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Joined: Dec 2012
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kevinz Offline OP
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Hi everyone,

I was just elected as the new secretary of the Garage Door News, which is a magazine that both covers and promotes all things vintage petroliana. It's owned by the Canadian Service Station Memorabilia Association. We currently have 450 paying subscribers. I was hoping for some suggestions on petroliana things that you would find interesting and would want to read about.

We cover petroliana from around the world. If anyone has a large collection they would like featured in the mag please drop me a line. There is no cost to have your collection featured. We would just need to do a simple interview with you as well, you would have to send some high resolution pics of your collection.

I have started an article on "pony" or private garage pumps as well as curbside pumps. A portion of it is now on my website (see link below), I will be adding to it shortly. Any info on the subject would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance. Kevin
http://antiquevintagegasp.wixsite.com/agedgaspump[i][/i][u][/u][/size][size:16pt][/size]

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I'd like to read an article forecasting the future of oil can collecting. With history of prices and trends in the hobby.
Also a survey to find the average age of can collectors, and average age of those joining the hobby.

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kevinz Offline OP
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Hello, That is a great idea for an article. It would be easy to do a survey on my website. I can tell you from being into the hobby for over 20 years, Things have started to slow down a little here in Ontario Canada. I was restoring and selling around 15 pumps per year, but the last two years I find things have really slowed down in the pump restoration business. That is only in my area and from my experience. But I do follow many auctions in both the U.S and Canada and things such as signs, oil cans and ephemera are still holding there value at the moment in both countries. I also attend many swap meets and auctions in both countries as well, this includes vintage motorcycle swap meets, Hershey and Carlisle automotive swap meets, and I probably don't need a survey to tell you that the majority age of the petroliana collector is between 45-80. There are some young people that are getting interested in the hobby, but only because they have had a parent that took them to the swap meets etc.

Unfortunately, things have changed, the economy has gotten softer, a lot of great paying jobs in Canada and the US have gone to Mexico or China, the older collectors are also starting to sell off their collections as well. From my observations from selling pumps, most millennial's have no real interest in the hobby. If I am wrong, I would love someone to let me know. The whole hot rod car culture has softened, as well as the antiques markets. So, My personal opinion is if more young people don't get involved in the hobby, I think it is only a matter of 8-10 years time, before the hobby goes the way of the horse and buggy.

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In oklahoma, the number of oil can collectors is growing quickly.
Swap meet price of cans in good condition is rising.
I go to every swap meet in the area, and often notice
25-50 yr olds buying alot of cans. Im 34, and have been collecting for 2yrs. Local prices have risen in that time (probably due to American pickers).
Interesting the geography of prices.
This is why we need an article bro.

I cant speak for gas pump or sign related trends.
Dont follow them

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kevinz Offline OP
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Thant's really useful and good information. I will have to put some thought behind doing the article. It would take a lot of input from many different sources around the US and Canada. I will spend some time this week on how best to tackle the raw information. Great idea.

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In my opinion Kevin you can't use restored gas pumps as a measure of how the petroliana hobby is doing. I see more collectors NOT restoring pumps as many on here say "there only original paint once".
From what I see in Ontario and other auctions with great items listed (not everyday junk & repops), prices are normal if not higher than usual. Like the previous poster said cans are doing well in USA and Canada,
last auction I saw with some GOOD globes brought great money, same with signs.
Your right the model T and hot rod era are going by the wayside, for now anyway, but who knows what holds for them.

Lets just say a lot of business and jobs surely have left/collapsed in Canada, but what do you expect with a kid drama teacher running a country.


