J.C. Whitney Catalogs from the 30s, have repop items in them..
The first time a Country Store and/or an Independent Service Station owner had a sign painted for them because it was cheaper than "buying the Authorized one from the Oil Company/ Tire Company/ etc... Repops were born... Many of these same Business People had signs painted that were not exact matches... Just a "little off" in the colors, image, size... etc... Just enough that a Company couldn't go after them in Court... "Fantasy items" were "born....
Examples are in some of the Collector's Guides and have been written about in "Check the Oil, PCM, Mobilia and in other reference books...
My Father was a Seller of "Gas and Oil" items in the 1950s up until his death in '93... I learned at his "knee"...
I don't understand why some "New" to the Hobby people, somehow think that repopped items haven't been around since the "beginning of Civilization"? You folks haven't heard of people copying paintings, furniture, coins, books... etc...? From the beginning of time...
Why would this Hobby, be any different?
I get frustrated with you folks, I guess it comes out in what I post... Most of you are so damn lazy, you become worthless! Do some research for yourselves... Quit trying to suck at the teat of those who have done research!!!!!!!!!!!!!
When I started in the Hobby, a computer... One damn computer would take up a space bigger than the average home... There were no Gas and Oil Shows, No magazines, No Collector's Guides... Hell, I didn't own a computer until 2001... Yet, I've been able to Collect, buy, sell and trade... Literally thousands of items... Since I have well over 1000 items, in my little Collection now. The number must be much higher...
I can count on my hands, how many times I have been duped and still have fingers left over... If I'm not sure of an item. I do some research, I check my past issues of Magazine, I check reference books, I check my Collector's Guides... I spend multiple hours on the 'web... I converse with other Collectors and if they don't know about an item, I share the info I have gathered with them... If I am really stuck, I reach out to people like Mr. Harper, people like Dan Matthews, who many times because of his Auctions will see more items in a week or two than I will see in a year... Before I got sick, I got out and "beat the brush"... I wasn't just looking for an item... I wanted (and still want) the story behind the item...
I work hard to gain as much knowledge as I can... I've been very lucky in the Hobby... I have made some friends in it, that will share information... They know that I will share what I know if they ask... I have tried to do the same with Oldgas...
But, in the last few years... There has been a shift away from the "Pursuit of Knowledge" here on Oldgas and in the Hobby on a general basis... Instead, "flipping an item" has become the goal...
A number of Members here work hard on the different Threads. But, lately it has been: who gives a damn? Doc, EVERY Sunday starts a new BOTW... But, every week someone has to post their "Buys" in the Showcase, instead of posting in Doc's.... Mick works hard on the FATW... But, Members will post their own threads instead of posting in his... Shawn is working hard on the COTM... But, few actually post in the threads.. It is BS, the number of items that end up being For Sale, that the "Seller" couldn't bother posting an image of in the appropriate COTM thread...
Hell, I could go on and on... But, I am "Preaching to the Choir"... Those that understand what I am saying, already love the History and the Hobby... Those who are wondering, "What the Hell is he talking about"? Will be long gone and forgotten in a couple of years!
