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I'm a Ford guy because of when I was 7 my dad took me to a car show in down town Denver and there was a 1969 Mach I that had flared fenders and paint that looked 3 feet deep! I was instantly obsessed with 1969 Mustangs. It has spilled over into classic FoMoCo cars from there and I have owned many 68-70 Mustangs and Thunderbirds and a Falcon and Fairlane or 2.
Now, my body does not allow me to work on the cars as much anymore and I have really gotten into signs and pumps. Since I started to do this with the Man-Cave Shoppe, my Holy Grail, ultimate sign to own was a original Ford Neon sign, and now I'm soooooo excited and happy that my first neon sign that I have bought is a original Ford/Mercury Dealership double sided sign!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It's about 12 feet wide and 8 feet tall!! I think it's from the 50s and was the sign for the Ford dealership in Othello Washington but I need to dig into my research to find out.
It is a painted sign and has a very thick skinned can. It's been sitting in a field close to the center of Othello for decades and they had junkers come by to clean the property and they flipped it over to the side pictured. I'm soooo glad they saved it!!!
It was damaged when they flipped it and probably some all those years but it is not porcelain so it can be properly restored!!
I did not get much sleep last night and am worn out from today but it is HOME and I don't think the smile is going off my face for a few days!


LOOKING-4:WELDING SIGNS,Charter/Finance/PulOil/Trulite/TruTest-Oils,True's gas CORALINE/RAINBOW, Gardner 70 items of Yakima wa., Wa/Or/Id Chief items
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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.
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Well, congratulations Dave! Looks like a lot of work, but its the kind of work that is REALLY satisfying, and when you're done, the feeling of accomplishment is enormous! Nice find!


Everything Cities Service
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Congrats on getting what you had wanted for a time. Great score...


Wanted: Champion Spark plug, Shell, Pennzoil, Kendall, and Woco Pep signs...Dale Stephens
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Sweet!!!!!!!


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Well,It looks like the job is done and it's on with the mission!


Always looking for Mississippi company items, Billups, southland, ride with rose.
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Great find Dave!

A hint to help you in research process...

Check in the archives of the local newspapers for articles of the dealership opening, they may have pictures. Also, it's possible that family members of the owners of the dealership may have pictures.




Collecting anything keeps you young at heart!
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You will be able to see that one from a long ways , that's going to be a very very nice piece , super find Dave !


I like SINCLAIR and old American made stuff ... No china items.
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Love the patina!


I am always looking for anything Texaco or Oklahoma oil and gas company's, also I am a newbie at seeking globes.
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Now that I have got some rest, I've figured out what is going to happen to this one.
This one would be very difficult for all but the top collectors, to have the space to display this as it was in double sided flange form, and I want to keep this for my self, so, I am going to build 2 new cans and restore it as 2 signs and the one I keep will have scripting in neon at the top for the Shoppe! I will only change the neon for mine and not the original color or scripting of the sign and the other will be restored as original if I can find a picture of it.
If anyone has a pic to share of a similar sign, I would greatly appreciate it!!
I will have to put it all on the back burner until later because I need to get my rickity A$% to shipping some signs!
Thanx for all the comments!!!


LOOKING-4:WELDING SIGNS,Charter/Finance/PulOil/Trulite/TruTest-Oils,True's gas CORALINE/RAINBOW, Gardner 70 items of Yakima wa., Wa/Or/Id Chief items
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Awesome


Always buying and selling Neon Dealer signs pumps air meters
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cool sign...congrats.


Collecting Vintage Sunoco
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Here is a excerpt from a article from the Othello Outlook in 1975. It was in the Who's who section and it was about the man who opened the Ford dealership in Othello wa.
"(Jim) Hostetter came to Othello in 1957 and opened Hostetter Ford at the present Basin Tire Center location on Main street. The business was then moved to new and large facilities in its present location on south first in 1963."

So, if this sign is from that Ford dealership, then it was possibly the sign that was used at the first location of the dealership only from 1957 to 1963 when that location was turned into a tire store. ??????
I will be putting in a call to the Othello Historical society tomorrow, if they have one still.
How AMAZING would it be to find a old picture of this sign?!