Wanted early tin litho signage.
petro, farm, auto, etc.
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kevinz Offline OP
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Yes, I agree the manufacturing job front is not so great in Canada. I also don't care for the guy running Canada either, and I am not defending him in any way when I say this, but as a former retired General Motors of Canada employee, I have seen over 400,000 auto sector jobs shift from Canada to China, but mostly to Mexico, in the past 15yrs .They have super cheap labor, no EPA, no workers unions, laws etc. The job shift in both Canada and the US has seen millions of good paying middle class jobs shifted either offshore or to Mexico. Our workers cant compete with the wages they pay in Mexico and China, and the corporations are way to greedy as well. They are not happy with making a billion dollars profit a year, they need 2 billion the next, and 3 billion the following years. G.M's recent excuse as to why they are mothballing the most recent set of plants in both Canada and the US is their BS news release on how they need to concentrate on autonomous vehicles and plants that can build them. This again is another bunch of BS, as the GM Oshawa plant in Canada is a modern flex-plant that can run any chassis down the assembly line to suit any customers needs, whether it be a pick-up, car or SUV or future autonomous vehicle, in any combination of the four. There are also many flex-plants in the US that have the same capability as Oshawa, and they are in the same boat. there jobs have been moved to Mexico. I understand the concept of capitalism and companies are going to move to were they can make the most profits. Having said all that, both the US and Canadian governments gave GM billions of dollars of handouts and tax breaks when they claimed their bankruptcy and bailed the company out 9 years ago. President Trump is exactly right when he stated "The U.S. saved General Motors, and this is the THANKS we get!", He is right. I wish I could borrower your President for a few weeks to show my government how things in the business world should be done. I probably shouldn't get into politics on this forum, but I felt I had to make my view on the whole subject.

As for the auction results, I have been compiling a data base over the past 3 years on auctions both small to large auctions. I haven't fully computed and analyzed all the data up to now, but I will definitely get to it in the following weeks. I am in the middle of doing an article for the Garage Door News, regarding dioramas and models of vintage service stations. Once I get that cleared up, I will dig deeper into the whole outlook of the hobby. It's great to have you guys respond, as it gives extra information that isn't just number driven. I have also had some pretty good feedback on the topic via PM's.

Thanks again to all those who are adding input into the subject.

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On a side note...I am interested to see where this hobby goes. I’m 36 and got into this through the classic car hobby. My dad got me into classic cars. When I go to car shows and swap meets, it seems like the vast majority in attendance is the baby boomer generation.

I think a lot of those folks have classic cars and want to hang signs and display pumps and oil cans in their buildings and mancaves with their old cars. I want to do the same! But it is hard for me to believe that signs, pumps and cans are going to continue to bring the money they currently are. A lot of the guys on here remember these service stations. I don’t because most of them weren’t around for me. But I still love the stuff. I just seem to be in the vast minority for my age group. None of the friends my age collect old cars or anything service station related (I know, I need new friends). When I find something cool, I call my dad who is 68 years old.

Selfishly, I want the prices of stuff to come back down to a reasonable level. I’d love to own all kinds of this stuff but currently, there are several things that are way more of a priority for me especially when talking about thousands for a sign.

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kevinz Offline OP
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Yes, that is the feeling I get when I travel to Hershey and Carlisle every year. The average age seems to be between 55-70. Same with the petroliana, nostalgia and collectable shows. At the shows I attend in the US and Canada the majority of attendees seems to be white, male between the ages of 55-70.

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Originally Posted by sirjunksalot
I'd like to read an article forecasting the future of oil can collecting.

It would be easier to limit the survey to collecting oil cans only. But i know pump guys wanna hear about pumps.

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I would like to see an article about banks there is a wide variety of them, Pump shaped, can shaped, truck banks

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I'd like to read an article about how the increase in mancaves has affected petroliana

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Talk with older folks about the good ol days of gas stations, they have more knowledge than any one book.

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kevinz Offline OP
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Yes, agreed, I have been collecting and restoring for only 20 years and there are a lot old timers with great knowledge out there. There is only one problem with that. Many of the older guys are not on computers so it's hard to get in touch with them. If you have any older guys that would like to offer information, I would be more than willing to listen.


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