Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion Where Does All This Information Come From?

I'm new to the hobby as I've only been collecting for about a year and a half. Of all the resources available to a new collector, oldgas.com is among the best. However, I'm noticing that people on this website rarely cite their sources of information.

It's great that folks know right off the top of their head the answers to all sorts of things petroliana related, but for the newbie, it would be helpful if people would simply state where they got their information from so that others may go and read what they have read.

When you answer someone's question, or provide general knowledge on a subject, you need to back up what you're saying by citing where or how you came upon that information in order for others to effectively decipher the real info from the bogus. A simple book title and page number would suffice. If you heard it from your grandad, say so. Maybe an older petroliana mentor relayed the info to you. Let us know.

Anybody can go find some false info online, copy and paste it, and then perpetuate incorrect information and further hinder the progression of knowledge for the newbies out here.

In addition, I know that a lot of people love to copy a quote straight out of a book and then post it as their own original work. I guess they think it makes them seem really smart, but actually it's little more than plagiarism. This is what aggravates me the most!

I'll cite my sources of info each and every time I relay information to others on this site. If we can get others to do the same, I feel it will serve to greatly enhance the potential and usefulness of oldgas.com

Youngbuck.I am sure you are going to receive tons of helpful info with your questions.I went back thru thousands of pages of info and can't seem to find this info.Good luck. Mark

A lot of peoples information comes from experience. After a while, it is easy for some people to spot certain fake signs pretty easy. How do you cite how you know a sign is fake? A new example of a fake sign made today will not be in a book printed five years ago but to a trained eye, it can be easy to tell. I have about 30 books on the petro hobby, some have mistakes in them. Hearing something from grandpa relies on his memory, I know mine is gettign worse as I get older.
I understand the point you are trying to make but do not see how someone with say 20 years of experience can cite his source of info for all his post. When I post my opinions, it is based on my past experience and info I got from books and other sources. When I read a post, I compare it to what I already know and to a large extent, who posted the info. If Scott, Lonnie, Butch and some others say something, I will give their statements a lot of credability. I will not assume everything they say is 100% accurate in every instance, but I will assume they are saying what they believe is correct. No one I ever met knows everything about the hobbby, and if they claim they do, I would not believe it.
Experience is King..

Agreed Wes. I should have clarified myself better in my post. Mainly what I'm referring to is when people give exact years and dates of when company A bought company B and changed the name, or the exact years of a company's operation, etc, etc.

When it comes to specific detailed info like this, it's usually from a written piece of literature somewhere and I would like to know where. Thats all.

My mentor doesn't have specific books he learned from, but he does have years of experience and I know what he's telling me is correct at least 99% of the time. Experience is king for sure.

x2

Dick Bennetts' ghost.

When you get an answer on Oldgas you're getting it from the source. Most books were written by people on this site or someone knows the author personally. Seasoned members also gain priceless information from passed members and collectors. This is the best place to learn about Petroliana IMO. The people on this site will give it to you straight. I love OG.

Don't believe everything you read on Old Gas either..

There are a lot of people on here that know what they are talking about. Not every one does

I know the timing specs for a mid 70's Chevy v8, what the compression should be for Ford 302, how to adjust the camber and toe on the front end of a car to keep the tires from wearing.

If you ask I'll gladly share that info...but if you're going to make me go find the manual and cite the page number every time I share my knowledge I'm just not gonna bother.

If you read this site with any regularity you already know who is giving you good info and who's not. Just sayin.

One word....Experience!!!

DB would have a field day with this thread.

If I have a question on something Old-Gas related, I post it here and let the guys that have gone before me give me their opinion and why. Not everything is written in books and it would be one heck of a book if it was.

Question an item and keep asking till you know and in the future please pass that on to others..... Pay it forward!

Most of my stuff is bogus-so dont pay me any mind.

But lets see!
Wes Maxwell-Sinclair
Blacktee-Texaco
Gulfiend-Gulf
Bob Richards-has the art of search to come up with the answer.

I could go on and on. Stick around,stay teachable, something to be learned every day. The more you visit the more faith you will have in members here. Agree with Ohio Oil if you second guess everyone they will just not bother,and it wont be their loss.

