Hi everyone, I decided to take the month of March and post some history on Sinclair. Would love for others to join in and show some of your Sinclair pictures, collections, or any information you have to add to it.
Being founded by Harry F. Sinclair in 1916 here are some of the first stations that got the company started.....
SINCO being the first logo used
Some of the first advertising shown in picture, Kansas City salesman mounted oil drum on back of Model T, Barrel held tools and side curtains
Thanks sundroman for doing the march COTM. I no there are some great Sinclair collections out there so lets see them
Here is the only Sinclair I have all original except the decal
Early Sinclair Cup Grease 1lb can with the Sinco logo
Sinclair Logos
Sinclair Gasoline one piece etched.
Sinclair Gasoline one piece baked.
Sinclair Oils one piece etched.
By 1913 Harry F. Sinclair owned more than sixty oil companies, most of which were in Oklahoma, making him the largest independent oil operator in the Mid-Continent Region. In 1916 he bought the Cudahy Refining Company of Chicago which owned several pipelines and refineries. Seizing the opportunity, Sinclair moved from Tulsa to New York, secured $50 million in financing, and formed the Sinclair Oil and Refining Corporation by combining all his companies into one entity.
Sinclair Sinco porcelain pocket watch Fob I put in a shadow box that was suppose to be used for a graduation tassel. Fit perfect with a picture of a Early Sinco station
I love the oil cans and you have some super nice globes Keithia. Come on folks what have you got thats Sinclair in your collection, we would love to see it?
Come on guys I know there are plenty of others who have some great stuff.
Some early signs.
I have a Sinclair Brontosaurus soap. I jus can't get into the attic to get it out and shoot pictures yet . Ed Shaver
I have a few pieces of ad glass:
Dave
A couple Sinclair Movie Stars, both were in Forest Gump and the TV movie Separate But Equal. If anyone has the movie Separate But Equal on DVD, i would like to see it. I only have still shots of the movie set. Thanks, Owen
Here are my few contributions to the Sinclair COTM. The dealer pin is a pretty scarce item from what I gather. When I posted it a year or two ago in the values section there weren't any comments but I had interested buyers.
I have 3 Sinclair globes, all common ones. Dave already posted the Dino Supreme, so here's the regular version as well as the lighter green HC on glass. I think there's also a dark green version of the globe.
Darin
I don`t have much ,but here`s my little contribution..
txs Alan
Here is some of my sinclair stuff.
Darin your right there are two diff color variations on the hc. If you look at my pump on the first page that is a dark version
Sinclair Rest Room comment card holder.
Dino dealership sign
Here is the dark hc
Dennis you have a nice oil can collection, I love the Opaline race car one, it has always been my favorite. Thanks everyone who has contributed so far, lets keep it coming!!!
still learning to resize and post pics , I figured I might as well join in with you guys.
Here is some of the Sinclair stuff I have. The globes I have have already been pictured
The larger version of the Opaline sign.
forgot pump
All I have from Sinclar is this pin.
Enyone knowe enything abaut it ?
I first started collecting Sinclair stuff in about 2003 when I was stationed at Whiteman AFB in Missouri. We had the B-2 stealth bomber there and I was close to the shows in Columbia Missouri and Des Moines Iowa. Mom and dad and my brother would go to the shows and I would meet them there for some family time. I recall thinking, "You paid how much for that?" many times before I started collecting. Even a short 10 years later, those high prices now look like good deals on most of the stuff. After the shows we would make a road trip to see Jackie Knott and his wife. Jack had a huge Sinclair collection at the time and he was selling! The book Sinclair Collectibles by Benjamin and Henderson have a lot of Jacks collection in it. I could look through the book, see something I liked then go see Jack and buy it if he still had it and my military pay could afford it. Plus Jacks wife would always give us a cold Pepsi and some homemade cake. Good times
At a Sinclair station close to KC MO in about 2003
Where to start? Sinclair was a major company that did buisness in most of the US plus overseas. In 1966 they had 21,900 service stations and other retailers selling product.
What a great story Wes, and I really liked the pictures. Sinclair must hold a special place with you knowing your grandfather and father worked with all the things we now like to collect. I'm sure they threw so many meaningless things away that could be valuable today not even knowing. Please continue to share, would love to hear more and see some of your collection.
