I think this was a Montana, Wyoming trip that Les Towner from Hamilton Mt.and I took (one of many).
Just a picture of some old pictures.

Another trip with Les...

I think this trip was late 80's but only got a picture of stuff unloaded. Damn I never thought back then of taking
pictures of the places I found the stuff.

I will post some pump pictures a bit later in another thread. I wasn't a big pump guy back in the day as had no where to store them, but did buy a few
and some that I couldn't buy and some that I should have bought but wasn't pump savy enough back then.

I will save you all from more long winded stories. lol

some of those would fall under BOTY - "buys of the year"

appears too have been a good trip .. ...

Great stories, indeed! However, pictures do not do it justice ...

I happened to view your collection (youtube clip).

What an amazing collection you have put together. Great taste on your part!

Always enjoy seeing these, looks like a good time!

Holy smokes some goodies there!
Thanks for posting.

I've been lucky to hall back a few great loads , not as many as Kim but Here's one that I did take some pictures of .

Wow! Killer haul indeed.

Did you finish restoring the Wayne Roman?

We completely disassembled the 2 Wayne 492s replaced any broken or striped bolts with original Brass fasteners . Made everything work such as pump and valves cleaned them and left them in there original condition.

Back to road trips . I found a few pictures . Great memories and story's . Thanks Kim for starting this . We all need to think about happier times .

Thanks for posting this Kim and Peter. Excellent stuff, some creme de la creme. Love the Utah finds.

Thanks for sharing your stories you guys! I really enjoy stories about the good ole days.

Awesome stuff guys!!

Great finds, thanks for sharing and posting pictures.

What a lot of great stuff guys, love those Frontier globes. And Peter is right, we need to think about happier times right now.

What are those globe lenses in the Grass in the very first picture?

Here's a load of Ford stuff I got up in northern Idaho years ago .

My favorite picture and story. My son, the farmer, his dog, and the pump. We went on a trip to Idaho to pickup some stuff with my old Mazda B2000 pickup with no radio. Picked up stuff over there and on the way back had spoken to a man about a Wayne three light pump. He wanted way too much but I wanted to take a picture anyway. My truck was already almost on the rubber bumper on the axle and when I pulled up told my son we were going home with that pump. Mind you it was still hooked up and we had to spend 2 1/2 hrs watching the dog do tricks including walking up a ladder. Finally went into the house where the farmer asked his wife if he could sell the pump. IMMORTAL words from here, Honey it's your gas pump. When he said ok, the money I swear jumped out of my pocket. Unloaded the whole truck and had to lay the pump down and then stack the other pumps and stuff ontop. Now we were really rubber bumpers all the way back to Portland and the truck would not go over 50 with that little four cylinder motor. He told me that he gave the globe to one of his cousins, it was a Rainbow. My son will be 40 later this year.

Awesome story Craig, glad you got it.

Steve they were 15 inch husky lenses

Kim. Ha ha, oh is that all - Husky lenses. Lol. Great stuff. And nice Powerlube rocker to boot.

And Craig great story and pump.

OK, Here is some pic's of Jeff's gas bash the first one that my son and I went to in Seattle's General Petroleum Museum. The place was great and My son had a great time with his dog. Jeff's wife was a great cook.

Great stories and treasure's . I got this Frontier sign up in Border Wyoming years ago with my friends Jim Oswald and Kent Swensen . Had to hire a front end loader with forks to get it down . We got it all the way back safely and set it in my back yard with a crain . Lucky to get it both front and back signs are pristine.

Got this 492 out of Boulder Utah about 13 years ago . However it seems like it was yesterday .

Yes great stories and nice stuff. "Modern" day picking as opposed to this historical stuff from back in the day, goes some thing like this; pick up cell phone, dial number for buddy. Talking to buddy "hey do you have a such and such? Uh huh. Well how about a whatchamacall it?" Ok, so what do you have? How much? Ok, do you do pay pal? Uh huh, yes I know cash is king but I dont like carrying 20K in small bills across the country, it makes me feel like a drug dealer. Oh, alright then, so is that in 10s or 50s?"
Nothing romantic in that. No camaraderie, no thrill of the chase, no stories of hair raising drives. It's almost too sterile now. So keep the stories coming it's going to be long 2 weeks till the end of May!
Thanks guys.

Very well said . And so true

This neon came out of a small town by Spokane Wa...I used to go to the swap meet there every year and would go a couple days early trying to
fill the truck before the swap meet in case there was nothing to buy there.
Went into an old building that looked to be a dealership at one time. Asked if there might be any old signs for sale. Follow me, down the street
to an old shed, with no windows left, pigeon ***** everywhere, there on the dirt floor was this Ford neon. NOT for sale as he was going to put it
up on the building with his old cars. OK then...I would come back and visit every year before the swap meet. Five years later.
Hell, I'm never going to put it up, Talked with the wife and we will sell it to you. Rest is history. Loaded it in the truck, pigeon ***** and all.
Plugged it in, all original neon, works like a charm, mint condition as he had plexiglass all around it cause the darn kids might throw rocks at it
back in the day when it was up at his dealership.

Lets hear a couple Clifton, I know you will have stories to tell!!!

Easily my favorite thread! This stuff and stories are awesome.

Not nearly as good as most of these posts nice stuff and awesome finds. I have a few pics. Mostly I find things in antique stores and meet people that way and get leads and phone numbers. Have also met people on this site.
My first pump Hudson, Wy
McCord muffler Bonners fairy, ID
Lee tires with order card Tea, SD

Some more wish I had taken more pictures the day of since I travel so much. The Phillips was in storage unit in South Dakota. The neon 66 I bought on Facebook drove to Wisconsin to pick up. 42 hrs in 2.5 days. The American was my very first sign. Found it a couple of weeks after I moved to Utah.