The young collector entering the hobby today has a huge advantage over the ones of us that started years ago. When I started I didn't have Google, Old Gas, Ebay, smart phones, computers, etc. There were a few books that had been written, that had nice photos and prices. The prices weren't up to date, as the hobby changes everyday. I bought signs I was proud of, only to find out that they weren't original. Luckily there were a few old collectors that knew the difference. If there was a guaranteed book on repro signs, the re-poppers would be reading it. Nobody can tell you the value of a item. If you like it, just buy it. Buy what you like, and buy the best condition, you can.

Thanks guys, I appreciate the feedback.

Ask me a question and I'll give you an honest answer. I, like some of the rest, will not waste my time verifying text. It all has come from hard work and experience from years of doing. I agree with Butch, we learned the hard way. Young guys are having too much information simply handed to them. Now we are being asked to give printed examples???? Get real! I will not be part of that cycle so you need to grow up and think before you poke a snakes nest. Paul www.severngaspumps.com

I started in 1999 in this hobby and guys told me i was getting in late. LOL
I have had the experience of the internet and books but getting to know experienced collectors is the best advice to give. Go to shows and swap meets and pick stuff up and look at it. Ask questions... you don't feel comfortable walk away!
Issue today is many guys go straight to google and want answers now! Many come to this site do to google and ask the same questions that has been asked 100 times and don't even notice there is a search box at the top to try.
I know globes... not as well as some but i feel i am somewhat knowledgeable and can answer questions.
Good luck! If dick hadn't passed away... you would be getting an ear full. LOL

Ive been in the hobby since 1977, and most of my knowledge comes from experience, research, and networking with other collectors. Keep plugging and listen to the advice you will get on here. After 3 or 4 guys chime in on a subject, you will have a pretty solid answer to your question. Also, if you need more help, ask for it. The only stupid question is the one you dont get answered.

didn't mean any harm. some people just quote things and you can tell it's not their own words. that's all I meant. I don't expect citations for every statement. I didn't clarify well enough perhaps. sorry.

Thank you. i stirred up a hornets nest on this one. didn't mean any harm. some people just quote things and you can tell it's not their own words. that's all I meant. I don't expect citations for every statement. I didn't clarify well enough perhaps. sorry.

And pretty soon you'll learn some to click the "IGNORE" button on.

lol thanks Dave.

First off, welcome Youngbuck. We are seeing more and more young people joining the hobby every day, and it is a good thing. To those who discourage younger collectors, you are really missing the boat. Who do you thing will be going to your estate auction?

Speaking as the guy who has written more words about petroleum collectibles and petroleum industry history than anyone else ever has, the information comes from the following sources:

