Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums Showcase and Stories, Petroliana B/A collection

OK people, I hope you don't mind if I start to post some pics of my B/A collection for those of you, especially my friends south of the border and to the folks who have joined the site since I did Company of the month a nuber of years ago,who aren't familiar with this company. I'll just start by an overview of my stuff, and then I'll get a little more in detail as I go on. Anyone else has some cool B/A stuff feel free to show it off to. This is all packed into my basement sweet.



I hope you enjoy.
Ken.

It would be hard to keep your attention on the TV screen in the museum- nicely displayed..

Really nice...

Awesome collection & display....really like the En-Ar-Co kid!

Love it! I've never seen so many B/A items! Very nice.

Looks great ken! Love the b/a stuff.

Good evening folks, I'll close the night out with a few more pictures for your viewing pleasure.
Some Durafilm quarts.

And a few others.

And some outboard motor oil.


Enjoy and have a good nite.
Ken.

An awesome collection; that is very nicely displayed! Thanks for sharing it.

Good evening folks, howza bouta few signs?

A few more.

The last two.


I hope you folks are enjoying these pictures, I just wanted to do this because there hasn't been very many collections shown on here lately for various reasons, and I don't mind showing mine off especially to those of you who aren't as familiar to this brand.
Ken

Great collection Ken! Thanks for sharing.

Good evening folks, just got home from a car show and bar-b-que, so maybe a few pics of some more cans.

A few more and calling it a night.


And my B/A double bubble "dry charged batteries" clock.

Good night everyone.
Ken.

Hello all, another set of pictures, have a boo at 'em. The door push that has the nameplate offset is all original (thanks again Kim), and the one that is centered is an original nameplate on a push that I built myself.

The next set is an original paper towel/garbage container that I restored a coupla years ago, and a couple of examples of the paper towels that would go in them. Apparently the printed side is impregnated with soap to wash the window and the other side is blank to dry the window,I've never tried one to see though...



Have a good evening everyone.
Ken.

Nice restoration job!! j

Good evening everyone, tonite I am going to post some pictures for an oldgas member Ted Czerechowicz, Ted goes by the handle TC here on old gas.Ted has an awsome collection, especially of globes,Check them out!




Thanks Ted for sharing these pictures with us, check out how many different B/A globes he has.
Ken.

Another interesting can that I have is a Peerless cardboard composite can, this is the only one I have seen in my collecting days, there was a silver Heavy Duty composite can on ebay a number of years ago and haven't seen one since, I'm sure there are more out there.


Have a good evening.
Ken.

Hi, I'd like to thank KL Bird for posting some of my globes.Spent last night figuring how to post and today I tried it in the testing area and I'm surprised how easy it is and thats without using image shack. Thanks again Ken.

Good evening folks, been under the weather for a few days with a spring cold, they seem worse this time of the year than in winter time. Anyway with the bar-b-q season underway, I thought I would post a picture of B/A's offerings of everyones favorite form of summer cooking.


Next is a wall cabinet for wheel seals,pinion seals, etc.


And finally for tonite, a tank filter that I purchased from fellow oldgasser dodogas.

Well, I'm starting to turn into a pumpkin so goodnite to all.
Ken.

Good evening folks, to-nite I'm starting off with a coupla racks.First one is a two sided, 4 ounce can rack.





Next is a wire oil can rack, not sure if it was originally intended for this or not, but that's what I use it for. All these years of collecting and I haven't gotten a proper quart rack yet.

Next is a wire comic book rack I display my maps on.

And my toy tankers. First one is a Minnitoys tanker built in Canada, it's an original B/A tanker that I restored, and the second smaller one is a Marx tanker, the tanker is original and I bought the correct cab separately and restored it. I believe it was originally for a B/A tanker 'cuz when I sanded down the green paint, there was red underneath.



That will be all for to-nite folks, have a good nite.
Ken.

Good evening folks. Tonite I would like to show somemore cans if I may.
First row consists of four examples of 2 gallon oil cans, second row consists of various flat cans, aeresole cans and plastic squeeze bottles.



Third row consists of a 5 pound bow-tie gease can, a 10 pound pail, a quart of floor enamel paint, and a box for 4 ounce p.a.c. cans.Fourth row has five examples of cleaning solvent cans.



Fifth row houses various examples of one gallon cans. The Tire Eze-On can I practically had to pry out of Texacojoe's hands to get it from him,ha.

Next, I would like to show you two examples of farm grease tubes.