Ok Kim, I am going to give this story a shot. It is hard for me to compare my stories to yours. You are a great original picker. Anyway, my wife I was driving down the interstate or some huge highway going around NYC pulling my junky trailer. I was constantly about to have a wreck or run off the road looking for leads. LOL. Anyway this dealership was visible from the elevated major highway and I saw these signs. It was an operating dealership in White Plains, NY. So I jump off at the next exit and wound around trying to navigate back where I was to find the dealership from "ground" level. I find the dealership and walk in asking to speak to the owner. Guy says "who are you". I said I want to talk to him about the signs which he did. Great old man. He asked which ones and I said all of them. He said that he would sell me the big letters because GMC no longer made coaches. I paid him that day and grabbed a couple of socket wrenches, grabbed a ladder from his service mgr, got on the roof and had no idea how "BIG" they were or how I would get them down. My wife and I lowered them down with a rope using the frame as leverage because of the weight (picture below). I asked about the others and He said the GM might be making him replace them in the next few years, but to stay in touch; and that he would call me if anything happened. I was thinking to myself "good luck". One thing about junking in New England is business owners are rich guys and a few thousand dollars doesn't do much sometimes. So I kept in touch with him for several years and one day the phone rang. Yep, he said "do you still want these old signs". I said "yes sir, when do you need me there". He said his sign guy would take them down and put them on my truck. 2 months later in the spring I was there with his sign guy who took all the signs down on the ground. I had to load them with my wife because the union workers would not help. Anyway, this was a great ending and I never got the window neons because I could not make the timing work and the owner was finished. The dealership is no longer there and the property was redeveloped. I had to strip the ugly maroon layers of paint off each letter; all the cans were rusted out, and I hand made the new metal cans for each letter in my garage, mounted the neon and restored them all. I think the "M" on GMC was 12 ft. wide. I have a couple of more stories worth sharing, but no pictures except maybe here in my house. There were not really any picture phones back then and I didn't take pictures when I found something. Enjoy!

Wow talk about ambitious. You've got some cujones, hopping on a high roof and lowering a sign including its 12 ft wide letter. And the best part your wife helped...willingly.! Amazing. Great signs.

I had to work on this guy for a couple of years to finally get all these Union signs . He is a great guy and we became friends .

I found this in Biggs Ca.about 30 years ago,it was on the side of a rice granary or elevator,actually 1/2 of a sign.It was fastened with spikes,tough time getting them out on an extension ladder.

36"

You guys might get sick of me but here's some more pictures . I got these 4 Texaco poles with two of them having the signs in them out on a farm in Wellington Utah . I also got some other things and I almost didn't take these ,at that time they really weren't worth much then and they are such a pain to move around ..

I have to say that I am enjoying this thread a great deal. Thanks to everyone for sharing their trips down memory lane with the rest of us.

Regarding the “Theatre” seats , Kim …

I met a San Franciscan collector via “Craigslist” that has a lot of San Francisco related stuff. He knew a collector that was able to pick stuff from the FOX THEATRE demolition in San Francisco back in early 60s.

What a shame City of San Francisco got rid of a piece of history.

At any rate, Jim was able to get a seat from the fella but the seat got damaged while stored in storage (mice go to it & damaged the fabric). Jim saved the ends.

On my visit to his house to get an oil painting, I saw the seat ends & asked about them Jim told me all the story about the theatre (he used to go there with his parents for shows)

Jim offered to sell them to me. I could not refuse. All original paint …

I do not have any hunting stories because I am more a shopper than hunter. I have got some stuff on leads but do not count them because I did not find them. Here is the haul from one of the leads.

A friend of mine got a find on his property. He was working in an area where there was an abandoned well and found a Flying A sign covering the opening.

Funny how the big old signs and poles were so worthless not that long ago Peter! I walked away from 4 near mint complete Texacos also about 25 yrs ago myself! all stacked up real nice and he told me to take the pile for $700. I considered it but he was about 200 miles from home and no way i was going to drag a trailer back and get them! Needless to say a few years later they were gone! Lol

This is a great thread. Really enjoying the pictures and stories. Keep em coming!

Ok here is another road trip to Price Utah area . I had no clue what the sign was under the paint and the owner didn't know either . I made a deal to buy it went and rented some scaffold and managed to get it down , he wanted me to take the pole to but to my regret now I said no thanks . I new it wasn't a Utoco or American because the size was different and there was a few places where you could see green porcelain . Anyways got it home and there you have it . That guy holding up the sign is a much younger version of Me .

These pumps came from south eastern Utah as well . Note the Fry on the left with the external pump . If I remember right I sold it to Dennis Meier a very long time ago . That's one I wish I had back but he's a great guy so oh well .

Amazing!!

That Falcon is killer!

BrianH

I didn't take a lot of photos for years but did keep this one photo. A guy called me and offered me these signs for 35k delivered. Probably 20 years go. I said I'd take them. A couple of hours later he asked me if I'd sell them. I said I'd take 45k for them. He said done deal and sent me 10k. Like to have them now!!

Pretty nice group of signs Butch!!! Les, I used to sit there sweating my butt off taking those big signs out of the poles and would leave the signs stacked on the bottom because I couldn't get the heavy poles moved off the top. LOL... I went back to see if the poles where still there and everyone had scrapped them all or they were gone. Crazy how the value on this junk has changed over the years

One year before my trip to Iowa Gas I decided to put an ad in a few Kansas town newspapers, never been to Kansas and figured maybe I could
find some goodies down there, seeing I was close in Iowa anyway. I got a few calls and continued to Kansa after Iowa Gas. I picked up some
ripple globes, Kanotex, etc. Then an interesting stop with a lady that had some Little Bear globes. She told me the story about how they started,
I think had a couple stations, and then showed me the prototypes I guess you might say, of what they wanted for globe lenses.
I never did buy them, didn't think at that time the value was there but I did get a couple sets of the Little Bear lenses we know today. I think
each brother and sister got a set of lenses and she called me a year or so later to see if I wanted another set but passed.

That is funny Kim. You are the 3rd person I know that has that same story.

A couple of trips to southern Idaho . Not big halls but some good things . Mint Veltex signs and a Wayne 60 with the Utoco Globe still on it . by the way those pole signs we have been talking about I also only took them because the guy had an excavator to load them on my trailer . I put them in a storage shed and it took me a couple of years to get rid of them and got very little money when I finally did sell them .