1. Memory. I have been watching the oil industry since I was a toddler, wrote about oil company histories in grade school, and have been involved with petroleum collectibles for 51 years. Many things I simply remember. I also have worked for nearly 30 years mining the memory of Walt Wimer, who has much the same heritage, dating back to 1949. The one fallacy - memories are seldom exact and are slanted regionally, so the following (item 2) is required.
2. I am custodian of the largest privately owned petroleum history and collectibles archives in the country. I have a complete set of National Petroleum News from 1936 until 1980. I have back issues of every publication that has ever appeared in this hobby, complete except for some newer CTO issues, that I simply need to pick up at Columbus. Anyone remember the six issues of "Gas Station News" from the mid-1970s. Or how about five years of WOCCO, 1987-1992. I actually wrote that one and still have all the makeup files. Easily over 100,000 photos, several tons of oil company publications, and copies of my own (most with Scott Benjamin) 19 books., along with every other collectibles or company history book we've ever heard of, with some corporate histories dating back to the 1920s. The fallacy with this is that some of the source information was incorrectly reported 70 years ago, deliberately confused (some oil companies actually involved a great deal of fraud) and their histories are deliberately hidden or confused. We learn more every day.
3. Contacts in the industry - I've worked in North Carolina's petroleum industry for the past quarter century. I've worked personally with the Sissons (Travelers), Taylors (Etna/Wilco), Williams (Wilco and Trade), the Heldermans (Servco), the Barringers (Smile Oil), Stantons (Tankar Norfolk) and many more. I have interviewed family members, scanned documents and photos, and often find myself providing information back to these folks, who have no written record of their own history. In the current issue of Petroleum Collectibles Monthly, a corporate history on Crown Central published in an 85th birthday tribute to Henry Rosenberg, involved 50+ years of collecting Crown memorabilia, visited the company headquarters twice going through their archives and worked for the past year with a retired Crown executive in putting this together for their use and to run in PCM. Despite all that, it took Jason using the newly available tools described below (#5) to flesh out their earliest history, as this semi-major oil company did not even have complete records from the pre-1930 era, when it was under different ownership.
4. Statistics. If you go through 100K pictures and see the same thing over and over, it is safe to assume that it is the norm. Texaco gas pumps from the 1930s to the 1970s are red (Texaco Fire Chief regular) and silver (Texaco Ethyl - thru 1938 and Sky Chief - after 1938 - as premium grades). I remember this (after 1962) and also can show you no less than 500 color photos that show this arrangement from 1937 through the leftovers in the early 1990s. However, I can also show you one or two examples where both pumps are painted white. These exist simply a dealer's whim or an incomplete rebranding. With that many examples, I can state here that the pumps were all red (Fire Chief) and all silver (Sky Chief). Law of large numbers. Anything else that existed, and I'll be the first to say it did, was the exception. In the same vein, using statistical models, there is something wrong with 99.9% of reproductions. Once you learn to recognize what is wrong (color almost always, and often font - lettering that is computer typeset), it is easy to see.
4.5 Side note about reproductions: If you can't logically puzzle out how something was used, it is suspect. This one will always protect you. If you don't know for sure, leave it alone.
5. Finally, a new tool in my toolbox. Three different family tree type services have posted tens of thousands of back issues of newspapers on line, with pretty good search engines. Jason, my son, has used this new tool to correct mis-reported stuff going back a century, confirm dates and places, find out biographical information and more about hundreds of companies. Written at the time it happened, the best possible source. The internal update of the globe book has nearly 1000 history additions, changes or corrections. This update will be available someday, if we can figure out how to pay for it.

There are errors in the books, no doubt, but we have worked for 25 years to research and correct and clarify. Sometimes we think we've found everything. Yet this month we will be publishing the 240th monthly issue of Petroleum Collectibles Monthly, completing 20 years with the December issue. In each there has been a "Discoveries" column and virtually every month there have been enough to fill at least one page, usually two. We will never know it all, and if we did it wouldn't be much fun anymore.

Wayne Henderson
Petroleum Collectibles Monthly
Kernersville, NC

At the present time there are four major authors of information devoted to this hobby.

The first author is Scott Anderson. He wrote probably the first real book about this hobby "Check the Oil." Even though the book is over 30 years old, it is still being read. His book has sold over 30,000 copies. Because of him having a family and a business he has not written anything else besides articles for the PCM magazines. I hope he will find time to publish all he knows about gas pumps.

The second author is actually two authors, Wayne Henderson and Scott Benjamin. Together these two have probably contributed more to this hobby than anyone else. Wayne with his knowledge of oil companies, and Scott Benjamin with his knowledge of globes. For what little they charge for the information in their books/cd you will never be able to match in a lifetime. I don't know the total, but I will guess that combined, all they things they have written together, is well over 35,000 copies.

I come in third. I have always liked literature. I started with collecting literature on Model T Fords, sold all that literature when I moved into collecting everything related to Volkswagens. Sold all the VW literature for $900 which I used to purchase the contents of a oil bulk plant in southern Illinois, which included 100 gas pumps. Decided I wanted to accumulate gas pump information (which actually became service station literature). I now have 41 files drawers filled with service station literature, mostly gas pump related.
As most of you know, I used this literature to write two Gas Pump Identification books and two Air Meter Identification books, and at the present time I am writing the 3rd Edition of the Gas Pump ID book. I have sold a little over 20,000 copies of my books.
Picking up from Wayne above, I have page by page looked (and photo copied certain pages) at every National Petroleum News from the first issue (I believe was 1908) to past 1980. I have also done the same thing with magazines such as Oil News, Petroleum News and a bunch of more magazines.
I have personal driven to the following just to research gas pump companies:
Cincinnati main public library
Cincinnati Historical Museum
Louisville, KY main public library, and Historical Museum
Madison, Wi main library and Historical Museum
Tulsa, main library and Historical Museum
Hamilton, OH main library and Historical Museum
Beloit, WI main library and Historical Museum
Columbus, Ohio main library and Historical Museum
Muskegon, MI main library and Historical Museum
Ft. Wayne, IN where I spent over four days researching the three pump companies that started there.
And of course, the St. Louis main library and Historical Museum where I researched the five pump companies that were here in St. Louis.
In Ft. Wayne in just one day I spent almost $150.00 photocopying gas pump info.