LOOKING-4:WELDING SIGNS,Charter/Finance/PulOil/Trulite/TruTest-Oils,True's gas CORALINE/RAINBOW, Gardner 70 items of Yakima wa., Wa/Or/Id Chief items
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How many Kids can you sell to have Neon Restored?

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Well I only have 2 kids and the neon guy quoted $10 a foot just for the tubing. There has to be over 100 feet of tubing and I'm thinking closer to 250 total so,,,, I've gotta get a decent price for the kids to afford to restore this sign!!! ha ha ha


LOOKING-4:WELDING SIGNS,Charter/Finance/PulOil/Trulite/TruTest-Oils,True's gas CORALINE/RAINBOW, Gardner 70 items of Yakima wa., Wa/Or/Id Chief items
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Less Expensive to sell the kids & Keep the sign, at least you'll be able to Re-sell to Re-cope SOME/MOST of $$$$ Spent.

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I gotta keep the kids because, again, my oldest WAS EXTREMELY HELPFUL!! , and his friend just happened to show up and help out when we were about to drop that beast! My son in on the left as your looking at the pic. They are both pretty big kids for 15yrs old.



Here is the other side of the sign. It has many access doors to get to the many ballasts.
Now it is in the spot it will be until I figure out everything.
No rust because the entire thing is galvanized.
MAN, THIS THING IS BIG!!




LOOKING-4:WELDING SIGNS,Charter/Finance/PulOil/Trulite/TruTest-Oils,True's gas CORALINE/RAINBOW, Gardner 70 items of Yakima wa., Wa/Or/Id Chief items
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Looks GREAT!! Nice little set up you got there!


Looking for any cans! PM me what ya got!
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Thanx to all for sharing your thoughts.
I did some measuring yesterday and started taking off access panels to see how many transformers were in it and what voltage they are and WOW, it's a lot of both!!
There are 8-10, 15,000 volt transformers in it that probably weigh about 45lbs each. I can't imagine how much lighter it will be with out those in. I will probably take all of them out and do what with them, I don't know what but I will enjoy moving the sign around a lot more after they are out!
Anyone know of a place to buy new transformers wholesale???
I did a very rough mesurment of the neon tubing and it came in at 275 feet so for a rough estimate for myself I will round up to 300 feet. again, WOW, and this thing must've been bright!
I guess that is why Neon signs are considered the "Big League" for signs. Porcelain Neon would be better but I'll take what I got and this one I can get back to original compared to matching the colors on old porcelain!
Take care all!


LOOKING-4:WELDING SIGNS,Charter/Finance/PulOil/Trulite/TruTest-Oils,True's gas CORALINE/RAINBOW, Gardner 70 items of Yakima wa., Wa/Or/Id Chief items
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I wouldn't mess with those old transformers they have oil in them which contains PCB's. Need to be disposed of properly.


Dave GILL,
Dave's Garage & Memorabilia, Inc.
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Well, I got some time to work on this one today and I've got 5 dirty, ugly and dingy transformers. There 3 different types or maybe they are from different decades from replacing the dead ones with new. I thought there would be 10 but I guess not. That means the sign is about 450 lbs with out the transformers in.



I've found a couple of old ads the have matching font and it looks like this sign was made in 1949ish. That is the year the Mercury switched over to the rounded M and the 1948 Ford font on these 2 ads matches my sign.
This is what I'm thinking happened. Pure guessing here.
It might have been built in 1949 and put up on a new dealership that did not make it and the sign might have went back to Ford and then given out to the dealership in Othello when they opened up in 1957. Or, maybe it was made in 1949 and then no dealership bought it from Ford until the dealership in Othello in 1957. ???
I am still doing research every once in awhile.

Enjoy the great summertime weather if you can!
Dave




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you think Ford had that built, to me it looks more like a local sign shop hand made sign.


"Remember, history that is forgotten is doomed to repeat itself!"
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I didn't think of that because I thought Ford controlled all the signage at all the dealerships. HMMMM a new curve ball. I'll have to check that out.


LOOKING-4:WELDING SIGNS,Charter/Finance/PulOil/Trulite/TruTest-Oils,True's gas CORALINE/RAINBOW, Gardner 70 items of Yakima wa., Wa/Or/Id Chief items
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