Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion What percentage of stuff is still out there????

What percentage of stuff is still out there waiting to be discovered? Im talking about larger items like pumps and big signs. Certainly it hasnt all been discovered but whats left 10%, 20%, more ?? Is there enough left for the hobby to grow???

out

Dan

If you like plastic I think there's alot out there. If it's cast iron it's all in Wisconsin judging from the pictures that were posted.

Dan, I am not sure whats left out there. I just spent the last week in Rio Rancho, Albuquerque and Santa Fe (leaving in the morning)and only saw one pump and a Gulf sign while visiting.

The only thing left in Wis is cheese and of course beer.

It would be hard to put a number on how much stuff has not been discovered.

There is a similiar question and possibly more applicable.

How much stuff is out there in private collections on behalf of older/pioneer type collectors that is virtually unknown? There are several small/medium/enormous collections that haven't seen the light of day for 15-20+ years. My opinion is these are the "real" finds of the future.

i still see stuff out in wisconsin by our cabin.also guess there are still hundreds of roads across the country that do not get traveled that often.not to mention out of sight stuff that you cant even see from a road.big problem these days is alot of people think they have a goldmine the minute someone comes across it and asks about it.think about mountain rds in kentucky and tenn.(i know phil hasent been on all of em yet)and other remote places.five years ago i found two 5 gallon frys in a junkyard on the side of a mountain.just takes a little more time and gas,but ther is still some great finds out there!!also find lots of cheese and beer when we are at the cabin!

oldnfuelish,

I think you are correct about the old collections that are rarely seen. A couple of them a year are put out for auction, and I don't really believe the entire collection is auctioned off, just the items they don't want anymore.

When I get back from vacation, I will posting over 150 pictures of a collection that very few people get to see.

As for what is still out there, it is amazing to see all the stuff on the tables at CTO and IG each year. The question is "Is this stuff you have owned for a while or did you find it since the last show?" If any of you are going to IG, how about asking this question of some of the vendors with the nice stuff? It would be interesting to know what you hear.

Jack Sim

Even though it is impossible to ever know, I believe OKOIL1 and OLDNFUELISH have summed it up very well. I usually spend my vacation time from work, 1 month + and then some every year on the road to most National Park destinations anywhere in the U.S.A. and even though they are considered vacations I always have petro on the brain and I am always looking for stuff while traveling. In my travels I have met and talked to so many people who have somehting petro, from something as simple as an old art deco style gas station to a collection that would make anyone grin. As far as old stations , the current owner (if found) most always has a story about a guy or two who bought all that "junk" along time ago or some story comparable. As far as collections, I have seen anywhere from a couple of pumps (spotted because the garage door was up,ha ha) to collections I would compare to those featured on this site. And more times than you can imagine the owners either think I am crazy for spotting them or just want to know who it was that told me about their collection (the private type), as anyone one of us would do I always try and see how they got started, most of the time I find that these people just like the stuff and don't even know an actual market/hobby exists. These same people in some cases or locations don't even have computers or if they do they have never bothered to investigate "that stuff". BUT as Mick stated these types usually think they have a gold mine since I am crazy enough to even be there talking about the stuff in the first place, I have also had people refuse any cash and just give me something really cool, possibly felt sorry for me? LOL. My job in the gas business here in Northwestern Pennsylvania keeps me running and as always I am on the lookout for new and undiscovered items. In my opinion there are many items to be discovred in the future and we will never know how much until you get out there and hunt for it and unlike traditional hunting this stuff is usually standing still !!!!! Matt

I'll throw in my two cents. I've made a living of buying and selling (and restoring) gas pumps since I was thirteen years old. It's supported my family, put me through college and now almost all the way through law school. I can honestly say that I have not seen a drop in the amount of stuff I come up with over the last seventeen years. But I WILL say that the way I discover stuff has changed. Whereas it used to be that I could simply drive around and "spot" old pumps on farms, now I have to pull in to the old places and talk with the farmers. I think most of the good gas station stuff you can spot from the road is long gone, with a few exceptions, of course. But the stuff is still out there. This year alone I've drug home 40 gas pumps, 12 signs, and I don't know how many oil bottles/racks/lubesters, etc. And those who have seen what I sell know that I don't deal in common stuff. And almost all of it has been "barn finds." So I guess the long and the short of it is this: there is a TON of stuff still out there, but you have to be willing to shake the trees to get it.

Thanx for the responses , I was just thinking from the new collector point of view. Safe to say all the easy stuff, items visible from roads, are in collections now. Interesting take on the "closet-collectors". Are there any collectors around that started saving this stuff since the 40s or 50s? I know they would be plenty old, any still active?