There likely was guys there after me Clifton as there
Was some Bear lenses left. I couldn’t afford them all at that time. Not sure if anyone ever did buy those ones in the picture

That is funny Kim. I would never tell? LOL

I'll tell another story. In about 2003 I was in New England junking, but first went to spring Carlisle. I was at the show talking to Chuck Pergl about his old picking days and he told me of a story where he and his brother found a guy who had a 1 pc. molded Texaco Firehat globe. Long story short is that he never bought it because the condition was a little weak and the price was high. I enjoyed the stories, didn't find much and left the show. About a week or two later I was driving up Hwy 23 of Hwy 287 in northern NJ. My wife and I were winding through the little towns and went a stretch with no town. I saw a little sign to turn off Hwy 23 and a town was 1 mile down. So I said what the heck, let's see if there is any town to speak of. I turn and go in to what was really not a town, but as I got there, there was a 50's Texaco station converted it to a auto body shop. Big banjo sign out front. I stop and the guy is under a car working. I almost left before he rolled out because there was nothing inside, gutted. He rolls out from under the car and I say I am collecting old gas signs. He says to me, I have the rarest gas globe known to exist. I said, trying to keep a straight face, "what would that be"? He said " A Texaco Firehat globe". I'll show it to you after I get off work at 5:00. It's at my house about 1 hr away. I go to the car and tell my wife, "this guy says he has an old texaco firehat globe". It's 4:00 now and we really can't make it anywhere else before the businesses close. Might as well go see the $50 repop globe with a firehat on it. We drive to his house, he says, "Let me grab it and I'll be right out" as we stand in the living room. He brings out a 1 pc molded milkglass Firehat globe. I about s**t in my pants. He says, the old man had 2, but would only let me have this one. I end up buying it right there. Coincidentally it was the exact same one Pergl was telling me about 2 weeks earlier because it matched the minor damage he had described. This world is smaller than you think and CRAZY things happen. I don't have a picture.

Here is what I got from a trip to Brigham City Utah long ago. For the new collectors out there this is what the stuff looks like when you find it in the wild , if that still happens anymore ? You have to crawl around look high and low and get filthy dirty . Then you bring it home and spend countless hours cleaning it but its the most fun you will ever have . Well maybe the second most fun you will ever have.

Junking in New England 15 years ago. I motorcycle/snowmobile shop had a 6 foot gas sign on the building. I go in and asked to talk to the owner who said he had a few things, but mostly just repro and common things. I go down and look and I see the Jenny globe in the middle of a Esso and Skychief globe. I think 5 globes total. I'm looking and looking, I and think to myself, "Dang, that Jenny globe is original 15" lenses on a repro body". I go upstairs and ask him if he would sell anything, and he said "what". I said tell me about that Jenny globe. He said, "my uncle worked at a Jenny station and when they closed it, he brought me those lenses and I put them in that repro body. He said how long you gonna be around?". I said today, my wife is at the hotel, I let her sleep late because it's her birthday. He said, "you go take her to lunch and come back later, if I'm not here I'll let the guys know". I said OK. I go to lunch, couldn't hardly eat, then went back. I pulled up and one of the employees ran out, I said the owner told me to come back about selling me one of his globes. He said "I know. He said to tell you to go down and get it". I about fell over because I thought he was trying to avoid telling me NO. He is the picture of his display and in my house now!

That Jenney....WOW, just.....WOW!!!! Great story too.

BrianH

What a great Globe . Congratulations

Great globe and story. Again your wife is central to your story-what a birthday present whether she sees it that way or not! LOL

I've had a lot of really fun and productive road trips with my good friend Wendel White back in the day . I'm sure some of you guys out there know him . Anyways this had to be one of the best and it was his find that he very graciously invited me along to it . This farm near Jerome Idaho had 8 sheds a barn a lean to and a big garage . All were packed floor to ceiling with stuff from the early 1900s thru the 1960s . This person saved everything from bent nails to women's bras , every time you went in it was treasure hunting. You could have filled a warehouse with mostly cool old stuff . We went up there off and on for more than a year and I got at least 80% of all my Utah oil cans from this one location . you basically had to tunnel in or take things out to get thru the stuff , talk about getting dirty by the end of the day . I ended up helping with three auctions that they had towards the end . Even the very last trip I found a 5 pound minute man grease can , to this day I don't feel like I got thru everything .These pictures represent just 2 of the trips up there .

Auction pictures

That garage floor is killer - is that tile or linoleum?

Now i know where all those quart cans came from that i see out there...Good pickin there!!!

Thanks , it was the find of a lifetime for a Utah collector . I'm just surprised that you weren't there first.

Thank you for the complement . Its called thin brick ,a clay product thinset over a reinforced concrete slab . Very similar to setting tile .

pretty nice pile of Vico stuff. Hard to find. Wendell had all the contacts. LOL

Clifton do you remember stopping by my house 15 years or so ago ? If your the same Clifton you've picked up a lot of great stuff over the years for sure. And if I remember right you ended up with one of those Frontier Globes I pictured earlier . I sold it to Todd Pace because he was going to keep it forever but he right away sold it to you for a big profit . Anyways if this is you I'm glad to reconnect . Peter

Peter, Yes I certainly remember. I never forget good things and good people. What a great place you have there. I thought maybe you forgot. I still have the Frontier globe Todd sold me(pictured) along with the other Frontier globes I found over the years. What you don't know is that you told me you found those globes in the Frontier bulk plant in Rawlins WY. What I never told you is that my dad bought a 15,000 acre ranch in Rawlins in the late 70's and I was there looking at the ranch in the 70's junking with him. We went downtown and we bought some signs out of the jewelry store there, but we never went to the bulk plants because he was not in to that and I didn't collect yet. So when you told me that story in the late 90's, it stung a little I've attached a bad picture one of the reverse on glass jewelry signs (over the door) for fun. It is hard to see but was always in my dad's house. He would always ask me "why are you collecting that gasoline stuff, they made thousands of those". What he and I didn't realize early on is that the smaller companies did not have thousands. LOL. Great to hear from you and glad your doing well. Those pictures you post and your collection is incredible!

Thanks Clifton for getting back . Those globes are the envy of anyone .And now we can keep in touch better . Have a good day .

Awesome stuff!

Around 1999, a buddy of mine and I went to a small junk yard near Dickinson, ND to buy two non-neon "OK Used Cars" keyhole signs. When we got there, we asked the owner if he had any others he would sell......he said he had a few sitting in the back yard at his home. It was just a couple blocks away, so we went there and this is what we saw. Luckily I had a trailer with me. Brought them all home.

Nice haul Eric !!! Damn that was a long way from home for a couple OK signs, especially back then. I was hauling from Wisconsin
and you from the Dakota's....hahaha

Great score Eric. It's a wonder I ever got anything with you and KIm on the hunt!!