To correct something Wayne mentioned above. We don't make errors in our books, we take two, three maybe more pieces of information and make an assumption. Something later we find this assumption is incorrect. In my case, my next gas pump book will have many changes that most people will not even recognize.

Now, why did we all do this?

Foremost is the knowledge of knowing we contributed.
Now personally, before anyone brings up how much money I have made from royalties, at the present time I have spent over one year trying to put together the 3rd edition of my book. I will admit, I am trying to write a true gas pump book. Royalties will probably amount to about $20,000. I could have made more money being a greeter at Walmart than I will make off of the book. As Wayne mentioned, they want to publish another book if they can find the money.
Second is Ego.
You can't beat this. I'm sure Wayne and Scott will agree, that sometimes after a bad day someone either verbally or through a email, or at a petro show finds out one of us have authored one of the books they own, and just want to shake our hands. There is nothing like telling someone you have authored X amount of books that are registered with the Library of Congress.
Third, we have all benefited somewhat in what we buy and sell. In my case, air meters and air meter parts, in Scott A. case just about anything having to do with this hobby and with Wayne and Scott B. their magazine and globe business.

Of the three, I am more proud of making a contribution. When I wrote the first book I went places looking for information, I didn't have the luxury of sitting behind a computer.

youngbuck, I have just one question for you "What do you intend to contribute to his hobby that doesn't involve a computer?"

Jack Sim

Wayne, I have met you a few times through our mutual friend from Pilot, Thornton. I sold a few of your books at dixie gas this past year and I really appreciated the cash from those sales! You didn't have to do it and your generosity hasn't gone unnoticed. Again, Thank you.

I have enjoyed all of the articles from PCM over the past year and a half and bought your 100 years of gas stations book as well. I have enjoyed it immensely.

I've told several people that "nobody knows more than Wayne Henderson when it comes to gas and oil memorabilia and the history of the industry in general." I've said it a lot and nobody has ever dared to correct me on that statement because they know it's true.

For the mostpart, my pleas for citations from oldgas members stem from people copying quotes directly from books you or someone else has written and then claiming it as their own. This irks me to no end. I don't expect every statement to have a citation because that would be insane, it's just in cases where it's blatantly obvious someone is copying, they should just say where they got it from.

You can read posts from people and make inferences based on their grammar and vocabulary and easily tell when they're quoting someone else because all of the sudden they go from spelling and grammar errors to these perfectly composed sentences and paragraphs that you know they could never have written.

I have no doubts about what you say, because you're Wayne Henderson and I know who you are. I trust your knowledge and opinion on pretty much everything in this hobby.

I'm glad your son is carrying on what you have started. You've done a lot for me and thousands of others by putting in the hours and the miles and the money. Thank you sir.

PS I really enjoyed the story you told us about you and your friends mapping out gas station locations and homes occupied by the same folks for x number of years near those old stations so that you'd know the most likely spots to find old gas relics. Awesome stuff. Pure genius. I never have found out what you were talking about in regards to the Wayne Story mega score. I even saw him at Zebulon this year and forgot to ask him about it.

Jack I have used your first edition gas pump book countless times in the short time I've owned it. My mentor turned me on to it when I first started. He said, "It's a good bible." He was right. It's proven to be invaluable. I love it. I need volume 2 but I see you're out. I'd rather buy it straight from you as opposed to Amazon. Maybe you have an extra one lying around some place?

As I told Wayne in my response to his post, I appreciate the hours, miles, and money that you guys have put in over the past 30 years or more. Your dedication shows in your work. Thanks again for the wealth of knowledge.

As for what I intend to contribute that doesn't involve a computer, I'd say that I am learning all I can every day and am putting in the hours, the miles, and the money in order that I may pass my knowledge on to a young person one day the same way my mentor is doing for me right now.