Neat story, Wes. It seems like it has been a lot longer ago than 2003 that unleaded gas was even $1.82/gal!......we had a local Sinclair distributor for years in Monett, MO by the name of Sheik White. His buildings looked just like your grandpa's, right down to the sign on top.....
Couple pics of Sinclair holding tanks in Fremont, Michigan
In 1924, the Pierce Petroleum Company, owner William Clay Pierce embarked upon a business enterprise to link the chain of Pierce-Pennant gas stations with motor hotels and restaurants. The plan was to establish roadside hotels and taverns approximately every 125 miles on Route 66, connecting Chicago and Los Angeles, and Route 50 to Jefferson City. In July 1928, the company opened the Pierce-Pennant Motor Hotel in Springfield, Missouri. This first motor hotel complex included a bus terminal, restaurant, soda fountain, restrooms, gas station, automobile shop and car washing facilities. Other Pierce-Pennant hotels and taverns opened thereafter in Rolla & Columbia, Missouri and in Miami & Tulsa, Oklahoma.
In 1930, Pierce abandoned this business enterprise and sold the chain to Henry Sinclair of the Sinclair Refining Company, who later renamed the chain the Sinclair-Pennant Hotels. Three years later, the Missouri Highway Department moved Route 66 to the Meramec Valley, altering the business traffic for these hotels and taverns, turning many of them into white elephants.
Here is a postcard of a Sinclair Pennant Tavern and a fork & menu I have in my collection
Description: Back of menu
Couple more pics of some Taverns
Description: Mid 30's
Description: 1954
Two different Pennant globes. One has flag touching the pole the length of the flag and the other does not.
Great info & pictures on the Sinclair-Pennant Hotels.
Some maps have the Pennant locations pin pointed on them.
Dave
Now that's a first, Pennant having Taverns and Hotels way before the Gulf Holliday Inn tie inns ! Ed Shaver
Here is some more Sinclair literature.
Love the Little Stamp booklet
my before and after
Mexico maps
Matchcovers
Dave
Time for a few more pictures and a story. My brother and I were at Iowa Gas one year and a guy stops by the spot to talk. He was saying he had an old tanker truck body with a couple of signs still on it. He tried to describe them and it sounded interesting. He said he would bring them by next year for us to look at. Ok, sounds good. Thought we would never see that guy again. Next year I was not able to go to the show but my brother went and set up in the same spot as he always does. The same guy did come back and had the two round signs pictures below plus he gave us the pictures of the signs out in the wild. The marksman did a number on the sign on the right, cut it's value big time but it is still a great sign. Dad ended up with the pair and had the bullet holes repaired by the VanKannel boys.
After the repair;
Dad was happy with the job the brothers did. I think it is his only restored sign. There is another version of this sign also with a small white "tag" looking thing on it as well as I think a 16 inch version.
I think there is also a 16 inch one of these;
A before shot;
Some Sinclair service staion items. Oil Lubri pump. Think it was used to pump the oil out of a crankcase?
Credit card machine
A grease gun rack. The signs for these show up more often than the racks, from what I have seen
A nice old lubester that showed up at Iowa Gas a couple years ago. The original lids should be cast iron, I think most of the repo lids are cast aluminum
An oil can cabinet that was used out on the pump island. Sinclair did not make the rack/ cabinet but different companies had different wording on the sign. This one mas made by Sel oil. I found out about it somehow on the internet. My brother and I drove up one snowy weekend to pick it up. The people had a house FULL of advertising stuff, petro, country store beer and soda pop. Spent a couple hours looking at their great collection. I thought i paid to much for the cabinet untill I looked it over and saw how clean and complete it is. It came with the two removeable doors that were put on at night to lock everything up
With the one door on
Another oil cabinet sign that Sinclair used
Another service station item was the tire lube container. A brush was stuck inside it to get the lube on it then the brush was given a quick wipe around the tire where it mated up with the wheel. The lube helped the tire fit onto the wheel.
An oil can cart. Probably from the 1920's. The cart held the cans and was on wheels so it could be pushed out to the pump island and back inside. There were two porcelain signs on each cart as shown in the picture. The signs show up at the shows now and then
A credit card clip board, used to let the driver sign the credit card slip. Sinclair had at least two different metal ones of this type, plus plastic ones later on
Another version
A Sinclair employee name badge. Name badges were at one time bringing big time money.