These came from out east Wisconsin way.

Left this one in the field out there as was better things to haul.....lol
I think I saw it in an auction awhile back so someone finally found it.

You guys probably passed each other on I-94.

A montana trip 20 something years ago. Found this in a field

Had had a few of those Clifton but never lucky enough to find one in a field. Nice find!!!

Nice finds . That's why they call it the good old days.

This came off a farm by lava hot springs . I found it at the start of winter and it was frozen in the ground and couldn't get it unstuck . I had to wait 5 long months until the ground thawed out to get it dislodged . New neon of course . I wish I still had it but I got an offer that I couldn't refuse at the time . It went to a good guy that was really into John Deere stuff .

one more

Your turn , Jeff petropumps You have been scrounging up some great stuff for a long time . Lets see some pictures .

That's a rare sign Peter. I have never seen that combination of Cat and JD. Wow. I've let a few good things get away at a weak moment. I sometimes think that my grandad would roll over in his grave if I passed up that kind of money for a useless "sign". LOL

I'm sitting around at night with this virus stuff going on, so I am adding another story. Kim started a good thread.

I was in New England in 2012 junking. I stopped at a closed down Chrysler dealership in a little town. The 75 year old owner happened to be there cleaning some stuff up. I asked if he had any old signs and he said yes, how old. The ones I have a plastic but were never uncrated or hung. I asked to take a look. So he shows me the crated wrapped in cardboard signs in his back storage building. There was a partial dropped ceiling that looked as old as 50's or 60's to me. I asked what was up there and he said nothing because they added that ceiling to the building later on. I asked if he had a ladder and he said "NOTHING is up there". I asked a few more questions and asked again if I could look. He said almost angrily, ok, but don't fall through and you are wasting your time. I get up there and it was a drop down ceiling with not a lot of solid stucture. I look over and see what appears to be a counter top some 10 ft long leaning against something (kinda on it's side). You could tell it was just thrown up there as to get it out of the way. I make may way over, carefully. I rub the 3" of dust off and see orange and STOP. The wood frame gave it away, metal, orange??? The length puzzled me and it was heavy. I slide it over to the edge of the drop down and hand the long thing down without it seesawing up and hitting the top of the building while trying not to fall through and kill myself (standing on the flemsy wood runners every 2 feet). I get it down and without cleaning anything, ask him if he would sell all of them. His young helper kept asking " what are they". I was getting nervous. I made a deal and loaded everything in my trailer. Paid him and left..... It turned out to be 2 signs never hung that were nailed together with a wood slat backing. Here they are cleaned up that night.

Sir Coltex,

I checked “internet” why your photos are “watermarked and blurred."

Please see the "attached" file.

It would be appreciate if you could re-post better images of your finds.

Thanks in advance!

Sorry because I could not figure out the deal. However, I figured it was money so I have been trying to pay them the $5.99/mo for the last week thinking that was the problem and it says invalid when I punch the payment in. Driving me crazy. I will try again. Also, I think if you click on the picture, it shows you a better picture and the watermark goes away. But thank you for letting me know the problem!

Now that was a find !! Holy smokes..
Btw I know what it’s like standing on rafters
Wrestling stuff down.. lol

Click on photo takes you to the file. No watermark , but still fuzzy photo. I think it was just a bad photo , others in the file are ok.
Still a good looking sign , even if it's fuzzy.

The fuzzy part is that I took it with the light and background, I was sweating like a wet dog, so dirty I could barely hold my phone and trying to hurry before he changed his mind wondering why I was taking a picture. LOL

Come on Lets see some more pictures of stuff that you guys found when you were young . A long time ago. These were in the boxes and I got them with some other things in Pocatello Idaho .

Not killer stuff or very old but this was a fun trip . N.O.S Coke signs from the 60s and 70s that I got out of a Coca Cola bottling plant in Ogden Utah .

On one of many trips on the Montana hi-line I stopped at an old station and asked for old signs and oil cans. Owner said no, it’s all gone, but another fellow who happened to be in there at the time said “what do you pay for cans?”
Depends on condition and rarity I guess.
He said follow me. Went across the street to an abandoned station he owned. Inside he got me a ladder and I went up in a crawl space to see cases of empty cans that had been used and put back in their cases.
Hauled them all down, made a deal, rest is history. Mostly Clack Heccolene quarts and Texaco havolene qts.
If you have a minty Heccolene quart, odds are it was from this find.
A funny note to this story, the day before I had stopped at a bulk station about 50 miles away and the guy had a Heccolene quart that was full. I had never seen this can before and offered up to 250.00 for it (pile of money back then) but it couldn’t be bought.
Next day I find cases...

I can’t remember where this was in Idaho but I took a picture on the way by. Never had time to check it out.
Left it for Clifton I guess. Hahah

Great Haul . we don't hardly ever see Those Heccolene cans down here in my neck of the woods.

Those are some great finds Peter and Kim. I am in love the Oilzum signs Clifton found.
This was a sign take down I did in Coal City, IL. I think it was in early 1999. The dealership just changed hands, so was able to purchase all the old signs here. A lot of work, but you get to drive away with a big smile on your face the whole way home!

Holy Moly, what a haul...Looking good Eric!!!!

Peter, what a great haul of Coke signs. I had a similar grab a few years ago in Tennessee. Not quite that good, but pretty good. Funny thing is the sign shop had bottle caps in the upstair attic catching water from the leaky roof. LOL

Kim, you found great stuff!!! All I got in was the crumbs you left behind which I am grateful for. Those are cool Heccolene cans.

Eric, what great sign there. Some good ones!!! That olds is killer!!

Really enjoy this thread and telling a few old stories. There was a lot of dead ends in the middle of this highlights!!!! As we all know

Here is my Heccolene can. I bought it from a collector in my area in 2012. He had two of them. It is probably from your haul.

Likely that is one of them Matt. Nice can.

Wow , you don't see those kind of signs on buildings anymore , great find do you still have them ? . Clifton thanks for the compliment about the Coke stuff , I was hoping that I would find some real old signage when I was digging thru it but it wasn't there.

Here's a load of pumps from south east Utah .I think Loading stuff like this by myself might have something to do with me having a hard time striating my back when I sit for a while and then try to get up . Anyone else have that problem ?

I was able to buy one of the cases from you and Ace at the Early Ford Swap Meet in the late 90's.