He's 78 and I'm 37 but we have a common bond through this hobby and have become good friends as a result. I'm lucky as hell to have met him. He's easily a top 10 collector, (more likely top 5), just ask Wayne Henderson, and he's taken me around to several shows and introduced me to the best guys in the business like Wayne for starters. I've also gotten to see some of his friends' collections which are mind-blowing to say the least. I am so grateful for the education I've received and the friendship most of all.

Another area I have contributed in is that of preservation . I've saved quite a few stainless pumps from the junkyard. Most people feel that these pumps are junk and they literally scrap them every day. I tear them dowm and build them back just like you see people doing with art deco pumps. I do them up real nice in vinyl with good graphics from custom designed signs that I make, and add in remote control LED lighting. I can make a 1964 EPSCO pump look pretty cool. Most guys on here would just laugh though. That's ok, I enjoy it and I know one day these stainless pumps will be sought after and I'll have a bunch.

When people started collecting deco pumps, others thought they were junk too. As time goes by, things change.

Jack, your reputation precedes you. You get a free pass from me in the citation department. Again thanks for your books and thanks for posting on my topic. I guess I picked a good one. It feels good to draw the attention of the big boys in this hobby!

Youngbuck, free passes??? You are talking as if you have some sort of ability to impose your request upon the rest of the membership. Or that, because you asked it's going to happen.

Let's get real; we are browsing the pages of our favorite website and not writing a school paper.

Oldgas.com is a place "we" come to spend our leisure time doing what "we" enjoy. Which could be one of many personal reasons from sharing knowledge to learning, for commerce (buy & sell), building or dissolving collections, looking at pictures, researching a new addition, and ect.

Keep it simple is my motto. I look forward to reading your posts with citations when you decide to contribute with a positive and meaningful thread.

Thanks Dave. Duly Noted.

Here's a citiation for ya!
"People who project negativity typically have low self-esteem. They feel badly about themselves, and their negativity is simply a reflection of those feelings."

HENDRIE WEISINGER, The Power of Positive Criticism

You just proved my point...you have nothing intelligent to contribute so now you are going to resort to childish tactics.

“The problem with educating stupid people was that they didn’t know they were stupid. The same went for curing crazy people.”
Chuck Palahniuk, Phoenix

Folks, come on.... This is a Hobby... A Hobby that most of us on Oldgas enjoy...

Some Members have a "lifetime of actual time and experience" in this Hobby... Others have less time... But, on this Forum we are all the same and equal.. (it has taken me more than a few years to grow up enough to recognize that fact)

I am an "old mossback" in this Hobby... I know just enough to "get me in trouble"... I like others have thousands of Oil Company/Gas Station images.... I have spent more than a few years tracking down and researching the Oil Company that I collect (thankfully/luckily - I worked as a "Pump Jockey" for them, so I had a head start)... Thanks to Oldgas, the 'net in general and ebay... I on a daily basis am able to see "firsthand" items from Companies that never were remotely imagined by this "West Coast" kid/Old man...

I've worked in the Hobby, off and on for over 50 years... As to Collecting, before the age of 7 or 8; I had Oil Company Memorabilia on my bedroom walls and Oil Cans in bookshelves... But, they were "just there"... When I bought my first can with the money, I myself had earned... I became a Collector...

When I give a reference I try to give a footnote to the source I used... If my memory is my source, I say so (usually with a notice, that my memory in not what it was)...

If I relate to something in my Collection, I do so...

And, I believe that most of the Members try to ensure there is a "Background" to their opinions...

Thanks Bob, that's exactly where I was coming from on this. I appreciate it.

By the way, your avatar is perhaps the coolest of anyone on this site. Nice!

Speaking of Avatars - is that your pump? Wayne 50?

Yes it is and thank you for noticing!

LOL .... Adam, I think I can safely say, that all of us noticed your avatar! LOL

Yes Reproductions. The first one of it's kind.

Then you also did your homework and noticed it is a REPRODUCTION!

Check out Adam's Homepage in his profile. http://www.pilotdisplays.com
"Welcome to Pilot Displays" Wayne 50 Showcase Reproduction Gas Pumps

This reminds me of the "fake" Tokheim Model ADC showcase that was on eBay for $30k.

