Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion Leave it alone...........

After reading thunders post on the sign in the middle of nowhere I am of the opinion the sign should be left alone. How cool to come across a sign like that and be able to get a picture. I don't think I like this "grab everything you can" attitude, soon we won't have anything to look at or come upon in our travels if we grab everthing we can. I pass an old station every day that has two national pumps out front, I hope they never get "grabbed", I love to see them in the "natural" environment. I'd rather see a rusty old sign on the side of a dilapidated building than some mint sign in my gameroom.

YEAH, BUT WOULDN'T YOU BE PI**ED OFF IF ONE DAY YOU SAW A COUPLE GUYS WITH A FLATBED TRAILER UNBOLTING THOSE NATIONALS AND TAKING THEM AWAY? YOU MIGHT BE JEALOUS AND WOULD PROBABLY ASK YOURSELF SOMEWHERE DOWN THE LINE....DARN, WHY DIDN'T I INQUIRE ABOUT THOSE? KICKIN' YOURSELF IN THE BUTT FOR SNOOZIN' AND LOOSIN'!
OF COURSE IF YOU'RE NOT A PUMP GUY, YOU WOULD RATHER JUST SEE THEM IN THEIR "NATURAL" STATE OF MIND LIKE YOU SAID, BUT STILL BE PI**ED OFF IF SOMEONE TOOK YOUR VISUAL PLEASURE.

WHILE THUNDERS PHOTO MAKES FOR GREAT CONVERSATION, IT IS HIS PREROGATIVE AND CHOICE TO TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT BASED ON HIS FINDINGS. I HAVE A FEELING HE'D BE MAD IF THEY WERE NOT THERE NEXT MONTH AFTER DRIVING BY THEM SO MANY TIMES FOR SO LONG. I KNOW I'D BE KICKIN' MYSELF. I KNOW OF TWO 1930'S ORNATE IRON SIGN POSTS THAT I COULD GET DIRT CHEAP, BUT I DON'T LIVE IN AN ENVIRONMENT THAT WOULD ALLOW ME TO ERECT THEM AND HANG A SIGN. BESIDES, THOSE THINGS ARE HEAVY!

TO EACH HIS OWN I GUESS

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

DOC @ TAG.WEST

Doc you both have your points it is like the standard station I told Wess about see FWAT 11-5 I have never tried to buy those pumps I have driven 100 miles to look at them because they are neat to see as they always have been. Someday if I were to go past and they were to be gone then I would be pi##ed at my self. The next time I am over there I think I better stop and try to get them. George

Oh my!? This thread may get good enough to get frozen.

I don't think its the ""grab everything you can" attitude" that's making this stuff hard to come by for the collector or tourist. Its the owners choice that it exists there in the first place. I'm not sure that most owners even care or thought about someone enjoying their "junk" as pleasing roadside beauty. The ones that do say its not for sale at any price, while the others say its for sale... do you have enough money? lol

Enjoy it while it lasts. County, City, State...ordinances and laws are changing fast forcing owners to clean up...

As far as seeing rusty signs on the side of buildings vs. a mint sign in the gameroom. I can see those rusty ones for along time to come, they will still be there. I want the Mint One and so do most people.

My 2c.
Kim

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I certainly appreciate all the opinions posted so far, but let me explain, then see my new post "Yet another mystery decal"

These two signs are advertising signs that advertise a 40 year old development, that has never sold. As the Denver area is growing, sites like this are cleaned up, sold off, and developed. That means those 200 acres will have about 300 homes built on it, and those signs will end up in somebodys scrapyard, most likley without any regard for their historical significance. EXACTLY like what was done to the property just across the street from where they stand. I was just interested in what they might be, and if I should try to obtain them when they come down. Chris, your respect and passion for history is admirable, as is all of the other users on this forum. I for one, as a historian, appreciate the place that my pumps have held in history, and to date, restored them, or am restoring my pumps in their original colors...

Now it is kind of sounding like maybe the porcelain sign is long gone..maybe! But GET the post and hoop. To leave it and have it get scraped or worse---someone else gets it. I can remember when the not thought to well of old cars sat in vacant lots. You know, anything not FORD not 28-34. Thunder move on it. It sounds like other Colorado guys know about it and have looked the other way. It would be idealic to have everything remain for us all to look at and wonder about times past. But in the real world, if you want something to cherish you had better own it! Thunder I don't have the room for a post and hoop like that, but you do. At least save it for someone else. Larry

I really like that picture of the sign in the middle of nowhere. You don't see stuff like that much anymore, so you have to ask yourself why. Even though I like it where it is, get it before it's gone...

If someone does not save this stuff many times it will end up in a dump, salvage yard or destroyed. Yes it is nice to see signs and pumps in the wild but if someone does not pursue them many will be gone or destroyed for no one to enjoy.

Keith

There was an old farm house a couple miles from me that they were staring to put a development on. This was about two years ago. I knew the city wanted the old farm house and a barn and silo to be preserved but there were several other buildings and a garage with a 36B sitting next to it. I went to the construction trailer on about a Tuesday to ask what would happen to the pump. They said to check back with the project manager who would be back in a couple of days. I went back when they told me to and the garage and the pump were replaced with a big hole. They said they had to remove it because it was hazardous waste!
Yes DB, it had a top on it. With ad glass. Can't remember the company though. Nice complete 36B taken to the dump!
Most people don't think like us old gas guys and will throw this stuff in one of Thunders rolloffs before they will try to find someone who wants it.

I can see everybodys point in regard to grabbing an item if the wrecking ball is right around the corner, I get sick when I see the development that is happening around my area. When I was a younger collector I had the idea to grab everything before someone else and would get upset if somebody beat me to an ad in the paper for an item. But I've come to realize recently that this stuff we all love and pursue is vanishing so quickly from the landscape in place of drug stores and develoments, and this is where SOME should remain. But its not possible since there are people who will take everything that isn't nailed down, and in some cases just steal it.

I also tried to find the owner of these for couple of years when I road tripped past them on a highway in the great state of Nebraska.

No luck. One of these days I will drive past there and they will be gone. I love this picture and would love for others to get the same shot for years to come but at the same time I know someday they will be gone. I'd rather have them in my garage than in a dump somewhere.

Been eyeballing a couple of items here in town for about 10 yrs now,to never inquire about them.Just last week I drove by the same place and a dozer was sitting there already having done the damage.I managed to get ahold of one of the construction guys and he gladly gave them to me.Lightpoles that is!

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My 2 cents: I have seen stations, signs, pumps, etc. here one day and gone the next. Besides wishing that they would have left them alone. My only hope was some collector or dealer got it for someone to appreciate rather than the scrap yard. I think we'd all like to hope that they would always be there but know that isn't going to happen. Every time we go to Colorado to visit the family we marvel at the impending "sprawl" and say, "wasn't there an old whatever there last time we were through here or wasn't there a pasture here last time now a bunch of condos that, in some situations, look all alike".
Thunder, don't hesitate, Go to the court house to find out who owns it and GET THE SIGN!!!
Rod

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Old gas station building are one of the reasons I started collecting. Here are some that are just minutes from my house. The first in an old Phillips 66 building.


These two are by far my favorite, they are right next to each other. Competing gas stations.




Any guesses on age and the brand they sold?

Brian

#2 I guess Conoco 30's
Last one TEXACO 30's...