When I first started collecting Kim was already a legend . The only trouble I have with that video is keeping my eyes off the girl long enough to look at all the great stuff.

Wow, I had a inkling of a idea of what you had accumulated but Wow, I was WAY low on my estimate!! Amazing video and was great to see your face again!
I was not fast enough on the pause button so I had to go back a couple times. Your 800 accumulated the longest pause,,, ha ha! I didn't see any Idaho Chief globes tho??
You gotta tighten up that big wall so you can get all those beauties off the floor but I bet you've been busy, during this shut down, with re-organizing?
Great thread and thanx for sharing, Kim and everyone else!!! Stay safe and healthy!

Great video Kim. I was lucky enough to see part of your collection in person and it is amazing. Really enjoying this thread and seeing how everybody acquired there collections.
It makes you understand the dedication it took to
achieve collections of that magnitude. Thanks for sharing and stay safe everyone.

Absolutely stunning collection, Kim! It’s amazing how addictive collecting is, but more importantly how gratifying it is!

This came out of an attic in an old house here in Salt Lake . Your turn lets see someone else's find .

I really like that pennzoil sign !!!

This was another purchase and take down I did, I think it was 2000 or 2001. This was an old Chevrolet OK used cars lot in Kansas City, KS. All the porcelain neon marquee signs were still there (about 100' long), but the Chevrolet dealership was long gone. It was home to an auto repair shop at the time. It was not the best neighborhood, had to be the hottest day of the summer, and I had to fight off pigeons trying to nest inside the sign with the torch! I rented a forklift locally, but brought my own tools, torch and tanks, and the trailer. As nasty as it was, it was still fun.

More photos.....

good story & score .. ...

Old Feld Chevrolet. I always wondered what happened to those signs.

Great photo Coops 427! Is that a postcard?

Great find and story Eric.!!! Now the photo to add to the history. Gotta love that!

I'm not sure, I got it off the internet.

Thanks to Steve (Speedracer) for the heads up, I was able to purchase that photo. It was on ebay! Thanks to Coops 427 for posting the photo!

Awesome 👍

Good one Eric, you were a young pup back then and are still going strong.

OK I got chidded into telling a picking story by Minuteman, The originator of this thread! It appears to be very popular and this is all thanx to who i think is probably the best petroliana picker out there bar none. It seems like when we used to pick more often, that every 2 or 3 years he would show up with a new truck because the last one was shot!! No one drove more miles and crawled under into or over more old buildings and sheds than that guy, whew! Anyway he was an inspiration for sure. Anyway, i dont have many pics cuz like he said we never took photos of the truckloads, just the individual things we kept after we put them up.. This story took me about 5 years to complete. I was trying to buy some signs from an old fellows fence not far from home about 25 years ago and asked about globes. He said the only time he ever had a chance to buy any was about 5 years earlier when a guy tried to sell him 2. I asked what they were and he couldnt remember. outa the blue i joked, they werent Grizzly were they? I had been dreaming of getting ANYTHING from this rare Montana co. He thot for a minute and said i think one of them was! I got a name from him and the hunt was on. Turns out the guy lived next to a small piece of property id just bought and actually one of his sheds was 10 ft onto my property! Ah now i had a reason to go over and see him. The woods were real thick right there so i couldnt see his place at all but went over and knocked on the door. on the front of the shed were a few signs and i could see a visible in a leanto. He comes to the door and i ask him about the globe and told him about the shed being over on my property and that i didnt really care. He said lets go look in the barn. Im getin kinda excited at this point and just inside the door of this old junk filled barn is a big box of bolts on the floor with a Grizzly Ethyl globe laying on its side on top of the bolts!! Holy *****, would it be ok if i get it outa there? NO, I put down there because it used to be up on that beam with another globe and the cat knocked the other one off and it got broken. Over in the corner was the broken globe.......... An Oval E globe, whew! I woulda died had it been a regular Grizzly! Anyway he didnt wana sell it now! Still laying down in the box,, Just leave it there! Long story short i bugged him for 5 more years to no avail. One day he was with his wife up town and i see them together and go over to them. I had noticed that at one time he had a fireplace on the side of his house and it had been removed leaving a big section of exposed area that was missing the bricks that looked like ***** and had been that way forever. Being a mason, again i asked to buy the globe offering my original amount but throwing in that i would patch in the brickwork on the house on top of it,... in front of her!! The pressure was on now! That evening the phone rang and you guessed it , come fix the brick and i will sell you the globe! Got the globe 2 Gilbarco pedestal air meters a bunch of old signs and a G&B 67 Visible before it was all over.......... Dont ever give up and pull out all your old tricks! Lol

Great picking story Les!!! I'll tell you the Grizzly globe story that belonged to the guy at the bakery in Missoula sometime. You and Kim are a hell of a team!! What a great, rare globe!!!

Last year I went to an auction where there were dozens of old vehicles from model T era to the 60's. The preview showed a picture of a shed crammed with heavy auto parts, transmissions, engines, lawn mowers, radiators etc.
I wondered how the heck are they going to sell that!

When I got there they had pulled out tons of parts out of this shed and it was in rows on pallets.

There was still 2 feet of junk left in the shed and I poked around in there as well as 30 other people. The auctioneer said, "If you find something in there you want, bring it out and we'll auction it off, but you won't get it for a dollar, it'll cost $5 to start." I thought, hmm if I go digging in there and find something, I'm not going to bring it out for everyone else to see. haha, so I looked in there and there was a few cans but you really couldn't tell what was in there unless you took things out and made room, because if you moved something you had to put it on top of something else. It was nasty dirty, dusty, dead rats etc, but looked like fun. So at the end of the auction they decided to sell the remaining contents of the shed for one money and I got it for $35. One thing I had wondered about this auction was, where are all the license plates? They sold 2 but there were 30 to 40 vehicles here. I had about 45 minutes before darkness set in so I dove in with my flashlight. I moved a big red seat, some tires and there was a 2 foot dead furry critter laying there, uggghhh, stepped over it, looked between the studs in the corner and bammm, there was a stack of license plates, from the late 20's to the early 40's, all matching sets. woohooo, a good start. I had 300 miles to drive home so I boarded it up and planned on coming back the next weekend.
I'm not very knowledgeable about old car parts, but I have a friend I know who is. Unfortunately this guy had just lost his wife to cancer the year before and he was in the dumps so I thought yea, I'll give Joe a call and he was happy to get out of the house to do a little digging. Next weekend comes and we arrive and Joe is like a kid in a candy store, he's recognizing what truck this came off of, what that belonged to. I start towards the corner, and now we could take things outside. I got down to the floor, and there was a model T tool box, filled with Ford hubcaps. Found 7 of these all in a nice row, filled with stuff, even mice. I left Joe in there and went into another building as the owner said, take anything you want because in a week I'm bringing an excavator and we're going to level the place. An hour later I go back to the shed and ole Joe has got a grin on his face, "look at this!" he says, and holds up an old motorcycle tank. Neither one of us knew what motorcycle it belonged to, but we knew it was a good one. After hours of research I still didn't know when I listed it on Ebay, but soon after I figured it out, a guy by the name of Excelsior offered me alot of money, that's when I realized this was a 1925 or so Henderson Motorcycle tank. I split the money with Joe and we said, let's do it again sometime.