QUOTE: "Our flagship pump, the Wayne 50 Showcase, has set the industry standard in vintage gas pump reproduction. This is a 100% correct and absolutely flawless example of a Wayne 50 gas pump. It looks exactly like new old stock straight out of the box from 1935."

but it's NOT an ORIGINAL...

yeah notice the word "reproduction" in the description. that should have been your first clue.

My clue is promoting your business of gas pump reproduction(s) on Old Gas. There is a difference between restoring an original back to it's glory, and making copies. Reminds me of REPOPS! It's a free country to do as you wish, but watch out for the STORM!!

I gotcha. Thanks for noticing. This pump has been a tremendous challenge and we just finished the prototype 4 days ago.

Pretty impressive work.

Hopefully these are permanently marked with date of manufacture.

Ray

Accusing members of plagiarism & then selling repro pumps... ironic to say the least. Is Wayne Fueling Systems getting royalties off any sales you make?

They appear to be of quality craftsmanship... but I would like to hear how a person can distinguish these clearly from an original.

yes they are. we are not trying to misrepresent them in any way.

I was thinking someone else here on this site made one a couple years ago in Polly and it was for sale.

Here is your answer taken from their website:
Unless someone has been tipped off beforehand, there is no way the naked eye can tell the difference between a Pilot Displays replica and the real thing.

IMO... not good news!!

I was wondering when we was going to get to the pump. Should be big hit with the man cave guys. Welcome to Oldgas enjoy.

That's interesting. How have you been paying the royalties? Did Wayne set up a special account to accept your payments? Was Wayne receptive to having you produce a knockoff of their pump? How did you first contact Wayne about your idea? Just curious but it seems like it might be difficult finding the right person who would oversee this joint venture? The work looks good but it is a Fantasy piece and at $8500.00 quite pricey at that. Paul www.severngaspumps.com

My spelling is terrible,I do not know many famous quotes, and i lack a lot of knowledge in this hobby! But this seems like a p!ss poor way to promote youre new product?

Obviously, some metal work and repainting could remove any date of manufacture.

IMHO it's not right that they duplicated the original down to every minor detail...

youngbuck...you were making quite the case at the top of this thread for complete and full disclosure when dispensing information to fellow members.

So...the question that begs to be answered...when making these pumps are you permanently marking these pumps as such...you know...the whole complete and full disclosure thing?

We mark them in 2 spots and put the word reproduction all over the site. Also, from the outside everything is identical, but when you open up the head unit, you can tell it's not an orginal beacuse there are no provisions for a computer. Looking inside the head will instantly notify a collector that it is a reproduction. 100% without a doubt.

This thread has gotten way off topic. Feel free to PM me about the pump or start a new topic.

Welcome to Old-Gas and how the thread takes a turn to new directions!!
Just understand we are all very protective of our hobby because it's a big part of our lives and we want it to continue after were long gone. The word reproduction sometimes carries the same as a 4 letter word in this hobby. Having reproduction parts to restore a pump works but when the whole item is, that makes us a whole lotta nervous.

Hang in there as you will take your hits on here but it sounds like you understand the reproduction theory.

Good luck with your pump sales but IMO for that price most of the true collectors would use that money towards a real one!!!

I nominate this post for Oldgas thread of the year. It delivers on so many levels.

To get this back to a more humorous note regarding using material without citing references..

There was a long time mystery about what happened to the Paraland gasoline brand. Phillips Petroleum had bought Quaker Oil in the late 1940s and used the Paraland brand as a secret secondary brand offered to select jobbers. They had denied ownership in a FTC hearing in 1965, stating that they were no longer involved in the Paraland brand, divesting itself when they got in trouble over "unfair competitive practices." Notes of the hearing were public knowledge, but no one knew where they went, as I remembered Paraland stations in Greensboro in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and Walt Wimer knew of them from all through the 1950s and 1960s and even had a photo of a Paraland station from that era. But what happened to them?