And finally tonite, two neat cans, a small insect spray can and a cone type gas line antifreeze can, check out the top on the antifreeze can, B/A does this to a few various cans on their lids, kinda cool.





Well, that's it for me tonite, everyone have a good evening.
Ken.

Great collection Ken. I've looked at the photo's numerous times and each time I notice more items that I missed previously.

Great looking collection sir ! Ed Shaver

Thanks guys, I have got more to show all of you, I just have been busy with car shows this weekend, I just got in from a car show at a park just outside of the city, and then a barbeque after, and then another barbeque with a show and shine after work tomorrow nite, so after that stuff is done I will have some more pics to show. Have a good nite everyone.
Ken.

Well, good evening everyone, 10:20 pm here and just got in and had a shower and came on here, I feel like I've been busier than a one armed paper hanger lately.Anyhoo, I'm gonna show you a few pics of my only pump I have left, Bennett 1066, I have it in the front waiting room at work, it's quite popular there, and quite a conversation piece with the customers. I restored this one in '05, and it's been in 2 car shows. Also included are a few pics of my air meter, as you look at it you probably are thinking somethings funny about it and you would be right, I made my own pedestal for it. Due to lack of funds, I had to make due with what I had, there was a pedestal for a paint shaker at work that was sitting around, it was kinda the right height, etc, so I modified, painted and mounted my meter on it and looks not too bad, hopefully some day I will get a proper pedestal for it, or get another complete meter.Enjoy.
Ken.

Hello folks, this time around I have some photos of a cardboard box that a battery would come in, two sides of a cardbaord box that would hold a case of quart oil cans, a travel cooler, and some various oil and grease pails, hope you enjoy.

Battery box.


Quart oil box

Cooler.



Two shots of different pails.





Have a good evening folks.
Ken.

Hello everyone. Tonite I will start off with a shadowbox of some patches, give a ways, oil change stickers and various smalls. Sorry for the glare and fuzziness in the pictures, I'm not much of a photographer and still playing with this camera.




Next two are of a restaurant place mat and some bulk reciepts




The last two are of dealer awards and two examples of some magazine ads.

I hope everyone is finding a bit of interest of this product and not getting too bored with it. Have a good evening.
Ken.

Ken you have an amazing collection, keep them pic's coming and thanks for sharing.

Since Ken had said he wanted to see photos of BA stuff from other collections, I thought I put would some of mine into the mix. The top two rows of the Pennzoil quarts in the Pennzoil rack have British American Oil Company Canadian Distributors printed on them. Cheers, Don.

Part two, sorry about the Pennzoil, it is fine on my computer and I don't own a cell phone to blame it on. Cheers, Don.
ps. Just thought to mention that Rega was bought out by BA in 1920 so fairly early tins.

Hi folks, hey Joe, thanks, but it aint nutt'n compared to your collection, I suppose this is the first real look you have gotten in the years we've known each other.
Don, thank you very much for posting your pictures, you have many items I could only hope to aquire, and hope I will someday,I really like the starting fluid can and the cone top liquid solder can and the informantion on the Rega items.
I'm gonna show some pics of my display case contents this time.

A few more...










Sorry for the poor picture quality compared to the other folk's pics, as I have said before, I'm not a photographer and still figuring out this camera.
Thanks again Don for your excellent pics, and if anyone else has some cool B/A stuff, feel free to post.
Ken.

Good evening folks, I only took a few pics tonite, the first one is an example of a B/A calender.


The second one is a neat fantasy picture of a gas station with the buildings, pumps vehicles, tanker, etc, I hope to someday get it into a much nicer frame.


And the third picture is kinda interesting. These cardboard "mini" signs I had bought a few years back at Red Deer swap meet from a former long time B/A employee Gord Grover, some of you Alberta collectors probably know of or heard of him.Anyway, these cardboard signs are 12 1/4 inches in dia., Gord told me these were handouts at a convention in the late '60's before the transition of color and style in '67. They were to show the employees the new colors, and the slogan or whatever you want to call it was "Red and green, never to be seen". From what I understand, some of you can correct me if I'm wrong, there was a transition of color to orange and blue with the previous font or style before completely changing over the more "swoopier" style.