Great find and story Richard . Congratulations

Ur hot on the trail of Mike and Frank with that story Richard!! Never found any rare bike stuff myself...............congrads!

Well thank you kindly. The reason you never found any rare motorcycles here was there just weren't many. I found one newspaper article dated May 1925 in which the city of Lewistown Montana was looking to do something about catching speeders and their old Ford wasn't doing the trick. A Henderson 4 cylinder motorcycle was one of the fastest machines you could get at the time, and it's looking like they got it. Where the rest of the bike ended up remains a mystery to me, I just hope the scrap guy didn't get it.

Great story on tracking down the Grizzly! I know they're around as this one was caught on a game camera 200 yards from the house, except ... I don't much care for tracking it.

Not sure how long ago this was but I spend a lot of time in and going thru this small Montana town. One day I drove around town and noticed part of a Wayne 70 beside a big old building on the edge of town. I knocked on the door of the closest house and a fellow says he owns the bldg and lot. I asked about the pump and we walked over there. He said someone got the good pump awhile ago but didn’t want this one. I bought it for parts and asked if I could look around in the bldg. I could see it was now a storage bldg for carpet as it was everywhere. I did notice a small attic access door on the outside above the main big doors and asked if there was anything up in the attic. He said no, nothing up there. Would you mind if I took a look I asked and he said sure go ahead. So I got the ladder and headed up.
I opened the small door and shone my flashlight around quick. I could see off to my right something round but the dust was to thick to see what it said so I lifted it and looked at the underside. Holeeee s**t. It was a Husky sign.
This was a big bldg so started back to the middle and I see some wooden boxes. I looked in one and it originally held globe lenses with just one lense in there and unfortunately it was broke in about 3 pieces. There was also 3 boxes of small pint gas cans. Then I also saw a big long sign with a wood frame and flipped it over. Lol, was disappointed it wasn’t Husky.
After about half an hour rooting around I hauled down what I wanted and set it on the ground. The fellow came over and said well I guess there was stuff up there.
Yes and some good stuff I said. We made a deal on the pile and I loaded up. I think I left some of the small cans up there as I figured I had enough.
Pictures of some of it below. Btw. I gave the pieces of that lense to my buddy Les and he repaired it. I must say it looks great and I have never seen another one of those lenses.
There is another interesting turn to this story and another great find that I will add onto tomorrow. It’s getting late.

That was a good stop Kim......several goodies there! All from a junky Wayne 70 sitting outside. That's why you gotta stop and ask questions and look around. You just never know, and many times owners forget about things too.

another great story. Great find Kim!!

Great find . Thanks again for starting this .

Here are some Coke signs I got out of a closed down grocery store in Richfield Utah . And The story behind these computers is my wife's uncle Ferrell lives in Huntington Utah and as Clifton says we used to go around junking together . He new the people and the area better than anyone , so because of him we found a lot of good stuff . Anyways a guy that he new was the guy that serviced all the gas pumps in that whole carbon county area and that this guy had recently passed away .This person lived on a farm in Elmo Utah , Uncle Ferrell told me the last time he drove by there the hillside was covered in old gas pumps . That thought got me very excited so we drove out there and all the pumps were gone but there were piles and piles of computers by an old shed . Ferrell knew the wife so we knocked on the door and asked where the pumps went? she went on to say some guys from California got ahold of her after her husband had passed away and she sold all the pumps and stacks of pump plates to them . It took them 2 trips with trailers to get them all . She said All the computers were going to the dump and she said take as many as you want . We started to load them and I didn't know any better at the time to pick up the old ones piled up outside the shed I grabbed 12 or 15 of the cleaner ones in the shed and then I thought why am I getting these things . So I said thanks and left .

I am going to tell a not so great picking story to shake it up a little. In 2004/2005, I was looking on ebay and a guy had a Cessna neon for sale. I called in and he said come on out and see what I have got because I have tons of stuff including an entire airplane hanger full of signs, cans, and other stuff. I am on the plane the next day to LA. I drive a little over an hour and arrive at the airplane hanger. The guy said, I'll be at the airport restaurant. It was a small private plane airport. I go over and walk in to meet the guy. I follow him to the hanger and buy $33K worth of signs, oil cans, etc. including the Cessna Neon (pictured). I didn't take a lot of pictures but have a few. Here is where the story goes a little sad. As we were walking though the hanger, offices, etc. he informs me this all used to belong to Steve McQueen and he was his best friend. We walk in to the small room and on the floor was a pile of sketches and an old box surrounded by dead crickets. He says "Do you want any of the Von Dutch stuff". I said, "I know that guy was famous but really don't collect that paper stuff nor am I a hot rod guy". He says that he and Steve were good friends and all of this came to me that way. I said "No, not for me". That was one of the worst decisions of my junking career!! That box was his painting box and the sketches are part of the auction link ( a year or two later) that I will attach to this page. The saying goes this way; "I stepped over the Dollar (or two) to pick up the penny". Notice the price of the paint box and all the sketches. Man, I wished I would have bought the old box.... He didn't even care about any of it. I went back to see him a few years later and talk to him from time to time. We joked about the Von Dutch ***** (painting below) and he said he couldn't believe what it brought. He was a great, great guy...... I took a few pictures below with me and my buddy in his Hupmobile taking a cruise around the airport on my second visit a few years later. I am in the back seat. Kinda fun memories..... LOL

https://rmsothebys.com/en/home/lots/bc06

Clifton, we probably all have had those brain fart moments. I looked up the numbers.....that had to sting a little bit! At least you were able to get a few things and make a friend out of the deal.