Another lubester, or oil cart. This one was restored. They also had two porcelain signs attached. And like pump restorations, some end up nicer than they ever were originally
Close up of the lid
Another grease gun rack
Couple lubesters
Battery charger
Oil can cart
Another lube cart with the signs on top of the pumps to show what oil was in each compartment
An original and a restored lubester
Thanks Wes! I knew you'd come thru!
All of this work is making me hungry!
Another lubester pump topper. More to come tomorrow!
I was wondering where all the sinclair stuff was at. Now we know.
An oil can cabinet that was used out on the pump island. Sinclair did not make the rack/ cabinet but different companies had different wording on the sign. This one mas made by Sel oil. I found out about it somehow on the internet. My brother and I drove up one snowy weekend to pick it up. The people had a house FULL of advertising stuff, petro, country store beer and soda pop. Spent a couple hours looking at their great collection. I thought i paid to much for the cabinet untill I looked it over and saw how clean and complete it is. It came with the two removeable doors that were put on at night to lock everything up
Wes-like I said at the time-Good stuffs usually not cheap, and cheap stuffs usually not good.You can leave it if you dont want it, I like it too.lol Glad to see you kept it. Thanks for sharing your collection-you have some great stuff. That oil can cart is cool. And thanks to you too, Tyler, for the time and energy your putting in to this great COTM.
Jim, I am glad too I bought it. I was not up on the price or availability of the cabinets at the time and wasn't sure if it was a good price or not. It makes a great display to show off quart cans.
Couple more pictures.
Plastic light up signs came out after the porcelain ones. The 6 foot HC is the only one like it I ever saw. It was probably made in the late 1950's right before Sinclair switched from the HC logo to the trapazoid in 1959.
The new logo that came out in 1959;
A newer sign with the same logo;
I put up a pair of lights
Had a sheet metal frame made for the lens
And put it up on the ceiling.
Another version
Couple more light up signs
Sign time, porcelain and tin
There were at least two versions of this curb sign. This one has 4 mounting holes to be used in a ring type holder. The second version only has two holes at the bottom for a different type holder
A little strip sign. This type of sign can be found in many different lengths, from short like this to two or three piece versions
Probably my rarest Sinclair sign. i never saw another one like it in person or in pictures, side one;
Side two
With its companion sign
When I bought this sign I also got a wood shipping frame with it that was marked with a destination of a Sinclair station in Rolla Missouri
A service station bay sign
A 4 foot HC sign I got at the auction in Columbus one year. The 12 inch HC's like this are all fakes as far as I know. They did make 24 inchers, 42 inch, 4 foot and 6 foot. Possibly also 30's?
Well you got all the stuff in and outside the station what did you do with the building.
This is the most sinclair stuff i have ever seen just from one person!!(Wes) I love the cart with all the cans in/on it! Great stuff! I have one lens but it is broken and it is the only sinclair thing I have. It is on the bottom left of the pic.
Thanks
Noah
Sinclair's HC gasoline was it's first superfuel. It came out in 1926. The H-C stands for Houston Concentrate, named after the refinery in Texas where it was fisrt developed. Some people prefered to call it High Compression but as per the book, "A great name in Oil, Sinclair through 50 years", it stands for Houston Concentrate
An HC truck door sign
One piece baked HC globe
A six foot DSP in the ring
I was told this sign was made for a Sinclair convention. It is not an old sign but still a piece of Sinclair history
Here is a sign that doesnt turn up very often. It has HC on the front...
...and Super Flame on the back
Two more HC signs that hardly ever turn up
A four foot HC sign with out the black shading on the letters
A porcelain pump plate. Not sure what pump this went on. I saw a picture of a plate like this that was for Sinclair Ethyl
A better picture of the 6 footer
A four foot with neon on it. I do not know if there ever was an original set up like this or not
Great company, there was mention of the sinclair hotels.
Have a few addresses and open dates.
Springfield MO. 07-16-1928- sold to greyhound in 1936
Columbia MO. 01-16-1929 - 1406 OLD HY. 40 WEST
Rolla MO. -1929- HY. US 66 and 63
Pond MO. -1929- 1835 Manchester Rd.
Two others built in Miami and Tulsa OK.- Have found stamped post card from Columbia dated April 1930 and it states that sender had just got there after overseeing grounds planting at the two hotels in OK.
