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50 years ago today was my first day at texaco -

over the years less hair & more weight (how does that work)

always liked advertising but employment got me

started seriously collecting oil company memorabilia

what got you started ? - your 2¢ .. ... cool

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Great topic Randy. I always had a fascination with gas stations as a kid. Some gas station or other always seemed to have a contest, or give-a-way promotion going on and if I could get my parents to stop I would chase the current game piece or prize. Fast forward to 2002, a couple of months after my Grandmother had passed away, I was in an antique mall and saw a set of gas pump salt and pepper shakers. My Grandmother had given me a set of shakers as a child and seeing that set in the antique mall lit a spark. I've been collecting salt and peppers ever since. I started collecting the banks once I discovered they existed a few years later.
Posted By: Tankar Re: anniversary /what got you started at this hobby ? - Mon Feb 01 2021 08:04 PM
Been collecting since I was 8 always liked junk. Age 21 I started advertising and it went from there. Glad I started 40 plus years ago or I wouldn't have much today.
I bought my first pump from a local online ad in February of 2018 a Gilbarco 966. I always had an interest in classic cars but I had never paid much attention to gas pumps, signs, or tins. Once I got my hands on that first pump I was hooked. I’ve found myself at auctions bidding on what I used to think looked like a pile of scrap to driving countless hours to pick up a unrestored pump. Restoring gas pumps has also opened doors to seeing some amazing collections and inspired me to start my own small collection. Sometimes I feel like I’m late to the game but everyone has to start somewhere!
Posted By: RandyM Re: anniversary /what got you started at this hobby ? - Tue Feb 02 2021 01:19 PM
It all started with the building of my shop. It is a 50 x 104 pole building to support my automotive hobby. My stepdad mentioned it would be neat to have an old gas pump outside. We actually had the pump before the building was completed. It is a Wayne 70. The building went up in 1992 along with the electrical and the cement pad. I did not get the pump restored until 95, that is when I realized that all this gas station stuff was really COOL. I have been adding pump, signs, and globes ever since. The pump is wired with an electric photo eye and is lit every night from dusk to dawn. I restored it in Mobilgas as that was what it was tagged when I bought it.

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I have been a collector of many different things since I was a kid, starting with coins and stamps when I was around 8 years old. I then branched into autographs and records, music memorabilia and Coca Cola items as I got into my high school years. I've always had an appreciation for the past, and an strong interest in local and national history. So as I got older and had the money to spend on bigger things, I branched into other collecting areas, including advertising. I bought my first Mobil can at a flea market as something cool to put on the shelf. I then bought other oil company oil cans but the bug didn't bite right away........I'm still not sure what officially started the craziness in my mid-20's, but I had always liked the "Flying Red Horse" logo and started to gravitate towards Mobil items. I got my first "big item", a beautiful 6' Red Crown thermometer in 2006 or so and collecting went full on at that point. I was lucky to get in on prices just before they started to go north, and I was able to build a decent Petroliana collection on a poor man's budget, lol. While I still love this stuff, space constraints have lessened by buying, as well as the higher prices of today, but I'll always collect it and add to the collection as I can.
Darin
Randy, the grounds and shop look great, infact outstanding. I am a person who likes well maintained lawns and shrubs.
Posted By: hawkike Re: anniversary /what got you started at this hobby ? - Tue Feb 02 2021 06:41 PM
Hired in at Shell in 1967,started collecting in 1972. Wonder how many members worked for oil companys? Service stations /jobbers.

Signal Hill is where oil was discovered in Long beach Ca.

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Originally Posted by hawkike
Signal Hill is where oil was discovered in Long beach Ca.

Shell Oil Company discovered oil on SIgnal Hill in 1921, last picture is "first well of many" on SIgnal Hill .. ... cool

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Posted By: hawkike Re: anniversary /what got you started at this hobby ? - Tue Feb 02 2021 08:36 PM
Great picture,thanks Randy!
For me, its always been something I have been interested in. When we would go visit my grandmother in rural Ontario, we would always got across the highway to my great aunts gas station. She never married or had kids, so threw everything into that station. But she loved having us (me and my brother) around to visit on Friday or Saturday nights. She definitely spoiled us with the run of the place! She had a wall of old pictures from over the years of the station and plaques Shell gave out for every anniversary. The last one she hung up was 60 years! Loved the wall and enjoyed scoping out the pictures of what the station used to look like in the 50s and 60s.
She also had an old pump that was one of the originals, behind a shed at her house which was beside my grandparents. We used to love playing around and with it as kids including "filling up" an old junker moped my grandfather bought at an auction and stored behind his shed (never did get it going). Little did I know I would get that pump after she passed away. I had always had interest and collected a bit of signage, but getting that pump opened the floodgates of interest.
Posted By: aviojnd Re: anniversary /what got you started at this hobby ? - Wed Feb 24 2021 07:54 PM
I worked in a garage that had two texaco pumps in 1960 then started hauling petroleum in 1965 drove for mobil for 17 years then when mobil left the midwest we kept the cusumers and bought our own transports I retired in 1999. in the early 70s I went to car shows and swap meets an d saw people selling globes and signs having acess to a lot of bulk plants I would come home about every day with good stuff I wish I still had it all tom oxtoby
Posted By: JackJ Re: anniversary /what got you started at this hobby ? - Wed Feb 24 2021 11:49 PM
I've collected something pretty much all my life, although petroliana is new for me. Nostalgia has been the main motivator for my collecting, and the old gas pumps bring back many memories of family trips with late night fill-ups at stations from California to Kansas where relatives lived. One strong memory related to gas stations is peddling my bike up to the local Union Oil 76 station in the San Fernando Valley near Los Angeles. Us kids were deep into collecting baseball cards, and the L.A. Dodgers were as familiar to me as my brother and sister. In 1960 and '61 the 76 Station was giving out the "Meet The Dodger Family" booklets with a new one every week. I can visualize the rack on the island between the pumps filled the familiar faces of Sandy Kofax, Don Drysdale and Duke Snider. The owner knew us and didn't mind if we "filled out the collection" with multiple books. Now that I have my first gas pump, I think I may have the bug. I sure wish I had a photo of the rack that held those booklets ... or maybe even one of the actual racks. - Jack J.
Thanks Randy for this thread. My uncle had an Esso station in Roxton, Texas and we would visit all the time when we were kids. As an adult always wanted to refinish one of the old gas pumps and found one in Sulphur Springs, Texas. I needed a sign to hang on the wall as well and the rest is history. I posted picks of uncle’s station and before/after of the old pump.

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I have been a car guy all my life and still have the 66 Mustang I bought in 1974. As a regular to Hershey since 1973 I started to notice restored gas pumps and thought it would be great to have one to go with my cars. In 1994 a friend of mine gave me a tall Tokheim 39 that he wanted off his property. That started the petroleum habit and since then I have owned more that 200 pumps, have more than 450 full metal quarts of oil as well some signs and globes in my collection and am truly hooked on this great hobby.
I found a five quart Gulflube can at an antique shop back in 1999. I bought it, it brought back great memories of our friend that owned a Gulf station where I bought tube repair kits for my bicycle in the 60's and many bottles of "pop"(what we called a soft drink) and many a candy bar. I had a wind breaker in junior high covered with patches, and my favorite were the two GULF patches he gave me. I then got my first pump, a five ft chrome top GOC pump. I was hooked after that. I've only owned about 35 or 40 pumps or so, my garage can only hold about a dozen without being over crowded. I've certainly enjoyed this hobby!

I also bought a 66 Mustang convertible back in 1974, wish I still had it!
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