Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion Phillips 66 sign needs help!

I thought I would share this sign with you guys. It is only a few miles from my house and when I drive by I can't help but think someone needs to save it. The sign could not be removed because of the tree it is under but things have now changed. It took awhile but I finally got them to make me a price on the sign. They want $150 for the sign and I have to cut it out and clean up the mess. I just can't see it being anymore than $50 or $100 sign. It is in really bad shape and I am not sure it would be worth the trouble to get it out. It is screaming for someone to save it though from years of neglect. What do you guys think?

Gotta ask Yourself. Hey SELF, how bad do you want it?

Go for it !! You cant even find one down here much less buy one. If it were me i would dig the tree up and plant him a new one pay him 150.00 and be a happy camper !!

It looks a little "wavy" but no chips or cracks in the porcelain. Maybe one chipped area in the one picture where someone may have tryed prying the sign out. Can you see a date near the edge there at the top? That particular sign I believe is very popular. You may be surprised how easily it may come out, and how much it is worth!

It might be easier to remove the top rail of the fence in that section and pull the sign out as the chain link portion would then be able to be moved away from the sign thus taking pressure off of it. The fence ties that hold the top rail on are easy to remove and new ones are easy to put back on...................just a thought.

I recently sold one with a about 5-10 small chips on both sides for $350.00 If you don't want the sign I would pay the $150.00 and pay you $50 for doing the work! LOL

Every original sign, esp if cheap needs a home. Hope you have a hoist and a strong body/back....unless you get lucky and it's a loose tooth LOL! GOOD LUCK! Def worth rescuing!

Taking the fence apart is not going to happen. The owner has two large rottweiler dogs and they care alot more about their fence and dogs than they do about the sign. I think I will just have to take my time and cut the stump and work it out a little at a time. I have always wanted a 66 sign but the price has always sent me away. I just hate to spend the money and time and when it comes out its so wavy that its junk. I can't tell but I bet the top half of the sign is going to be shinny and the rest fadded bad.

I'll help you get it out Kev, I also tried to buy that sign for years back when the tree was living and there was no dog fence. The problem back then is that the owner said I could not harm the tree to remove it. I even went and talked to the Forrestry service about how to safely remove it without harming the tree. They said it would most likely kill it. Now there's no tree but the task still doesn't look any easier but not impossible. It will make a good story for oldgas for sure. LMK when you want to start on it.

Mike

I'm not seeing the "stuck" part of this.
is the "top" underneath the tree?
I see a piece of tree in the middle of the sign but thats about it. Seems like it would just come out with a little digging. Is it tight against the fence?

this story reminds me of a wolf's head motor oil flange sign i once ran across in a rural area. it had been nailed to a tree many years before & the tree had grown around it & swallowed it up. there was only about 2" of sign still visible on the outside of the tree...

The top part is under the tree and it is pretty deep under the tree. They tried to pull the sign out before the tree was and fence went up. Was the Wolf's head sign saved?

i would assume not. it was along the edge of a state road, so pretty sure was state property. i went back thru there later & never could find exactly where it was at. this was years ago before the great interest in gas & oil by most, so figure if the tree had been removed, the sign was lost.

I've been in a similar situation. After much work and stress, I found that the sign was really of little value because of condition. Seems like that is the case here? If this were my project, I'd thank the friendly folks and wave goodbye as I drove quickly away. Paul www.severngaspumps.com

Pick a day when the soil is moist, remove the dirt between the sign and the trunk (and only if needed in front of the sign where you can reach it) to see what you are really dealing with. The wood around the sign might be rotted, or it could have been just dry hard soil holding the sign in place. That might just do it.

If not, I would try first by putting a thick, heavy wool or quilted moving blanket on the stump next to the sign (to keep the sign from being scratched) and just try wiggling it side to side with one person on each end. Dont wiggle the sign from stump to fence as that will just bend it more, and it might break off. If you removed the sign, the only part that might be scratched by the side to side action would be against the wood where you can't protect it.

The next thing to try after diggin away the soil between trunk and sign is to get a crow bar or pry bar (use some kind of large flat steel plate to use for leverage and protection for the sign) against the sign, and try prying it towards the fence. You may want to first scrape out a gully in the trunk with a tree saw or a large drill bit to help jam the crow bar in there.

Or you can just use a drill with a large bit and/or zaw saw to just carve it out from the stump on the sign side. It looks like you have room to work.

I removed my mention of a stump grinder 'cause that would cost ya'!

Keep us posted...