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I never saw a visible gas pump in my youth. I have never seen a clockface pump outside of a collection or a museum. Do I still want this stuff? Yes. The reason we collect these things is the same reason the future generations will collect them, they have a beauty in their design.

I think good signs and pumps will retain most of their current value. I would not expect many 20 year olds would spend their disposable income on 2K signs. It takes a more mature collector to have that unique blend of money and insanity.

The collectables of tomorrow will be things with a beauty in the design. I would start looking for plastic signs from the 70’s with clean graphics and vibrant colors. 1960’s gas pumps that have a “Classic” Style (Bennett 3014). Advertising in the 70’s and 80’s went to cardboard, keeping the cardboard in good condition was not a consideration for many. Cardboard cutouts would be a good (Cheap) investment, if you have the ability to store it for 10 years.


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Originally Posted By: Thunder II
..... Signs are no longer being made of porcelain over steel, they are made of plastic that breaks.



I beg to differ. Reproduction signs are made of porcelain over steel. They may very well be the new collectible ! Just look at what they're going for on some eBay auctions. shocked

We better start hoarding them ! smirk laugh



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Thunder,

Ok, I may be outing myself here about my age (sigh) but unlike what some have stated, I prefer and am facinated by the stuff before my birh (which in my case would be the sixties-ouch that was paintful!). it is because I did not grow up with them that I think are beautiful.

Who knew that those smelly metal cartoon lunch boxes I ate out of in the 70's would be collectable today? Scooby Doo, where are you?

And that plastic stuff, it does degrade, as my husband finally--FINALLY--is admiting to as I've been trying to have him get rid of boxes (and boxes) of never used plastic pots for his cacti. It didn't matter that he would have to live well into his hundreds to use them up. Because the pots are thin, they are getting brittle with age (even though they are inside and not in the sun) so he may actually start tossing them. Gosh knows he has enough clay pots anyways.

And because the colors fade and the plastic gets brittle, finding a NOS sign that still had good color because it was kept in the dark and hopefully, because it is a thicker plastic and not degraded by the sun, is not brittle, will be collectable.

It's very possible that in a couple dozen years that the old early analog cell phones will be collectable, for example.

So I think this hobby will contine and I certainly think that the older/oldest stuff will contine to grow in value though they may occassionally dip in price for a while once the tv shows about old stuff stop being popular,

IMO

Last edited by Nicole; Wed Apr 06 2011 02:07 AM.
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They have not made a good collectible map in over 40 years, yet old ones are still collected now. Why would that change


"Remember, history that is forgotten is doomed to repeat itself!"
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Hi Thunder,

Are you restricting your question to just traditional gas&oilitems(pumps,signs,cans an so on)or are you willing to include car/truck stuff as associated collectibles that are available today?

I take the gas/oil/car/truck association as a given,but others may not.If you include car/truck stuff that really opens up the possibilities IMO.

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All I am saying is that I've noticed that there is less available TODAY, from service stations... And what IS available, is cheap cardboard & plastic.

WHAT if ANYTHING, will survive, to be collectable?


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OH, you should have said that the first time laugh


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Originally Posted By: Thunder II
All I am saying is that I've noticed that there is less available TODAY, from service stations... And what IS available, is cheap cardboard & plastic.

WHAT if ANYTHING, will survive, to be collectable?


Thunder, to piggy-back on this comment - ANYTHING that is mass-produced in 3rd world countries as a freebee is for the most part junk. IMO, most things with the little gold oval sticker on the back is worthless. These collectables from the bygone era that we all love were handmade in the USA with pride in workmanship. EVERYTHING nowadays in gas stations is either a junky polyester banner OR cheap paper-thin plastic. So where is th hobby going? IMO, it is going to stay in the past, therefore the stuff will just keep going up in value. You are correct, there is nothing that they are giving out these days that will be collectable.

OT - my Father-in-law used to work for Enron in SW KS and has a LOT of Enron gear (pocket knives, hard hats and the like) and he thinks because of the history of Enron they might be worth something someday. Who knows.

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I have seen the plastic signs go up in the last 2 years. I have also seen basic cardboard, metal signs go up in price steadily as well. Advertising will go up, it is just a matter of figuring out what items will be collectible. I am 39 and I worked at a couple of gas stations in the 80's and early 90's. I believe I am in the transistion age group for gas collectibles. I remember seeing old gas stations, using old pumps, (no visables)(Which is why I don't collect them.) and seeing lots of advertisements. I see the generation after me collecting the things which remind them of their youth as we have. So what will be collectible? Plastic signs, cardboard signs (especially ones shapped like the product beng sold) NOS bottles, car customizing kits, 24 inch rims and things of that sort. Gas stations today are Mini Marts. You rarely see one where a car is worked on, unless your in an area a little behind the times. Most stuff from todays gas stations collected will be store relaited and not gas.