On a side note, I had a visit from an Oldgas member Fred Mensink a.k.a. gasman84470, yesterday afternoon. Fred was in Saskatoon on business and had some time in the p.m. and asked me if we could meet up,so I asked him if he wouldn't mind coming by my work for a visit.We have a nice cafateria in the bodyshop I work at for the customers and employees of the dealer ship, so I took some time from work and we spent about 2 hours talking about gas and oil and getting to know each other, it was very enjoyable, only thing was I was sorry I couldn't get away and take him to my place to show him my collection in person, hopefully another time. It's pretty cool that one can meet someone with the same interests on a forum and end up meeting face to face, as I've done with a few of you folks that are closer. Hopefully someday I can meet some of the "farther way" folks.
Anyhoo, everyone have a good evening.
Ken.

Good evening folks, tonite I am going to try and post some pics of the magazine article that the local newspaper did of me a number of years ago. I'm sorry if it's hard for people to read as I don't have a scanner and I took pictures of the article, so lets give this a try...










I hope you can read it.
Ken.

Hi Folks, finally friday, it's about time... Tonite I have a few pictures of some lubrication chart books and a truck upkeep/log book, hope you enjoy.
Ken.

Awesome collection, Ken! Thank you for sharing. BA leased land from my grandfather here in Nebraska in early 1955, drilled and completed the well later that year. The well is still producing today. I have the porcelain lease sign in my collection and have always been interested in the company.
Thanks again!
Rod

Hey Rod, thank you, I remember when you posted a pic of that sign when I did c.o.t.m a number of years ago, very cool sign. I invite you, if you want too, to post a pic of that sign for everyone to see. I'm taking a bit of a break tonite and I will be posting a few more pics tomorrow nite of my collection. I had kept a copy of your pic, but it's on the old computer that the ex-wife has now...
Thanks again Rod, everyone have a good evening.
Ken.

Yes, Ken. I remember posting my lease sign and you saying you hadn't seen one like it from the states, so here it is again. In my grandmother's snapshots, I found a pic, which she wrote on the back that it was the first well drilled that turned into a producer. I believe this to be a British American derrick. Maybe Ken can verify this, although this isn't a great pic.
Thank you,
Rod van Pelt

Cool, thanks Rod for posting the pictures, they are awsome. While I can't positively verify that being a B/A derrick, I would think that it would be a strong possibility that it is, as B/A had a very strong presence in the United States. For more history, check out Alex Colwell's site www.britishamericanoil.ca.
As for tonite, I think this will be the last for my B/A collection, I bought an embossed B/A t.s.b. binder at an auction and loaded it up with pictures, invoices,booklets, magazines, flyers,etc,so I will finish off with a few examples of what is in the binder

Some more...















Well, I hope I didn't bore any of you with my "stuff", these pics are an example of most of my stuff, I do have more cans, pails, etc stored away, and there was more that I didn't take pics of, I do havea few other brands, I have a bit of Whiterose, and a few Goodyear items, and various quart and 1 gallon cans, along with some Coke items and toys, some original to me and my family and a few restored. So, that's it in a nutshell, I hope you enjoyed.
Ken.

Hi Ken figured it out. Here's a 100 year old BA can that i think no one has seen. Ted

Here is an early Ford Oil can made by B/A... There was a Chevrolet version as well..

Keith

Hey Guys, thanks for posting those pictures of the cans, they are way cool. Ted, is yours a metal quart can? Keith, I have seen a Chevrolet version as well. Thanks again for posting.
Ken.

Morning Ken, the can is 2 or maybe 3 quarts looks like a Heinz tomato juice can without the grooves and alot bigger. Mr. BA- Alex has the can and is looking it up in his archives. In my opinion its older than the vulcan cans, because of the refiners name on it. Very unusual lid that screws in with cork on the bottom.
Ted

I picked up, by sheer luck...
A B/A Peerless quart, with the blue and orange, cardboard,
I didn't know one existed.. Ill grab a photo..

Ted, that is an unusual size, and I agree that is pre-vulcan, keep us posted on what Alex finds out.
Robert, yes, please post a pic of that can if you can, I've never seen a cardboard blue/orange can myself.
Ken.

Hey everyone. I am just about to head out to a show and shine at one of the A&W's and I thought I would keep this thread alive a little longer and post some pics of the pumps I used to have, other than the Bennett 1056 I still currently have from my previous pictures, oh yeah, and the Wayne 100 I did for some friends in Grande Prairie,Alberta. Again I apologize for the poor pictures as they are pictures of pictures I printed of on plain paper.
Ken.

