Oldgas.com Home  

Click here for Petro Porcelain Sign auction listings


Home | Help | Events | Auctions | Parts | Pictures | Links | Contact
Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Page 3 of 3 1 2 3
#59246 Thu Dec 18 2003 08:21 AM
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 315
Likes: 2
M
Petro Enthusiast
Offline
Petro Enthusiast
M
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 315
Likes: 2
Hey Lastgas...yeah that was me!! Small world. I guess it WAS 2 winters ago how time flies.Yes, I bought the Ethyl Zephyr on red ripple. They lite up nice!! When the bidding closed the first round and you were going to take choice, the auctioneer stated "Ah, he takes the one that is not cracked" and then he opened the bidding again. This threw me. I saw the chip out of the base but I thought "cracked??" I hadn't seen THAT. Even after I got home I would look at this globe and say to myself "Cracked??" I guess I'm too kind hearted. Felt bad for a guy that was there with his young son that really wanted one of those globes. Before the sale I overheard him tell his young son "I bet they sell for a hundred bucks each. Hope they don't go THAT high." The guy looked like he was really down on his luck. Hope he finds a globe someday....

Please use For Sale forums to sell

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.
#59247 Thu Dec 18 2003 09:02 AM
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 6,772
Likes: 1
Veteran Member
Offline
Veteran Member
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 6,772
Likes: 1
Midway,
I had run across that auction listing online. I called the auctioneer to get more info on the globes since the ad just said two gas pump globes. I asked what brand they were. He said Zephyr. I asked if he could describe them. He said small. I asked if the were round or oval. He said oval....I think. I asked if they were blue with a diagonal white band with red letters. He said YES! I think OK, cool, I like ovals. I made 2 1/2 hour drive, park the car 300 feet away and immediately see they are red ripples!!!! I started to panic. I only brought enough cash to buy ovals. I check out the globes. The lenses on both were in great shape. The ethyl is missing the screw on base and has a chunk out of it (that a new screw on base would cover), the other body has a little weak paint near the base but not bad. I find the auctioneer and introduce myself. He said he was sorry that he told me wrong and asked if these were worth the drive. He asked if they were worth $100 each. I told him they were better than the ovals but I had only brought enough cash to buy the ovals and asked if he'd take a check. He said sure, no problem. I told him I'd open at $300. I had gotten there pretty early. I looked them over right away then stood where I could see who looked like they would be serious buyers. Two guys were looking at them, one of them elbowed the other and nodded towards me the other guy glanced up at me. I couldn't place them at the time but they are pump dealers I see at swap meets. Those are the only two guys I saw look at them like they were going to be serious buyers. I didn't see you look at them. I remember hearing some people in the crowd gasp when I opened the bidding at $300 LOL. The guys I thought were going to be bidding never got a bid in. It was just you and me. I thought both globes sold at very reasonable prices, but that was the most I had ever spent on a globe. I thought my wife was going to be upset because I spent so much money. Right before Christmas too. She wasn't. I told her about the globe you bought and said I wished I had been able to buy it too. She said you could have bought it. Go figure.
Bob


Wanted: Gas pump globes:Sinclair & affiliates, IL companies. Ripple bodies. Anything Sinclair, Stoll, Pierce, 4 Bros.


http://www.lastgas15.com/
#59248 Thu Dec 18 2003 12:10 PM
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 315
Likes: 2
M
Petro Enthusiast
Offline
Petro Enthusiast
M
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 315
Likes: 2
Neat story Lastgas!! I'm REAL glad you didn't bring enough cash for BOTH globes for my sake.....my wife also said 'Too bad you didn't get them both, you broke up the set.' I was playing the same game you were 'well, it's close to Christmas and I'd better show some restraint.' I asked the clerk who bought the other globe when I went to pay and she said "you just missed him by about two minutes. He just paid and left." She said "I think he is a contractor from down south (Ill.) Anybody below Peoria is 'down south.'

Anyway, I think our paths crossed again at a farm sale over near Gibson City one super cold Feb. day, snow blowin' the whole bit not long after the Zephyr sale. There were two cast one-piece Indian globes with 'Havoline'(sp?) down the side. One went for something like 21 hundred or 22 hundred and the other went for around 16. A guy bought both of them, have never seen him around. Older guy. I bid up to 15 on the first globe and was out of cash so I bailed. It was the better of the two. Should I have bought it?? No regrets. I can find another one some day they aren't impossible to locate. Was a super neat globe though......now if I can only find a Torpedo gasoline from Ill. Oil Co.-------

#59249 Thu Dec 18 2003 04:31 PM
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 6,772
Likes: 1
Veteran Member
Offline
Veteran Member
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 6,772
Likes: 1
Midway,
She had the contractor part right, but I live near Kankakee.
I remember the sale with the Indian globes well. It was COLD! I was 2nd bidder on one and maybe 3rd on the other. I know the guy that bought them but I won't mention his name here. He GAVE the one with the BB hole to a friend of his. You're probably thinking nice guy, huh? He gave a $1600 globe away. The better of the two globes is in a box under a desk in his pole barn. I took a tour of his collection a little over a year ago. He said, and I quote: " Do you remember the Indian globe I bought SO YOU COULDN'T HAVE IT? It's in that box under the desk". So much for being a nice guy! A friend of mine recently took a tour of that collection. I was telling him the story of the globe under the desk while we were looking at some pictures he shot when he was there. My friend started laughing.....and handed me a picture showing the box under the desk. I lost interest in looking at the rest of the pictures.
Do you go to the swap meets at Peotone? Shoot me an email sometime.
Bob