Thanks to all who have added to this post and shared their road trip stories with us. Unfortunately for us younger collectors the days of picking like this were/are pretty much over. Sure, there's the odd story here and there of a good find in an old bulk plant or a few globes or signs found in the crawl space of an abandoned station, but bulk finds like many of these discovered decades ago are nonexistent. Thanks for giving us a little bit of the thrill of the hunt in the glory days!
Darin

Darrin I was thinking the same thing. Very rare now to stumble onto something in a big way. Most things in large groups are now in someones barn collection or other collection and waiting for the next generation to liquidate. There are still a few good ones left though, gives us all hope. Great stories and pictures though.

Clifton Don't feel to bad . I've sure missed my fair share of great things to , it might be because I didn't have enough money at the time or maybe it was that I just was after other things . When I look back now in hindsight I regret what I didn't buy way more than what I did but it all has been so much fun . Anyways here is just one of my mistakes. I was up in a little town in Wyoming and had bought some stuff from one guy that referred me to his friend so I called him and told him what I collected he replied that he had some things from a old Mobil station . I asked if I could stop by and he said sure . I get there and he opens his garage door and this is what I see . Now this horse is dead mint but dusty I looked it over top to bottom and all it had was one eraser sized chip on the left front leg. He had a few other things like the lighted round Mobil signs which nobody wanted at the time . So I ask politely how much for the horse , and of course he says make me an offer so I say $1,000.00 I know what your thinking What a low ball offer but 22 years ago that was a fair starting price . So he says its got to be higher and I say $1,500.00 which was all I had and I told him that . He was nice and said your close but not quite there. So I asked him to give me some time and I would get more money and we can work out a deal . He said sure I'm in no hurry. At that time I wanted it but it wasn't killing me to get it and I was mainly after other things so like a dummy I let a lot of time pass that when I did call the poor guy had passed away and his wife said that there son was taking it . And I think that's fine but I will always feel that if I had another $500.00 when I was there it would be in my garage .

I can’t say for others but for myself Darrin even back then I never really had a lot of “bulk” finds. It was usually a little bit at each stop. Whether it was a week road trip thru 3 or 4 states and 3500 miles or just a day or 2 jaunt to a swap meet. It might sound like there was stuff behind every corner but that’s not the case. You might knock on 25 doors and get nothing that day or spend 3 hours looking thru junk to find one or two things to buy that you shouldn’t have bought but felt guilty wasting some guys time.
Definitely there was more around back then but I see that also as a generation thing too. The old boys never threw anything away as they usually grew up with nothing.
Now first thing their kids or grandkids do is Clean Up. Need all new building’s equipment etc. So your cans and antiques are buried in the ground. I could go on with EBay and picker shows, etc but will leave it at that.
Don’t get me wrong it was and still is a thrill like no other to find something to put in the garage.
But I am a firm believer in the old adage “The harder you work the Luckier you get”

Very well said Kim ,you would know as much as anyone out there about it . New collectors might get the impression that we went out every weekend and found the mother load . The big hauls were far and few between for me , usually I would drive miles and miles and maybe get a couple of things . It was always fun and you tried to have a lead or two before you went but I always felt like I had to work hard to get anything.

To finish up the last story about a year or so after I had found that round Husky sign and some same era Husky road maps in that building I did a bit of research and found out there was a couple long gone refineries in that area of town back in the 30’s era. Obviously one was Husky, so I decided to look for any other buildings that had that same look to them.
Sure enough 2 blocks west was another large building surrounded by trees and a big lot with a house.
I knocked on the door and this fellow answers, I asked if he might have any old signs or gas pumps in that old metal building in his lot. He seemed very stand offish and replied no, I could tell he wasn’t going to let me look, lol, so just before leaving I asked specifically one more time about signs in the rafters possibly and got the same answer no.
So I said alright have a great day and left.
It happened at this same i time was running an ad in the local newspaper about buying signs, pumps,etc.
It was about 5 days later I get this call on my ad from a fellow saying he has a Husky sign to sell. I asked size what it looks like etc. He just said it’s big and says Husky.
I said ok, get his number and said next time I’m in town I will look at it. I think it was 2-3 weeks before I got back there. I called him and he gave me his address, drive up there and be damned if it wasn’t the same place I had asked about signs before.
Knock on door (he doesn’t recognize me from before) and sure enough we go over to that big metal building.
Head inside and there way up in the rafters (no attic here) I can see a vague image of a Husky dog jumping.
I figured it was going to be some hunk of junk after the initial phone call which is why I never rushed there.
Anyway I made a deal to buy it, as is, before crawling on 2x6 rafters and trying to wrestle this 4x8 foot sign down between rafters.
Got it down and in the truck finally, to the car wash and sprayed it off. It was a thing of beauty and confirmed the existence of a Husky refinery at one time long ago.

Sign picture
Husky has always been and still is one of my favourite Companies to collect.

Beautiful sign .

That is an awesome Husky sign! I don't believe I have seen that one before.

Really enjoying this thread. Kim that Husky is one of the nicest signs I've seen. Thanks for sharing.

Yes, I agree I wasn't looking at the bigger picture of all the miles traveled with none or few finds to haul home, and that not all hauls were a truck load. I guess in my mind I had visions of bulk plants and oil company storage buildings just filled with items for the asking. I guess that would have been even earlier than most anyone was collecting petroliana. I've had many conversations with the grandson of a local oil company dynasty, they started out as Hi-Speed in 1933 and are still in business today. At any rate, when Union took over Pure Oil Co. he remembers taking all of the Pure globes to the railroad tracks behind the storage building and smashing them for fun, since there was no longer any need for them. So I know some of the "old junk" was cleaned out 50+ years ago from some of these places. Beautiful Husky sign by the way!
Darin

I wish I had the time that Kim, Peter, Clifford and others had to put in the effort, failure, hard work and inhaling dust and animal feces. It does sound exhilarating when you "score" the big one. I soon realized I had no time nor the persona to knock on doors and get rejected and or threatened. It takes a "special" person to do all that. That's why I pay the price and raise the cash by working instead of picking 2-3 months of the year (for many years) it would take to build a collection. My hat goes off to these fellows (and the ones who have not told their tales) for their successes. Great stories.