What will not be collected? Cigarette adds, ciggarette holders/stands, oil/air filters, any kind of addative which is put in the gas tank or oil (no "youngsters" ever purchase these for their cars since cars now a days are made from the factory for high millage.) Belts, hoses, spark plugs, plastic oil bottles, and anything else which is service relaited. Todays generation go somewhere else and have thier cars serviced for them. It is rarely seen being done, or done at home. The service companies tell you to go home and they will call you when it is done. Todays generation has a sence of entitlement. "I want it and I want it now", without working for it or doing it them selves. So why would they collect anything that they never used or even payed attention to.

Sorry for the rambeling, but I'm drunk. Which means you spelling Nazi's will have to let this post bother you forever. LOL

Last edited by strnge; Wed Apr 06 2011 11:05 AM.

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380328143312 This plastic sign seems to be doing quite well, $2500+ . Maybe there is a market for plastic signs?

Last edited by pumpingethyl; Wed Apr 06 2011 06:20 PM.

Dennis Leith / Always looking for unusual Gilmore Oil Company items and Automobilia Displays
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I believe that I will be long gone, before any of these scenarios come to fruition. That being said, I will hazard a guess....

Advertising will be collectible as it has been since the mid-1700's. Pumps from the teens through the 1970s will still be quite sought after. Pumps from the 80s and 90s will be looked at harder by people who don't have the money to buy the "older vintage and in some cases, actually old enough to be, antique pumps". Signs of all types, will be highly sought after.. the older the better...

What do you know, the scenario I just described is exactly what is happening now in the hobby... New collectors come in and at first gravitate towards the collectibles they know first hand, partly because they cost less. As they collect more, they collect more and more expensive items, which usually means older, more vintage items....

Strange again, sounds like collecting in other fields, such as furniture, art, pottery ...etc. This collecting stuff all pretty much seems to follow the same patterns... I can't see it not following these same patterns in the future... But if I'm wrong, I won't be around to think about it....

So Jeff, while there is less and less items offered in a station compared to the "Hey days of Service Stations" of the late 40s through the later 60s. There are items that future generations will gravitate too. Just as there was in my generation, my father's, and to his father's.

Sometimes it is hard to remember that the "gas station" is not very old... It's not that long ago, that people like my grandfather who was born in the mid 1890's, didn't own a vehicle before he came back from WWI. There were no gas stations back before those new Model T Ford's. Back to that first Model T that made it possible for almost everyone who wanted to drive somewhere, to do it without having to "smell the back-end of a horse". Blame it in Henry Ford, R.E. Olds, Louis Chevrolet and the Dodge Bros (of course there were many, many more who influenced the need for autos to be fueled)

I honestly don't think this hobby "is a flash in a pan", it will be alright.


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Quote:
Nicole.....(which in my case would be the sixties-ouch that was paintful!)

DREAMER! LOL

Just drove past the Pennzoil Quicky change & they have painted metal curb signs, fresh out of the boxes.

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Originally Posted By: Dick Bennett
Quote:
Nicole.....(which in my case would be the sixties-ouch that was paintful!)

DREAMER! LOL

Just drove past the Pennzoil Quicky change & they have painted metal curb signs, fresh out of the boxes.


My theories are starting to get holier and holier - I stand corrected (but I am sitting)

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Throwing a ladies age back in her face (double ouch!) is even more painful, but back on topic...

Passed a unknown brand station in Virginia recently that I think is an independent station, (will take a pic later this month and post to see if indeed it is an 'independent') and I was wondering if stuff from those stations might be the first collectables of modern stuff. Aren't the gas companies from the past that did not make it in the long run have the more valuble collectables? How many indepcndents are there still out there and how long do they stay in business?

Last edited by Nicole; Wed Apr 06 2011 08:11 PM.
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Plastic may fade and crack.

But doesn't porcelain chip, get scratched and get rust stains?

Don't metal signs flake, fade and rust through?

YES on both questions.

A sign is a sign and will suffer no matter what it's made of. depends on where it been and how it's been handled.


DOC @ THE AMERICAN GARAGE
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