Walt had occasion to visit the Phillips museum in the 1990s and asked the archivist about Paraland. They promised to research the question and get back to them. Several weeks later he received in the mail all they could find about Paraland, the incomplete history I had written, Xeroxed from our first globe book. With no other explanation. The researchers in the hobby had essentially circled back on ourselves. It was actually quite funny, that they had no better tools than we did. (BTW, Phillips sold the Paraland brand to Greensboro jobber Hardin Oil in 1964, who used it as his jobber brand into the mid-1970s. I discovered this when I called Buck Hardin, a customer of mine at the time, and asked what he remembered about the Paraland stations here in the 1960s. This appears in all of the later books.)

To echo what Jack said, I do this for the thrill of the hunt for information. I collect information and pictures and learn from them. And its a hoot to see your stuff in print. Before Joanne and I were married, we took our assorted kids and went to Washington as guests of the Smithsonian, where I was consulting for them on a project. While I was doing what I was there for, she found that the basement bookstore in the Smithsonian was selling several of our books. That, folks, really impresses a girl!
A note to prospective authors: your royalty checks that come every six months...most will not buy supper for you and your family. Write because you enjoy it! I took a stand nearly 30 years ago to make a difference in this hobby. I like to think that I have.

Definitely experience. That is the key.

youngbuck

Take notice the time I posted my long whatever. I was ready for this. DB used to kid me all the time about my passion to play darts competively. Playing darts three nights per week at the age of 79 might be amazing but I have never come up with a better excuse to drink beer. Yes I had a few beers before I responded above.
My first response to your post about me and the others. I don't think Wayne, Scott B., ever had a mentor, I know I didn't. It was a decision each of us made. Wayne to collect oil company literature, Scott to collect everything known about globes, in my case I choose gas pumps and air meters. My decision is the same as I made in 1949 at the age of 14, that I would be the first person from the Sim family to graduate from college. I didn't graduate until I was 28, a little thing like the Korean Conflict delayed me a little bit.
Accumulating and restoring gas pumps from the 70s & 80s is not a contribution to this hobby. If that sort of thing was true, then I should win first prize having restored over 350 ECO air meters, plus I don't know how many other air meters I have restored. This only contributed to me paying the bills of old age, I did not contribute to the hobby.
I would like to interject something. I am not into signs, but I did have a book written about signs. The author went to a collection of signs, took pictures and wrote a book. Does this make him an expert on signs? I could do the same thing tomorrow, I could take pictures of all the tail lights on the cars in my neighborhood, would I then become the expert on this subject?
I don't like the word "expert." I don't feel I am a expert about anything. I would like to believe that Wayne and Scott feel as I do, we just all have the literature to back up anything we say.
Many times I feel I should add to a post about someone's question, then I realize, no, don't hit that submit button, it will probably only show everyone my ignorance on the subject.

youngbuck, I also will ask you to look at my personal information. Next to Jim, I probably have the lowest member number of anyone at the present time on this site. DB used to kid me about this. We both signed up at approximately the same time, I don't know which one of us was first, but Jim rearranged everything and I got the number 57, DBs was a little above mine. Now look at how many posts I have made, less that 5000 in 14 years. I take pride in never saying "nice sign," "nice find," "nice, nice, nice." I post information and I sell things here. Why, because I would rather spend the time working on the next book I am writing.

I wish you well in your making reproductions that will probably be resold as originals someday. Many times I have gone out to the garage, looked at all the spare ECO parts I have, thinking I could make dummies out of this, then...I decided to just find some other original item I could restore.

My next book probably won't be out until the spring, send me your email address and I will put you on the list of potential buyers.

Jack Sim

That's great that you're marking them, thanks for the reply.

I read Petroleum Collectors magazine, Check the Oil magazine, Journal of Antiques on a monthly basis. Antique Weekly every week, this chat line almost daily. Buy all kinds of books and old auction catalogs.

I have been going to auctions since I was about six. Have been to thousands of them over the past 45 plus years, travel extensively, check out museum's, antique shops, flea markets, yard sales. Go to every show I can, from gas shows, car shows, antique shows, bikes, stamps, bottles, paper etc. I have been invited to see many fantastic private collections big and small.

You learn so much by talking with people. One day I learned more in a few hours about glass insulators then most people would care to know by listening to a conversation among two friends that collected.

Years of experience and being involved is how you gain knowledge. I learn something new everyday. The other day it was about what kind of pot to make pickles in, and I don't even like pickles !