The MO. 1934 Sinclair map has these locations highlighted and the only map year I have found to date with them.
Sinclair not really my thing but I have a interest as they bought out Pierce. Knew Wes would keep this one fun.
Some odds and ends. I picked this one up from a guy up close to Chicago. I won it on eBay and I was able to pick it up on the way to the one Peotone show. SST. There is a mate to this that says fertilizer on it. This one has a wood frame on the back and had an ink stamp on it for a place in Illinois.
I picked up this rest room sign from the same guy. There are about three different versions of this sign
Another sign I got from an auction. What is refered to as a fence sign. I have since made a wood fram for it
The Four Brothers Axel grease came from a company Sinclair bought out around the 1920's
The first real porcelain Sinclair sign I ever bought. I got it from Jackie Knott. He has since gotten a lot of my money..
Wes you sure got a bunch of Sinclair items!!!
As seen one year at the Columbia Missouri show
Part of dads collection. The Aircraft sign was made in at least three different versions in at least two different sizes
The Tripple check logo was used for a short period of time in 5 cities. It was tested out as a replacement for the HC logo. Sinclair did not go with it and instead went with the trapazoid shaped sign in 1959. They made a 4 foot, 6 foot and the sign that Clinton posted at the start of the thread. The Productos sign was used in Mexico.
Not all of this stuff is mine! Some is mine, my brothers, dads and friends.
A truck door sign. Hard to find. Some of the old toy Sinclair delivery truck tin toys have this logo on their door
A pricer sign. Two different versions of this one. One has red lettering. There were numbers with tabs on the top that fit into the slots in the sign to show the price of gas today. I have seen about 7 or 8 of the signs, never found the numbers yet.
Sinclair had their products in all kinds of stuff. Gas, oil, paint, car care products as well as for down on the farm. These signs show up, but most of the time they are not in very good condition. A bunch of them turned up at Columbia a couple years ago, they were found in the original shipping container and most of them were rusted or damaged
An oil well pump sign. A couple different versions of this one too. Some have a different logo in the bottom corners
An oil well sign
My first gas pump. Another buy from Jackie. It has High Test HC add glass in it. This was another test design. There is also a matching globe to go with this add glass.
Version two of the Aircraft signs as seen at Iowa Gas one year. I have seen pictures of a small version of this sign. It showed up a couple years back in my area. I think it was a 24 inch, not sure. I never got the chance to buy it then for a very reasonable (cheap) price and now I couldnt afford it
And the open cockpit version, also at Iowa.
I have seen matching globes for the open cockpit sign and the red aircraft sign. A person would think that there may also be an original green and red version too? (There are repo or fantasy green and red aircraft globes out there)
Tyler and all the others who have contributed so far, you folks are doing an excellent job!!!!
I am not a Sinclair "Junky" but, I can now understand better why you folks have "fallen in Love" with Sinclair!
I hope to see more "goodies" from Sinclair....
Sinclair used a lot of decals back in the day. They also had some pump plates.
The common Dino pump plate
A red lettered Diesel plate
And the newer green lettered one
Some tin tacker signs. They were made without mounting holes. They were just nailed to the wall of a station and being made out of tin, a lot of them rusted or got all bent up. I try to put mine in frames to prevent them from getting all buggered up
Another small strip sign, think it is about a 42 inch one that was used on a truck
This is what is left of a flange sign. The bar logo was used for both oils and gasoline and was used for gasoline before the HC logo came out. The flange signs also were made with green lettering
A newer pipe line sign
I got this off of eBay a couple years ago. I think it is an original foreign sign but I may be wrong. It is heave porcelain and has nice shelving on it. A license plate topper
An assortment that followed me home from Iowa one year
Here is an old one. Several of these turned up in Illinois if i recall. I was runner up bidder on ebay. The winner took the unbroken ones and contacted me on the rest. Dad and my brother made the trip to pick them up. He had three left so we each ended up with one. They were used as part of a wall, along the roof line to advertise Sinco Oils. This should date them to before the bar logo
Getting ready to roll out for home at Columbia a couple years ago. The shows are a good place to see what is out there, find things for the collection and get in contact with other collectors
A plaque that was given to an employee when he retired. There is a paper taped to the back of it with the details. The bottom sign shows up from time to time. There are two sizes of the little ones like this. Beware of ones that have this logo that were cut out of a Dino pump plate or a well lease sign. The size will be off and there wont be any porcelain on the edges where it was cut.
