|
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 620 Likes: 34
Petro Enthusiast
|
Petro Enthusiast
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 620 Likes: 34 |
Well said guys! Its always taken a lot of effort to get the scores. Everytime we go out now and spend a grand on a week long pickin trip we are lucky to break even so to speak as things do get gobbled up with all the people who have discovered that its worth x amount or want something to go in the garage with the hot rod etc. Also as Kim mentioned the kids see it on the wall and instantly look it up on their phone for value and want it to sell after gramps passes!. I took a trip 2 winters ago to Phoenix to pick up a truck and picked my way home to Montana. Took me through 7 states and 2800 miles, & 2 weeks, countless leads and classifieds and intuitive stops but yes, i did get a whole truckload of "stuff" 2 visibles and 20 or so signs. After expenses did i make any money? probably, but the point is ive also had the same amount of effort expended and came home with nothing to show and that balances it all out. (last year same darn trip) If your looking for a grand slam every time out wether its today or 20 years ago your dreaming. It DOES take work to make your own luck and the harder you work the luckier you get! and the fun is in the hunt! Go out and enjoy the hunt even if you dont fill your tag so to speak....& yes we are just braggin about all the fun stuff, the bad ones we want to forget! Lol....... Les
Last edited by gasgeezer; Sun Apr 26 2020 12:27 AM.
|
|
|
Please - NO offers to Buy or Sell in this forum category
Statements such as, "I'm thinking about selling this." are considered an offer to sell.
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2015
Posts: 631 Likes: 157
Petro Enthusiast
|
Petro Enthusiast
Joined: Aug 2015
Posts: 631 Likes: 157 |
The people out on the farms and small towns here in Utah , Idaho , Wyoming are for the most part the friendliest people in the country. This couldn’t be truer. I went to school in southeastern Idaho which is where I met Peter (remember that 7’ Sinclair sign Peter??). I would stop off to ask about a pump or sign out on a farm and more often than not find myself invited inside with a glass of lemonade in my hand before anyone asked what in the heck I was doing there! I just saw this thread! Thanks Kim and Peter for keeping it going. Peter, I can’t do as a good a job as you in relating stories with pictures because I’ve always been awful about chronicling my adventures. But I’ll do a couple. Here’s one... A few years back I was out shopping for a four wheeler for my wife. I found myself in a little independent shop in Portland. As I’m checking out their inventory I look in to the service area and there stuffed in the corner is 1/2 of a Wayne double showcase. Couldn’t believe it. I got the initial “not for sale” but, undeterred, I worked with the guy over the next few months. Turns out all he really wanted was a cool pump to look at so I found him a nice replacement and hauled the showcase home. Story goes that the original pump was split in half and book-ended the spiral driveway in an old auto dealership in Portland. Pump was sold to a collector in Indiana who happened to have another 1/2 to the same pump! It was sold again to its current owner who put it all back together and restored it. If Eric wants to share a picture of the restored pump that would be great. Here it is as I found it: Jeff I am glad your joining in on this , your still a young guy who has been doing this for a long time and been very successful at it . I have bought a lot of great things from Jeff over the years and he is always fair and honest . And yes I will always remember the Sinclair sign and all the trouble we had trying to get it down as well as that Wayne 60.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2015
Posts: 631 Likes: 157
Petro Enthusiast
|
Petro Enthusiast
Joined: Aug 2015
Posts: 631 Likes: 157 |
Well said guys! Its always taken a lot of effort to get the scores. Everytime we go out now and spend a grand on a week long pickin trip we are lucky to break even so to speak as things do get gobbled up with all the people who have discovered that its worth x amount or want something to go in the garage with the hot rod etc. Also as Kim mentioned the kids see it on the wall and instantly look it up on their phone for value and want it to sell after gramps passes!. I took a trip 2 winters ago to Phoenix to pick up a truck and picked my way home to Montana. Took me through 7 states and 2800 miles, & 2 weeks, countless leads and classifieds and intuitive stops but yes, i did get a whole truckload of "stuff" 2 visibles and 20 or so signs. After expenses did i make any money? probably, but the point is ive also had the same amount of effort expended and came home with nothing to show and that balances it all out. (last year same darn trip) If your looking for a grand slam every time out wether its today or 20 years ago your dreaming. It DOES take work to make your own luck and the harder you work the luckier you get! and the fun is in the hunt! Go out and enjoy the hunt even if you dont fill your tag so to speak....& yes we are just braggin about all the fun stuff, the bad ones we want to forget! Lol....... Les Ha Ha Les so true . Its no fun to Brag about our failures .
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 1,331 Likes: 106
Veteran Member
|
Veteran Member
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 1,331 Likes: 106 |
Great comments from Les, Peter, and KIm. The hunt is so much fun. I have made friends through hunting and junking that have remained friends my entire life. And I have learned invaluable American history from old timers! Some of the good ones have passed away, but it is a lot of fun even if you don't find anything or get "skunked" which has happened. LOL
Here is another spin to talk about that is kinda funny. 25 years ago I stopped at the Texaco Bulk plant in Taos NM. I walk in the office, introduced myself and ask if he had any old signs. He said yeah, there is a pile of old pole signs out here. He shows me, he says they are $100 each. He said great, take as many as you want. There was probably 5 or 6 piled on each other where he had mowed around them for years. I was able to get to about 3 and unbolt them from the "useless" sign pole (LOL) because they were too heavy to move. I leave the rest. I go back about 10 years later for the poles/signs and walk in to the same small little office. I asked if he remembered me and he says, "Yes, I do. You are the guy who screwed me out of the old pole signs. I was in Pheonix last year and I saw one of these signs for sale for $700 or something." I said " Sir, I bought your signs over 10-12 years ago and I am sorry you feel that way. They have gone up in value since then but I paid you what you wanted and those big signs weren't that valuable back then". Needless to say, the party was over. Unfortunately, this did happen a few times over the years, but all in all I have had tons of fun and could write a book on all the different personalities I met and became friends with. I look at some of my junk and think of the old man, who I was with, or family from who I bought the item. Have fun at it and enjoy the friends, people, history, and stories!! It's a great hobby!!!
