Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion Texaco Diesel Sign

Good Morning everyone,
Been in pumps and signs for over 25 yrs. especially Texaco but am stumped on something. Ebay auction # 280081528904. Why would a later diesel sign from 1960 be worth $2,000 when there were far more diesels in 60 than the early 50's and those signs bring $200 to $400? My father pumped far more Texaco diesel fuel in the 60's as a jobber and station owner than the 50's so it would stand to reason that those signs would not be as rare, but, must be wrong. Have every diesel sign but that one. At that price, I could have added a few more options to my own new diesel pickup! Thanks Rob Vest, DeKalb, Il.

Rob:

That is one of the "holy grail" of signs in the Texaco world. Not all places carried #1. I don't remember what the last one sold for, but that is close.

Now, for a horror story....I was traveling in Eastern Montana and a guy called and said he had some Texaco diesel pump plates and asked what they were worth.I told him they sold for $80 to $200 depending on condition. He asked if I was interested.I said sure and would be there in two days. (He said nothing about #1 or #2, just Texaco diesel) I showed up and he had sold them. He had 10 of them and he said some guy offered him $175 each and he didn't think he would do better. But, he had a picture........6 #1 Texaco diesel and 4 #2, mint. Still had the paper wrappers for some of them. I about puked...but I also told them what they were worth...he about puked. Guy paid cash and left no name. Moral of the story.....ask more questions and get there faster.

[This message has been edited by Alex (edited 02-15-2007).]

How about this one.....

I had made an appointment to see a jobber about getting into his shop and buying some stuff. Well I got there on time and someone else was in there going through MY stuff. The jobber was confused, he thought the other guy was me.....The guy turned around and it was Jim Steeves.....It was like two tigers after prey in there... we both got some stuff... but(deleted) he got ther first!
Joe

Rob,
I've seen a few of those signs sell. A couple went on ebay for over $3000 each a few years back. The last one I saw sell was at Peotone. Must have been in 2005. That one sold in the $2500 range during set up.
Bob

I think $2,500 would be a reasonable market price.