Another HC globe. This logo was in use for several years. There are one piece baked and etched, three piece glass, lenses for Capco, light green and darker green colors and even lenses for 15 inch metal. Plus some have "tall" or "short" HC lettering, plus the repos of course.
Another Sinclair pump. Sinclair did not make the pump, it is just branded that way. This one was getting loaded up in the trailed for the ride back to Ohio. A 36B
One of the bigger two piece strip signs. Some had black shading on the letters, some do not. Got this one from T. B. at Peotone one year.
A couple 700 series Bennetts at a show
These show up some times. Think they are from Belgium. Two versions of this one also
When in Peotone for the show, it is a rule that we go to the Peotone Bier Stube and eat way to much. After about a dozen visits, I finally finished one of their schnitzels this trip!
We also used to go to the one Irish Pub down the road. The show used to be closer to St Patricks Day and we would stop in for a cold one before dinner. We didnt do that in a few years, my brother must be getting old...
While there, be on the lookout for the "Drunken Red Headed Irish Women"
A couple more pumps at the show
One of the local antique shops has a HC sign up front on display, NFS of course
Another pump I drug home, a Wayne 60
A couple cans. PD was Sinclairs bug spray. This can also was still with a wood shipping box
The Productos label would indicate the cans in this box was for the market South of the border. I have never seen a Productos can, would like to see pictures of one if anyone has any?
Sinclair had several different credit card signs, this is one of the newer ones
An old wood sign. They spelled Sinclair wrong
An HC sign and the test Tripple Check
With and without the black drop shade on the letters
These were both made with green or red letters
Another older credit card sign. The little strip sign below it doesnt show up very often
The Bar logo
Four foot Tripple check. This is the very sign that is shown on page 124 of the Sinclair collectables book by Benjamin and Henderson. Jackie had it hanging on the wall over the stairwell to his basement. Dad bought the sign, I got to climb the ladder up over the steps to get it down.
A couple different signs that were used on tire racks.
Another little porcelain strip sign, believed to have been used on the back bumper of a delivery truck
A station display for the anti rust RD-119. They had a couple different displays like this. One tube had a rusty metal bar in the glass tube to show how things can rust. The second tube have a rust free metal bar because it was in the RD-119
A tin tacker for Opaline motor oil
Men and Ladies rest room signs and globes
Sanitized rest room sign version one
and version two
Wes, very nice Sinclair collection..
Wow Wes I see you were quite busy today. What an amazing collection you have in your family. There were quite a few pieces I hadn't even seen till you posted. I have seen pictures of the Mexico Productos Chicken sign but never seen one in a collection, I think its a awesome sign. The oil can cart is super nice also and growing up farming I really like the dino farm sign which I hadn't seen. Thanks a lot for taking the time to post pictures and show some signs I myself and others may never get to see. Your contribution to COTM is well appreciated.
Wes, you and your family have one of the largest Sinclair collections I've ever seen. It is absolutely BEAUTIFUL! A lot of hard work has gone into that. I'm impressed.
Thanks to everyone who has posted, some awesome Sinclair items have been shown so far!
Seeing as "Dino" was the first word out of my mouth as a small child (no lie on that one, and I doubt that my mom has forgiven my dad for it yet) I've been fascinated with Sinclair stuff. My collection is not nearly as broad as the Maxwell family's, but has been focused on round Sinclair quarts so I thought I'd share a couple photos of them.
Over twenty years of searching has brought my collection to 76 different Sinclair quarts and there are at least few more on the want list!
Thanks
Aaron Hop
Thanks everyone for posting, here is some farm stuff
Description: Some Farm handbooks I picked up
Description: Only thing I own with the Sinclair Farm Tractor logo, a rain gauge
A 30 inch bar logo Oils. There were several different sizes of both the Oils and Gasoline signs with the bar logo
A wall of different well and warning signs, different color borders, different logos
A transition sign. Single sided tin. The guy is taking down the Sinclair sign to put up the new ARCO sign as shown by his uniform patch. Hard sign to finf in good condition
Another credit card sign with bracket and topper. The sign is DSP. There is another similar sign that the S doesn't drop down into the white. You can see the left side of that sign in the background
I like the way the pump and motor are painted on the Bennett. I think something is being lost with everyone gutting their pumps. (Besides extra weight)
Sinclair made a lot of different cans, globes and signs. It is easy for a new collector to find nice items in all price ranges from this company
Another old sign. I assume the lamps burning referes to carbide lights on old cars?
