616
Email: flash03@comcast.net
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 2,357
TBA Feature Host
Offline
TBA Feature Host
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 2,357
I have to say I have been into auto related stuff since I was much younger. I was always turned away from the gas and oil hobby due to the cost of the items. Finding great deals on items is what sparked my interest. Buying items I like is the most important thing...but spending big money was just not going to work for me. This was my first big sign purchase out of a local barn. I am glad I got into the hobby after staying away for a long time. Met some great people and found some great items.



The most valuable commodity I know of is information-Wall Street
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,275
Likes: 2
Veteran Member
Offline
Veteran Member
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,275
Likes: 2
Started with cars as so many of us...saw a little facade like this in paper on a swap meet and was intrigued by the gas station "theme". When a guy brought a similar facade but full size to a car show to show his 56 Sunliner I decided to get some pumps and start...
Called a person who was looking for gas items and asked "do you have any pumps", the answer was "oh yes, about 75"! Then I knew this could be addictive ;-)
Soon after this a person advertised pumps for sale and I got one, and soon enough two more...they were already sand blasted and primered - easy...the ball was rolling.

Found ebay, tested how it worked by buying a Mobil map and then got my first can - a Mobiloil qt bought by Scott Shiper. One of those in the pyramid.

The guy with 75 pumps passed by my home and left some stuff...possibly this Gargoyle flange that may have been my first sign.

//Claes

IMAG0276.jpg
Paper facade

Star Mix 1958.jpg
First pump...

IMAG0274.jpg
First porcelain sign - Gargoyle flange.

Mobiloil Pyramid x.jpg
Mobiloils

Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 4,005
Likes: 7
P
Veteran Member
Offline
Veteran Member
P
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 4,005
Likes: 7
I wish I had a picture, it was a Tokheim 300 and then it was on. Great thread here.


Thanks, Phil
_________________________________________________
Looking for any old pumps, or nice 5 gallon cans.
Joined: Sep 2012
Posts: 36
C
Active Member
Offline
Active Member
C
Joined: Sep 2012
Posts: 36
pegasus My dad gave this to me in about 2000 when a guy kept pestering him to buy it,so he told him he didn't own it!

Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 2,735
Likes: 60
D
Veteran Member
Online Content
Veteran Member
D
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 2,735
Likes: 60
That is a very nice looking Pegasus chevrolet!


Darin Sheffer
Always looking for Mobil and Marathon items I don't already have!
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 3,255
Likes: 12
Veteran Member
Offline
Veteran Member
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 3,255
Likes: 12
The Standard Oil LDO sign and the Gift House Stamps signs were behind a neighborhood gas station where I filled up my Rupp Enduro mini bike. the owner told me I could have them and that started my addiction at a very early age. Many years outside has taken it's toll on the LDO sign so being my first, it now lives indoors.

103_2214.jpg

Thanks
Mike

Always Looking for any Pure Oil and Sunoco Items.
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 932
S
Petro Enthusiast
Offline
Petro Enthusiast
S
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 932
I'm not a collector just a plain ole picker. This was my first pick for $100 sold it on Ebay for $600. Kinda wish I still had it.


Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Joined: Apr 2012
Posts: 761
Petro Enthusiast
Offline
Petro Enthusiast
Joined: Apr 2012
Posts: 761
Cool pumps and great stories. Still love that Red Head rack too Don. You did your dad proud on that little corner. smile

Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 762
Petro Enthusiast
Offline
Petro Enthusiast
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 762
this was the 1st thing that got me started


Sarcasm Is Just One More Free Service I Offer !
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 2,085
Likes: 11
L
Veteran Member
Offline
Veteran Member
L
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 2,085
Likes: 11
No pic and its really not a item but a person, my father as he introduced me to antiques,as he bought and sold to make ends meet. We hit ever junk store, antique shop ,estate sale,flee markets,or just out looking through the back hills of our state.
Yes I know you want a 1st item, all this built up to me buying a Tok 39. From there it just growed to full blown petro addiction as I refer to my desire to collect .Funny back years ago how much petro we walked over,passed on etc.,as my father didn't see a market for it.

Last edited by Loyd Pierce; Wed Nov 07 2012 03:44 PM.

*Wanted Pierce Pennant Petroleum*
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 4,639
Likes: 42
Veteran Member
Online Content
Veteran Member
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 4,639
Likes: 42



Last edited by Cold Pizza; Wed Nov 07 2012 03:55 PM.
Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 4,880
Likes: 50
S
Veteran Member
Offline
Veteran Member
S
Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 4,880
Likes: 50
After a couple years of American Pickers, spring of this year, my wife and I were walking through an outside antique mall and I bought this. Paid $7 I'm sure I will always keep it.

1 first Sunoco can oiler.jpg
Last edited by SC62; Thu Nov 08 2012 03:56 AM.

Steve Coppens
Always interested in Sunoco items!
Really want a Sunoco National pump ad glass!!
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 1,559
Likes: 43
Veteran Member
Offline
Veteran Member
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 1,559
Likes: 43
First sign I ever bought. Flange sign pounded flat, looks to be cleared and back side is shot. Didn't get the sign I went to bid on and took this home as a conciliation prize. Became totally infected with sign buying disease. The rest is history.