Simply an amazing collection you have Ken! I recently joined Old Gas and have loved going through this thread with all your amazing photos. My Dad worked for BA as an auditor from '56-'69 and then on with Gulf after the takeover. I recently finished up the restoration of my 1962 GMC truck as a British American Oil service station shop truck as a tribute to my Dad & BA. My slowly growing BA collection is nowhere near or ever will be of the caliber of you collection but I'm quite proud of my tribute truck! Hope you don't mind if I post a pic or two here which were taken in front of a restored circa 1955 BA station near me in Newtonville Ont.
Happy Thanksgiving to all Canadian Members!
Paul

Hi Paul, and welcome to Oldgas, sorry I missed your introduction. Thanks for your compliments, I have seen pics of your truck when I go on to google images, very, very cool, that would be a great addition to any B/A collection. Check out "Buys of the week" Aug. 11 to 17, there was an auction locally here and I bought a whack of cool items and posted them on here. I will have to update my pics again soon. Keep in touch Paul,
Ken.

wow.. you guys have some amazing stuff !

Thanks Robb, keep posted as I will post some updated pics of my collection here soon as I made a few nice purchases this past summer.
Ken.

Where is that station Murphy? Nice truck you have done there also. We were up north a couple of weeks ago and saw this old B/A station just north of Barrie on #11.

That one is still in nice shape! There are still a few original buildings still standing around here although most of them have been resided, etc so the don't resemble the original look. There is still one on the hiway west of Saskatoon about 35 miles in similar shape to the one above.
Ken.

The station which my truck is photographed in front of is in Newtonville Ontario on old HWY 2. It's East of Toronto close to Port Hope. Great place to visit & the owners Frank & Betty are the nicest people to meet.

I have seen that BA station on HWY 11 many times on the way up to the Cottage, it's run as a towing service now. I have a few other pics of old BA stations in Ontario which are still standing. Will post pics soon.
Paul

Here is a then & now pick of a BA station still in use today just off the QEW near Grimsby Ont. Also a now photo of an old BA still being used as a garage in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont. I pass this one fairly regularly also when I head down to Niagara to visit my parents.
Paul

Hi everyone, after this thread was brought back up I decided to post some more updated pics of my collection with my latest additions from this summer displayed. Please enjoy.

Some more.

Looks awesome!

More again.



















[img]http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/674/3W2BHr.jpg[/img]

[img]http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/908/8xBDqI.jpg[/img]

[img]http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/743/tDHvPu.jpg[/img]

Enjoy,
Ken.

Whoa, sorry about the fuzzy pictures, I should take a photography class maybe. I found a coupla more.













So, if you go back through the pics at the start of this thread, you will see some additions and changes.
Ken.

Great additions Ken! Love that Sentinel service sign & the Safety Shield service station.
Paul

Thanx for sharing Ken and all!
Since Ken said that he wanted to see others B/A, Here is the limited amount I have/had. I do wonder if there was a 6foot round B\A sign in the ring and pole I still have, before the Texaco sign was in there??
I do still have the barrel lubester and am thinking of having it powder coated in the same color and add a couple period correct B/A decals.
All came from the same station somewhere around Nelson BC.

Dave, that very well could be that it had the sign there at one time. That's funny you took a picture of your barrel as I have the same barrel, but I have no where to put it so I cut the top off about an inch or so down, cleaned up the edges a bit and sandblasted it and I'm actually going down to the shop tomorrow to paint it. I'm doing green with the embossed letters in white, and then I can hang it up, yours will look very cool all painted up with a bow-tie decal on it.
Ken

I just picked these signs up tonight after making the deal late last week. I had 2 signs like these before and sold them a few years back and I have been kicking myself ever since. These kinda fell into my lap so I jumped at the chance to get them as I felt my collection had a huge gap left in it when I sold the other ones and now these can take there place and fill that gap. Ken.

Great pair of signs Ken, glad the were saved & will be well preserved in your collection.
Paul

Love the leather B/A jacket. A piece you will never find in another collection. I hope you wear it to swap meets.

I picked up this double sided tin BA sign a couple of weeks back. It had a ton of surface rust on both sides. I had to spend a couple of hours with heavy duty compound to clean it up. It was a little tricky in just cleaning the white areas since the coloured parts are somewhat faded and I wanted to preserve what was there. I haven't seen this sign before but I presume it stands up on top of a rack. If anyone has any info on it I would appreciate hearing more. Cheers, Don.