Covey was another company Sinclair bought out
There are a couple signsthat are duel branded, Sinclair and Goodyear
The red pricer sign
Three diffferent flange signs
Credit card application form holder
Two sizes of this sign, the 4 foot one
And the 6 footer
The pair, one has an S on the end of the word Lubricant
A newer sign
A 23 foot 3 piece neon sign
A 6 foot trapazoid Dino sign
Showing how a cookie cutter sign is different from the flat ones
Maybe Sinclair, maybe not?
Barge operator directions
Here is one you do not see very often. An unopened box of Sinclair vertical strip signs. Believed to be three cookie cutter signs. NOS. The signs are ink stamped with grandpas bulk plant on the back. Maybe the rare never seen Sinclair Aircraft signs?
Thanks for your effort , a great collection.
Enjoyed the tour.
Outstanding Wes and all!
Have only a few cans, cc clipboard and this Bennett.
I have a couple more pictures left in no real order.
Letters claimed to have been taken off of a Sinclair office building
This held cards with customers info on them. The stations could use it to call up Mrs Jones when her car needed an oil change
A home made sign from some old station
Sinclair also bought out Prairie Oil Company
Here is an old Sinco can
Imperial gallon. Sinclair had sales in several countries overseas
Acouple Iowa Gas finds one year
I only ever saw three signs like this. There is a section on the top that never had porcelain on it. All the ones I saw like this had the blank section. I assume it was for a station specific name to be added in by the dealer? I took mine to a local sign painter and had dads name put in the blank
An old Missouri license plate. In Ohio, ARCO bought out Sinclair and used some of the same type "pump plates"
Dad checking out a sign
Tough to find coupons sign
Part of the enjoyment of collecting petro is setting up a nice place to display it. This is a before picture
A get ready picture picture
A during shot
It will never be done but you get the idea. I have a small display. A lot of stuff packed into a small area. I have seen some collections just being piles of signs and stuff and some fantastic displays.
ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh.....I like that outdoor sign & post!
My first pump... And my first post.
Wes I knew you had a lot of stuff but wow is all I got. Thanks to everyone posting so far what a great thread this has been for the last three months. No bickering just great people showing great stuff keep it up.
Randy, that is one RARE & KILLER sign and in EXCELLENT condition. Never seen that sign before. Your sign has a longer neck, 4 groments vs. 6, tail spacing between banner, white border vs. black border, and more...
There is a difference. Are both these signs original?
Ron, also another difference, diameter of mine is 16"
in diameter. I believe Wes's is 12" in diameter..
Couple more pictures to post ths afternoon
A Bennett 700 series pump
One way to display pumps, make a 2x4 frame
Wire it up for power
Paint it, set the pumps on it and run the power cord for the pump lights straight down and plug it into the receptacle in the base. The pump will sit higher than it would sit on the floor, sort of like as if it was on a pump island
An old add for Erie pumps
More pumps on a "pump island"
Back side of a"sign" that was used in a wall
Front side. Dad had his Amish neighbor make a frame for this out of some wood from an old cherry tree that grew on the old farmstead. Not sure if grandpa ate the cherry and planted the seed or not
A Bennett double
Some pump faces from a newer chrome era pump
Pricer box
An original aircraft globe that was all washed out. A guys mom repainted it a few years ago.
