Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion Mobil sign. Early light up plastic?

Is that what this is? An early version of a light up plastic sign?
I thought I remember someone just talking about one of these in another thread the other day.

Yupp..Its plastic. pretty unusual..

That photograph is 1954 or later as that's when the Bennett 900 series pumps came out. Plastic's technology was greatly advanced during WWII. Plastic signs from the mid 50's are not all that uncommon as the plastics industry was well established and mainstream by then.

Shell introduced the first internally illuminated plastic signs used in petroleum marketing in 1947. Tydol, Sunoco, and Crown were also early converts. Most other companies began experimenting with plastic signs by the middle 1950s, and many of the logo replacements of the 1955-1965 era were due to problems with or poor light output from plastic signs. Signs with dark tones did not do well when backlit, and companies such as Phillips, Sinclair, DX, First generation plastic signs are extremely rare today, although examples are known from most major brands. They were a subject of a PCM article a year or so ago and will be included in the new sign book I am working on.

Here is one still alive in SD as found by Greasyboy. Where's he been lately BTW?

http://www.oldgas.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=84895&Number=524380#Post524380