Portage.jpg
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 1,233
Veteran Member
Offline
Veteran Member
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 1,233
The graphic detail on the Portage sign is wonderful! What year is it?

What started me on this list...

start.jpg
Last edited by Nicole; Thu Nov 08 2012 12:04 PM.
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 360
Petro Enthusiast
Offline
Petro Enthusiast
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 360
Didn't start with oil and gas, It was Railroad that got me into sign collecting as that's where I work, but I saw this Wayne Visible on craigslist and I was bit I kept it for awhile then sold it and bought a Tokheim 39 and did my 1st restoration and it's gotten outta hand since then!



Once I got bit I couldn't leave the garage alone so I had to clean it up a bit to make the collection look good. and it's grown even larger sinc this picture was taken,
I'm proud to say "my name is Bob and I'm an ADDICT!"



Always looking for Frontier and Beeline items.
Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 22
POL Offline
Member
Offline
Member
Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 22
Originally Posted By: RTB
Didn't start with oil and gas, It was Railroad that got me into sign collecting as that's where I work, but I saw this Wayne Visible on craigslist and I was bit I kept it for awhile then sold it and bought a Tokheim 39 and did my 1st restoration and it's gotten outta hand since then!



Once I got bit I couldn't leave the garage alone so I had to clean it up a bit to make the collection look good. and it's grown even larger sinc this picture was taken,
I'm proud to say "my name is Bob and I'm an ADDICT!"





LOL!! Out of hand?? NAAAHHH... I wouldn't say.... more "complex".

Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 8,994
Veteran Member
Offline
Veteran Member
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 8,994
Great thread! Many years ago,my son Kens four wheeler was stolen from our front yard.( I had warned him not to park it there) almost a year later,I got a call from the lake county sheriffs dept that it had been found in prestonsburg Ky.well,we took a ride out to pick it up,a nine hr drive. Had to go and pick it up at a junkyard,and it was in the hills/boonies. While there, I asked the owner if he had any pumps laying around." Wahll .. I got some up there up top of the hill" now I had already bought my first pump,but hadn't been bitten with the bug yet.when I saw these,I thought OMG "visible s " I had no idea what they were,or what the value of them was.when he said he wanted 100.00 I countered with 50.00 wound up bringing them home for 75.00 thought the wife was gonna shoot me when I came home with that bunch of rust.thats how I found oldgas,and caught the bug.


Looking for gas,oil related clocks,especially neon and spinners .clock repair available. Mick
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 12,110
Likes: 1
Veteran Member
Offline
Veteran Member
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 12,110
Likes: 1
I sold the first item that got me into this hobby last year.

A 42" 1930 D/S Porc TEXACO station sign. Purchased at Carlisle Fall 1984 for $85 and sold for about 8X that 27 years later!

smile


DOC @ THE AMERICAN GARAGE
Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 388
Petro Enthusiast
Offline
Petro Enthusiast
Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 388
here is my 1st pump I restored in the late 1990's

2012-12-13 03.18.30.jpg
1st pump

Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 6,272
Veteran Member
Offline
Veteran Member
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 6,272
Roger, I hope you don't mind?....



Looking for Tide Water/ Tide Water-Associated/ Tidewater items
Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 388
Petro Enthusiast
Offline
Petro Enthusiast
Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 388
Actually Bob I have them mounted at a 90 degree angle,in my anti-gravity room so I can fit more pumps in there. lol But, seriously how do you rotate a photo before and after a post ? thanks inadvance

Joined: Sep 2012
Posts: 407
Petro Enthusiast
Offline
Petro Enthusiast
Joined: Sep 2012
Posts: 407
Here it is and not a bad way to start i think it was my first peice of petro. It was covering a hole on a barn. And i dont wish i had it back.

Last edited by Rust and Dust; Wed Dec 19 2012 09:36 PM.

Hunt long and hard the good stuff still out there.
Jonathan lowry.
Joined: May 2012
Posts: 58
Active Member
Offline
Active Member
Joined: May 2012
Posts: 58
My first item was a sign but it wasn't petro related, was a Sun-Drop soda sign which got me into collecting. Then I got my first petro item a Bennett 541 and I had to make room for the constant addiction of wanting more

Sun-drop first.jpg Pump.jpg
Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 3,940
G
Veteran Member
Offline
Veteran Member
G
Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 3,940
Nice sinclair collection sundropman05!!


Looking for any cans! PM me what ya got!
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 4,024
Likes: 135
Veteran Member
Offline
Veteran Member
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 4,024
Likes: 135
This Bennett 541 was what got me started in 1995. I restored it in 1995 and here it is today.





I likeShell [Linked Image from imagizer.imageshack.com]
Page 1 of 3 1 2 3

Moderated by  Oldgas, Ryan Underthun 

Link Copied to Clipboard

Click here for Gas Pump auction listings

Copyright © 2023 Primarily Petroliana Interactive, All Rights Reserved

Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.5