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

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?