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 5,985 Likes: 24
Veteran Member
|
Veteran Member
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 5,985 Likes: 24 |
Was that half of the Francis Ford twin Wayne showcase, or is that one still in Oregon?
Craig
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 1,703 Likes: 19
Veteran Member
|
Veteran Member
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 1,703 Likes: 19 |
Yes Craig, half of the Francis Ford twin.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 1,703 Likes: 19
Veteran Member
|
Veteran Member
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 1,703 Likes: 19 |
Alright, one more...
Christmas Day, 1994, I was 14 years old. After opening presents I talked my dad in to going out looking for pumps. We ended up in the hills above Hillsboro, Oregon. I spotted a pump I had never seen before next to an old shed that was falling down. It was so odd compared to what I had seen over the previous year of collecting. Round clockface, tapered skins, and a “house” on top of the head. I had no idea what it was but I knew I wanted it. We pulled in and spoke to the grandson of the owner. He gave us the old “it’s not for sale and never will be”. But he was a very nice guy and we talked for a while. He told us that if anything on the farm were ever to be for sale, it would be up to the oldest son who lived down the road in a mobile home. We decided we were there already, might as well go talk to the son. We found him, told him we were interested in the pump, and we couldn’t get another word out before he asked, “well what’s it worth?”. I told him I honestly didn’t know...I had no idea what model pump it was...but to me, it was worth $500. Keep in mind I’m a 14 year old kid...that was literally all I had to my name after a year of slinging pumps. The guy couldn’t tell us “yes” fast enough. We had to go back home for the pickup and by the time we get back it was disconnected from the tank and the guy was leaning it in to the truck as we backed up!
I got the pump home and called Mike Slama (who was always gracious enough to put up with my ignorant questions) and tried to describe the pump. “Boy, that sure sounds like a Wayne 800” he says. Long story short, that was the first of years and years of rare pumps but one I’ll always remember fondly. I sold it and restored it for a customer a year later...here it is restored. To this day it’s still the only 800 I’ve seen with original brass nozzle hangers that contoured the head.
Last edited by petropumps; Sun Apr 26 2020 08:47 PM.
|
3 members like this:
Wasatch Man, henlovestoys, J, Micieli |
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 1,331 Likes: 106
Veteran Member
|
Veteran Member
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 1,331 Likes: 106 |
Boy, that is a beauty!!! Great find!
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2017
Posts: 488 Likes: 13
Petro Enthusiast
|
Petro Enthusiast
Joined: May 2017
Posts: 488 Likes: 13 |
When I was in 6th grade I came home from school and found this laying on my bed. My Dad found it earlier that day leaning up against a fence at the local metal scrap yard. He was out hunting locally. He paid 50 cents for it, the scrap metal price. Lol. I had often thought of selling it, but my Dad was so excited when he surprised me with it I will never forget the look in his eyes.
Last edited by aajf; Sun Apr 26 2020 11:23 PM.
|
3 members like this:
Wasatch Man, henlovestoys, RedHat |
|
|
|
Joined: May 2016
Posts: 584 Likes: 35
Petro Enthusiast
|
Petro Enthusiast
Joined: May 2016
Posts: 584 Likes: 35 |
This has turned into a really interesting thread guys. Keep it up!
Brian H
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 1,174 Likes: 46
Veteran Member
|
Veteran Member
Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 1,174 Likes: 46 |
Keep it or pass it on to a relative who will enjoy it as much as your dad did !
Wanted TEXACO related items & SUNOCO related items .Signs -Globes et'c. Oil Cans - Grease cans .
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2017
Posts: 488 Likes: 13
Petro Enthusiast
|
Petro Enthusiast
Joined: May 2017
Posts: 488 Likes: 13 |
So true. I like it and how happy it made him to surprise me with it. When he gave it to me I was 12 years old. I started collecting gas and oil signs when I was 8 yrs old. I am an old soul. I knew Gilmore was rare and big money and surprised at 12 to have a Gilmore sign=)
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2015
Posts: 631 Likes: 157
Petro Enthusiast
|
Petro Enthusiast
Joined: Aug 2015
Posts: 631 Likes: 157 |
Here are three oil can racks that came out of an old station in Richfield Utah .This was a big building and there was a false ceiling above the office at the front, and a stairway that led up to it and these were stuffed up there , fairly typical in these old gas stations and always a great place to look for things . Before and after cleaning pictures . Lets see some more pictures and hear some more story's so we can keep this going . Have a good weekend .
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2013
Posts: 2,016 Likes: 61
Veteran Member
|
Veteran Member
Joined: Jan 2013
Posts: 2,016 Likes: 61 |
Now that is one great before and after picture. That pops just like its brand new Peter
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2015
Posts: 631 Likes: 157
Petro Enthusiast
|
Petro Enthusiast
Joined: Aug 2015
Posts: 631 Likes: 157 |
Thanks Fred , they cleaned up really good the only bummer was at some time some knuckle head cut the right side off the little awning on the Whiz cabinet.
|
|
|
|
|