Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums Showcase and Stories, Petroliana December. Found Along The Way!

Wow, a lot of tonnage at that auction!!
Very cool to see that Mobil shield with the side flanges in action. I've always wondered what those flanges were for.

Some Real SWeeT Looking Trucks there!!

Here are a couple of neat signs that I found along the road on the way to Columbia! The Ford neon was hanging on the front of a working ford dealership that was still working out of an older style building in a small town. Don't see many of those small town dealerships anymore!
The duck was on a big pole somewhere north of Kansas City and I had pulled in to fuel up. The sign is huge and it was so windy that day that the wings were spinning like mad! Really got your attention!

Sweet Ford sign!

The Olio Restaurant in St. Louis retains much of the look and feel of the Standard gas station that the building once was. Cool. 1634 Tower Grove, St. Louis, MO 63110

Image courtesy Oliostl.com

Kevin, I know where that Ford sign is and it still lights up at night. It's not for sale for any price and nothing is for sale next door either (I'm sure you saw the place). I call them once a month and the answer is always NO.

The Olio restaurant pictured above, before remodeling. Wow!

Image courtesy Google Maps Street View

Wonderful trucks! Love the mobil heat dodge.

About twenty miles away.

on my way back from Oregon in nor Ca. with a 59 chevy truck I bought

Cool station and that is not just a 59 Chevy truck, it is a Napco.

I seen that too Matt. Those are hard to come by but they are very sweet indeed!!!!!

For those wondering what a Napco truck is:

NAPCO (Northwestern Auto Parts Company) was founded in 1918 and based in Minneapolis. As early as 1942 NAPCO began building four-wheel drive assemblies to be fitted to Ford, GMC, Chevrolet and Studebaker vehicles however NAPCO is primarily associated with GMC and Chevrolet pickups.

From 1942 to 1956 4×4 GMC and Chevrolet trucks could be ordered by the government (US Army) and civilians with a NAPCO Power-Pak kit and the kit could be installed later. The retail price of Napco Power-Pak was $995. This option raised the price on a new two-wheel drive truck from $1,548.96 to $2,796.96. The kit was shipped in a crate measuring 80"x30"x26" weighing 1,410 pounds. In a matter of 3 hours with as little as 4 holes drilled in existing chassis a truck would be converted into a "Mountain Goat", a "full sized truck that will climb steep inclines with ease". One feature was the "shift on the fly" rubber mounted transfer case with a dual-range option. There were companies that installed these upgrades for the previously mentioned manufacturers.

From 1956 to 1959 the NAPCO Power-Pak option could be ordered directly from GM (an official RPO 690 was assigned in 1957) and factory installed on trucks with very few modifications to the original chassis. The 1955 4×4 NAPCO GMC or Chevrolet was a $1250.00 to $1550.00 optional add on. The 1957 Chevrolet and GMC 3100 4×4 price was a bargain at $2549.00 compared to the earlier add on kits. In 1960 NAPCO and GM parted ways when GM redesigned the front suspension on their 1960 pickup line so that it wasn't easily compatible with the existing Power-Pak kits.

Nice truck!

This one's still sitting there on the scab rock with the 442 about 50' away.
"Marmon Herrington" did the same kind of thing for mostly Fords I believe.