Hi Fred I'm not offended but I want to set the record strait , my experience was 99% positive when meeting people , there was a time or two when people seemed bothered and I would never push it . I would be friendly and polite and just leave and not bug them again, on the other hand I had one family invite me in to have lunch which I did and I've gone to town and had breakfast with some of these people as well as kept in touch long after . 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 . And I've always had a full time job and still do for just a little longer so everything was done years ago and on the weekends .

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:

Kim, thank you for the clarification. It was and is a beat down to go out junking/picking. Most doors you bang on are gone, busy, don't have time, etc. and think you are there to take advantage of them. We are summarizing years of stories to be entertaining and fun to read. I have some more "mother load" stories, but old pickers were telling me it was over when I was looking 20 years ago. Like Kim said "the harder you work, the luckier you are". In Kim'a stories, the guys always say, "there is nothing up there". 90% of the time, that is true. We are not telling those stories, just the good ones. Love the thread and interest!


By the way Eric, that brain fart stung a little more than some when the box sold for $310K and I probably could have got the whole bunch for $2K. LOL. All memories now.

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

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.

Ha Ha Les so true . Its no fun to Brag about our failures .

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!!!

Was that half of the Francis Ford twin Wayne showcase, or is that one still in Oregon?

Yes Craig, half of the Francis Ford twin.

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.

Boy, that is a beauty!!! Great find!

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.

This has turned into a really interesting thread guys. Keep it up!

Keep it or pass it on to a relative who will enjoy it as much as your dad did !

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=)

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 .

Now that is one great before and after picture. That pops just like its brand new Peter

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.

Here's my very long winded story but it is a story that's more about the person that I got these things from than the stuff itself . I was a long ways away just outside of a little town called La Barge Wyoming and found a Wayne 515 which I was able to purchase and load up . Anyways I always ask the people if they know anyone who has some of these things that I collect . So he gave me the number to a guy in town named Don Studt , Don ran the service station in town called Valley service which had been closed down for a long time . So I called Don and told him what I collected which he replied that he probable had a few things but for me to meet him at the only restaurant in town that he always has breakfast there in the morning at that time . So sure I met him there we talked had a great breakfast always the food tasted better in those little towns , super nice down to earth guy . So we get done walk across the street to his Station which the property was covered with old tractors . I asked if there were any signs cans gas pumps around , He said that he had a sign in the shed close to the building so we go there he opens the door and this is what I see 6' Mobile sign . Now keep in mind if you are a collector in Utah anything Wasatch is top of the list and almost impossible to find but next in line is Mobile . Turns out his station was a Mobile station that changed to Sinclair when they were bought out . I'm so excited how much money would it take to buy the sign I asked ? So he says I'm sorry but I don't want to sell it I was crushed are you sure you can name your price ? Then he says you know money is a renewable resource I can always go out and make more money but if I sell you that sign I will never have another one . Bummed out we go thru the station I get a few cans there was a Visible pump in there that he didn't want to sell either . So anything else and he says there is a few things in my house , so we go over there and meet his wife a nice lady and he takes me into his office and there sits a Wasatch globe teetering on a little T.V ok this is killing me Don how about the globe ? sorry again I can't sell it because it was a gift from a truck driver friend of mine a long time ago . So I told him thanks and drove the long trip back to Salt Lake totally dejected. I couldn't give up so I called him back in a couple of weeks practically begging, Don is there anyway I can get that Mobile sign ? He thought for a minute then said I need a 25 horse power Honda boat motor or it was a 20 horse power can't remember , he wanted electric start and remote control . So I said let me see what I can do, okay now we are getting somewhere . I called all around and the best price I could get one for was up in Ogden 30 miles away and that best price was $4,200.00 now at that time that was all the money for that Mobile sign and maybe more but I had to have it . So I go get the motor call him up and he seemed surprised it was a big leap of faith but I knew I could trust him do what he said he would do . He told me to bring my trailer that in the field behind his station there was a pole without a sign and a pole with a sign in it . I asked what the sign in the pole said and he told me LARCO which meant Little America Refining company , I had never heard of that sign . I said I would be glad to bring more money to buy them . So I get up there give him the motor he was happy we go behind the station and it turns out that LARCO was painted over another Mobile sign and I showed him , he never knew . I said ok Don I brought up $3000.00 will that buy these ? He said I'm going to give you these that it was to much for the other sign I said no it wasn't and I can't have you give me these for free , he said nicely you will either take them as a gift or you won't take them at all . probably the best trip I ever had . I would keep in touch with him ask about the Wasatch Globe offer more and more money but he never would sell it because it was a gift . Then one time I called and his wife answered and said sadly Don had passed away from brain cancer I said how sorry I was and then good by . a couple of months later she called me back and said if I wanted the Wasatch Globe for what my last offer to Don was I could have it . So I went back up there and got it but it wasn't much fun . What a great guy he was that's a picture of him by the poles on the trailer, they don't make them like they used to . That's my son in the picture by the trailer he will be 22 in a couple of months .

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Wasatch Globe

Great story Peter...curious if you got the 2 ethyl lenses on the wall also....

Cool story !

No Kim I'm ashamed to say I didn't even ask about them , at the time I was so zoned in on the Wasatch globe that they didn't even grab my attention . And then when I went back up there a year or so later the Wasatch globe was out of the office and on the dining room table , I just was in La La land over the Wasatch that I never thought about them . One of those I wish I could do over moments .

Yes I can remember some of the stuff I stepped over and left behind to get to a 20.00 oil can....lol Crazy!!

Love the story. I have things people try to buy, but it has not price because of the story and the people. It was special to them, and I am in possession of it now. Thanks Peter for the story.

Can't get any better!!

Love the story, the photos to back up the story, and the history. I'm with Clifton......way more value (to me) to the items I own that have known history. I try to write things like this on paper and put in a file. Sometimes I wire a tag with the history to the piece. Otherwise, that info gets lost forever.

Great idea Eric. I think I will start doing that also.

Great story . It’s all about the hunt and the people you meet along the way .

I wish we could get this going again . Here is some expensive Coca Cola shed siding I found out in the boonies a long time ago .

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Well its tough doesn't require painting and its good to look at. Great finish for a shack!