Those are two nice signs Don, I would assume the same as you did, they would most likely be part of a battery & tire rack. Very cool find!
Paul

I posted in the wanted adds but thought it might get more looks here. Picked up a set and half of these cards and I'm looking for ones pictured so I can have front and back side by side under glass. Only the back side of the card needs to be in nice shape.

Try ebay: 371185613574 and bid through Oldgas. Cheers, Don

Don, that is a cool sign, I have never seen one either. I just picked up another B/A Dealer magazine, they have great pictures of items available from B/A and I can get a grasp on different items and signs etc and the years available.
Johnay, I remember as a kid I had a number of those cards, I have gone back to the farm numerous times to try and find even a few of them and can't find any of them. Ma must have cleaned up after me at one point and threw them away maybe, sniff.

Here is a 45 gal drum top I just finished this afternoon.



Ken

Great job on the lid Ken, looks terrific!
Paul

Don..thanks for the link.

Ken..thanks for looking.

Hello Fellow BA collectors, thought I'd post these rather special new additions to my collection, These 3 items mean so much more to me since they belong to my Dad. I was visiting my parents earlier this week and my Dad surprised me with a gift of these 3 BA & Gulf Magazines. One is a BA Dealer Magazine from November 1965, also a Gulf Commentator "The new sign in your future" from January 1969 with lots of cool photos from the BA years to the Gulf transition. Finally a Book from Gulf Canada Resources (which my Dad retired from many years ago) with more BA info & photos from 1906 through to the Gulf years up to 1999. Some cool items to read and look through over the upcoming winter months.

Paul

Hi Don,
Found some photos of old BA stations recently and after looking a few over more closely I think these two colour pics (same station from two angles) might show how your BA battery sign may have been used. Bit hard to read but pretty sure it reads BA "dry charged batteries" etc. The font on your sign appears to be bigger than the sign on the battery rack in this photo but I thought it might give you some idea of what type of rack(looks like it's on wheels) your sign might have been used on. Sorry the pics are rather fuzzy when resized. Hope this helps?

Paul

Very nice collection, how long did it take you ?

Thanks Allen, I've been collecting for 15 years now, mostly on a very limited budget. Still lots out there that I would like to get.
Ken.

Hey Paul, I saw the same pics and thought the same thing of Don's sign.
Ken.

Hey Ken, it looks like it would be a rather easy rack to make up too, bit of round tubing, some shelves & casters. Heading to an antique market near by on Sunday, meeting a vendor who has a few BA tins, some of them full. I'll post my purchases Sunday night.
Paul

Right on Paul, keep us posted.
Ken.

Will do Ken,
as a teaser here is one I just got this week. Looks like this station was in your Provincial neck of the woods!
Paul

OK Ken & fellow BA collectors,
As promised here are some pics of this mornings haul.
I did manage to do a bit of damage to the wallet but think I got some nice stuff here.
First is a group shot of the finds which includes a 25lbs cup grease bucket with wire/wood handle, a 5lbs. grease tin which still has the paper label & some grease in it, may have to use some of that on my '62 shop trucks suspension to make it more authentic Then we have a quart of Peerless oil. I was not going to buy this one originally as I have one in much better condition but I was struck & intrigued by the yellow & red paint showing under the BA paint. I know that BA was the Canadian distributor of Pennzoil products in Canada at one time but I never thought they would just use Pennzoil cans and paint them over in BA colours, at least that's what I'm guessing? Not sure if you can elaborate on this Ken? I have seen some Pennzoil tins with the wording that BA was the Canadian distributor at the bottom however. Then we have what I think are kind of special pieces, two oilers, one in BA colours & one (my fist one Ken!) in the Gulf transitional colour scheme. These are both full & unopened oilers, tops have not been cut! Finally we have something I have never seen before, perhaps you have Ken or even have one? This is what I will call a squirt bottle, not sure what would have been in it originally, washer fluid perhaps? but it dose look kind of cool! Again, Ken, I will differ to your expertise on this one. I also bought a couple of other items which I hope to get this week in the mail. I will post those items when they arrive. Hope you all have a great day!

Paul

Second installment of pics! Sorry, the caption is under the wrong photo, Not sure how to change that but you get the idea!

Close up of the Peerless tin with yellow & red showing, Pennzoil colours perhaps?

Third installment of pics.

Cool squirt bottle, contained washer fluid for attendants to use to clean your windshields perhaps?

One more, got this one recently. Now I have to find a poster like yours to go with it Ken.
Paul