Cheers

Dan

LOCAL BULK PLANT AUCTION HERE LAST WEEK TURNED UP A LOT OF SIGNS,CANS,PUMPS,POLES,AND MUCH MORE.THE STUFF IS STILL OUT THERE AND STILL WORTH THE THE MONEY IF YOU ARE WILLING AND HAVE THE TIME TO WORK IT.IT IS STILL OUT THERE GANG!HAPPY HUNTING!MARK

This is a very large country as far as area and population. Over the decades, hundredrs if not thousands of companies marketed and sold petroleum products. For a time, stations were as plentiful as anything on the planet. This hobby has really only gained steam in the last 20 years. The law of averages would still have to be in our favor for quite some time.

Getting the word out and being willing to do some homework and get out there and make the contacts is what will produce the goods.

I live in Missouri and try to go on a Saturday road trip every couple of months. The stuff is still out there but like Petropumps says you have to ask. I know where many unrestored original pumps are on farms but I keep getting the dreaded "It's not for sale" or it's awaiting a restoration from it's 80+ year old owner. We all know how those stories go! I try to take my digital camera every time I go hunting. It might not be for sale or is awaiting that "professional" restoration from the good old boy that has it, but pictures last forever.

i would say there is %50 left to be discovered if you consider the fact that a lot of it was buried under ground and will be very difficult to find

In my experience it equates to this...the harder you work at looking = the more you find.......very simple..

I could not agree more, I scavenged my area for 15 years and thought I found or heard about it all, I was bringing home 5 pumps and countless signs on a weekly basis, It all seemed to dry up and I myself slowly stopped looking as hard and the stuff seemed to be not around anymore. A couple years ago a guy stopped to look at my pumps outside and said he just started collecting and was hoping to get a collection like mine, I wished him luck thinking I already had it all, (keep in mind I live in an area with several small towns of 2500 population) Well in that couple short years, this guy has picked up more pumps (including a Bowser Double clockface and several other clockfaces), many signs and collections all in the same area I religiously combed for years. WHY, Because he was out there again day after day asking the same local people, and getting the newly discovered stuff or hearing about a friend of a friend who's brother had this or that. I just look back and smile now at the day I met him and thought, Poor guy he is not going to find anything around here.

I have seen some good answers to an impossible question,lol. There is no baseline to start with, it keeps changing. The first change came around 1942-45 with the scrapmetal drives. It came again in the mid 50s-late 60's when the "modernization" of the American service station hit. With the "Oil wars" of the mid 70's and gas went to over $1 a gal, pumps were switched out and/or "remodeled" again. So to me starting with a baseline of 1941 through 1980, there is approx. 35-40% left out there. Now a portion of that is in collections, dumps, salvage yards and just rusting away in the woods, pile of debris...etc. So it will be "harder", not impossible, to find older items in good shape. Sooner than later, the pumps from the "modernization" years will be "picked" clean. (to me)There will be less of them as they don't have the lines or style of the visibles and early computers. They for the most part are boxy and squat, especially those from the mid to late 60s and beyond. So it was and is easier to just "dump" them. Because of materials they aren't even worth a great deal of money as scrap. But What do I know(?), nothing I tell you, nothing. But if nothing else the "hunt" is well worth it. To see some new "country", renew old friendships or maybe even better make some new friendships that will stay with you..... So to me this hobby keeps getting bigger and bigger, but like I said, what do I know? I'm stuck out here in the PNW where the trees ..... forget that. It rains all the time all the pumps, cans, globes, anything relating to gas and oil have rusted away. No need to come out west to look for items, All gone, rusted away, forget about it.... Stay home, pick up items in say, Colorado going east. Yep, that's your best bet... Forget anything west of Colorado...

In my area there is still stuff to be found but you have to work hader or be at the right place at the right time. My brother was set up at a flea market selling oak furniture and had a little petro he ended up with people asking if he wanted to buy this or that and ended up with a visible and a crown globe. The pump was in a barn for years and no one but the owner knew about it. On the other side the unreal junk prices a few months back had to be the end of alot of the stuff as people were junking any and everything they could find.

I always wanted to buy a ultra light plane so I could fly low over the farmers junk piles. Then contact the farmer. Has any one done this? I think if it was the wrong type of farmer I could have gotten shot. One of the dangers

HSSL........ Just make sure you stay inside Spokane County and you'll probably be safe enough.

There's one gentleman who uses his helecopter to locate road signs and pumps! If it sounds arcane but works for you, that's all that counts.

Huskybob
is it dangerous in the Lincoln county air space? Not just farmers but also collectors? It took me a while but I found Tracy Rock. Your not far away.
rick