Wanted: Gas pump globes:Sinclair & affiliates, IL companies. Ripple bodies. Anything Sinclair, Stoll, Pierce, 4 Bros.


http://www.lastgas15.com/
#59250 Thu Dec 18 2003 07:30 PM
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 805
Likes: 40
M
Petro Enthusiast
Offline
Petro Enthusiast
M
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 805
Likes: 40
I wouldn't go so far as to say modern kids aren't interested in old things. Im 18, and when I am not working on a pump or some other old machine, Im riding my customized, restored 1952 Schwinn Tornado.

#59251 Thu Dec 18 2003 08:10 PM
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 315
Likes: 2
M
Petro Enthusiast
Offline
Petro Enthusiast
M
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 315
Likes: 2
O.K. Lastgas...I probably shouldn't use up all the space here..I'll e-mail you sometime...I probably won't make Peotone this year...never had very good luck buyin' stuff in the Chicago area..but it is a worthwhile show from what I hear..never made it to that one yet. The Aumann auction over your way a year or so ago brought some kind of steep prices on common items. Must be the Capone or Luciano boys bidding--out of my league!! We have a good friend who married a firefighter in Kankakee and they are having their first baby this spring. She is a school teacher..

Talk later. Midway Oil

#59252 Thu Dec 18 2003 08:45 PM
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 1,019
F
Veteran Member
Offline
Veteran Member
F
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 1,019
Hey Mike618b... Welcome Aboard!!!
I love seeing young people on board with this retro stuff... You are the future of this hobby and I want to thank you for recognizing and identifying more substance in this crazy world than video games and the plastic throw-aways of today.
Continue with your passion... and our hobby will live on thru people like you.

------------------
Frank


Frank
#59253 Fri Dec 19 2003 08:17 PM
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 805
Likes: 40
M
Petro Enthusiast
Offline
Petro Enthusiast
M
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 805
Likes: 40
Hey Frank,
Thanks for the welcome. I love old stuff because of it's quality and style. My friends didn't get it when I bought the tok. 39 home, and then thought I was just crazy when I got my M&S 80. They will get it when they see them done.
Thanks again,
Mike

#59254 Sat Dec 20 2003 09:28 AM
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 2
M
Member
Offline
Member
M
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 2
Very interesting topic and responses, and have to agree with the various viewpoints. I have to say my interest in petrloiana was a by-product of my interest in classic cars. I had a 55 chev conv at the time in an old, rented, 1 car garage. Pretty drab inside. One day when I was down at my Dads farm and went to some acreage he was leasing for his cattle. That farm had been in these folks family for 3 generations and they never threw anything away, just tossed it in sheds or out in the field. To make a long story even longer, I stumbled across a nice Veedol sign and decided that it would look great on the wall behind my car. And that was all it took to turn this into a 20+ yr hobby...that and meeting the late Jeff Peterson. I'm not old enough to have ever (remember) seeing any of this stuff at stations.

#59255 Sat Dec 20 2003 01:44 PM
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 8,509
Likes: 289
Moderator
Online Cool
Moderator
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 8,509
Likes: 289
As I look around at swap meets, I see lots of collectors and vendors who are young enough that they got their first drivers license after 1960. I see lots of 50s and 60s cars that are driven or admired by people born long after those cars were made. My own kids like the music I grew up with as much as, or more, than the music of their time.

I love to hear from those of you who have great memories of gas stations when you were a little kid. But for many collectors, no matter their age, it's just about cool stuff that they really like. Classic things that will stand the test of time. Like being appreciated from generation to generation. That is happening right now. Lots of collectors are very interested in stuff from before they were born. Look around on Shop Talk. It's not just old geezers and baby boomers. The younger collectors are in our midst, learning and collecting what they can afford.

------------------
Jim "Oldgas" Potts
Your host and moderator


Jim "Oldgas" Potts
Your host and moderator
#59256 Sat Dec 20 2003 03:35 PM
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 50
G
gam Offline
Active Member
Offline
Active Member
G
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 50
Sure, people collect what they are interested in, but will it be desirable in the future? Will computerized pumps ever be colectable. Probably not in my lifetime. Model A's and T's were hot at one time, but have lost some of their appeal lately. Part of it is because many of the people who drove them in the past are no longer with us. But they were also much different than todays cars. Anyone can drive a 60's or 70's musclecar however, and the perfomance won't get you killed on the freeway. The big variety of pumps in the past also plays a part in collecting. Look in Jack's book and see how much variety is out there. How many people make pumps today? They all look alike, unlike the works of art in the past.

I also like Railroads. 40 years ago, there were all sorts of different locomotives out there, on numerous, colorful railroads. Today, there are two locomotive builders, building generic products that all look the same. That, and the fact that there are only 4 or 5 major railroads left makes todays railroad scene pretty boring. 40 years from now, people will be going ho-hum to what is running today. The old stuff will always be more interesting.

Greg

Page 3 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