An original globe body with a decal on it. Sinclair used several different decal'd bodies in the early days
A nice clean etched Gasoline. There were also baked versions as well as baked and etched Oils and three piece Gasolines
A NOS baked HC, they dont get any nicer than this one
Three piece HC. Some were darker green, some were for glass, some CAPCO. A lot of different HC globes were made
Truck stop sign
ATF keg
Misc cans... I used to collect tin beer signs, some had nice graphics and they were a lot cheaper
Map rack
National had Sinclair addglass in some of it's A-38 pumps. They made HC and Power X versions, possibly others. The chalk board on the wall was used at grandpas old bulk plant to leave messages for people in the days before two way radios and cell phones
The can in the center is made out of a treated cardboard, probably made during WWII. One would think there would also be a Pennsylvania version of it out there too
Macaroni checking out the shine
Grease cans
More cans
License plate topper, beware of fakes on ebay
Here is a picture of the one sign that I posted earlier that had the blank spot at the top that never had porcelain on it. I had a sign painter put dads name on it
And how most of them are finished
These two do not show up very often, single sided tin
The small size. Around 12 inches. Again, beware of fakes. They also made 16, 24 and 30 inch ones of these
Side by side
Product bag
Green letters
Red
Version one of the Power X globe
And the other two
The Dino globe. I remember seeing these in use when I was a little kid
The newer version of the HC. There are two different versions, one has block letters for the word Sinclair, one has italics
Sinclair Dino bank, most were the green plastic ones
An italics lettered Diesel globe. There was also a block lettered version and some were darker green, glass and CAPCO
As seen at a show
Sinclair was bought out by ARCO in a lot of areas east of the Mississippi in around 1969 or so. A delivery truck driver dropped off some plastic signs at dads bulk plant once that were sort of like the below sign without the heating oil part. They were blue, said Sinclair on them where the below sign has ARCO and had the red design on the right as shown below. The truck driver then picked them up the next trip and took them back. Does anyone have a picture of a sign like I am talking about?
Bringing home porcelain from a show
From a show. The sphere globes do not show up very often
This chrome pump followed me home from Iowa Gas one year. I remember these being used back in the day
Another "pump plate" from the newer chrome pumps. There are several different ones
The south end of a north bound delivery truck
A pair of curb signs. The Opaline sing can be found with 4 mounting holes for the ring type base as shown with the HC sign or two mounting holes only at the base for the trough type base. I think the 2 hole version is the later of the two
A can cart...
Needs two of these and a buch of cans to complete it
I hung the truck section on the wall..
Put on a pair of signs...
And use it to store 5 gallon buckets
One sign on the can cart, another one goes on the other end. Also shown is an original rest room sign stand.
Opaline rocker can
Standing dino rocker. Sinclair used decals on some of its rocker cans
Pocket mirror
A nice straight Wayne 70 I picked up at a show. Already under primer. I had it painted red and white and put a Sinclair globe on it
As seen at a show
Some Sinclair banners
From an old pump?
The 70 getting put back together
Plastic and metal banks. I gave away a few of the plastic ones, may get someone else into the hobby
Some people put tape on the lenses to keep them from moving when transporting globes
Curb sign base. I have seen several Sinclair oils bases, do not recall seeing a Sinclair gasoline base
The mens sign is not Sinclair, think it is Associated
Parco was another company that Sinclair bought out. There was a big refinery in Parco Wyoming and the town was renamed to Sinclair when they were bought out. I was at the refinery once in about 2005 when dad, my brother and his son and I were on a road trip to Salt Lake City to pick up a pair of tripple check signs
A ladies rest room sign, I have two, would trade one for a mens sign
15 inch HC on metal.
Making a new globe shelf
Wire it up
Hang it on the wall. (Make sure you do not drill into the wiring behind the pine boards when you go to put up the brackets or you will get sparks and an outlet that no longer works, so I am told...)
Put them up and light em up!
A liter can from Germany. I saw a matching sign once on ebay with this logo.
Sinclair had a lot of different things in it's day and a lot of nice stuff can be found. Almost every show has cans, signs and globes for sale. You just need to step up to the plate on the better stuff
My gasoline sign on display the day I bought it from Butch. Butch is a good guy to have in the hobby
Glass panels for an oil can rack
Pairs are nice
NOS in the box
Plastic with sticky tape on the back. Probably used ona station window.
Made a frame for it and lit it up
Sinclair street sign from Columbus Ohio. I was told there was a big Sinclair bulk plant on that street
One of my latest Sinclair buys
Some more..
Description: Store from Durham, NC in 1947
More oldies
Description: Check out the double lubester cart sitting in the center island. You can still see the square opaline sign mounted on it that appears to be painted over
Description: Very early photo
Description: Sinclair Circus parade on State Street, Ann Arbor 1939
Description: Sinclair Race Team gas truck, was used in parades... notice the brass hand rails around the tank
Productos Sinclair station in Mexico...
The first photo an old station the others are replica stations rebuilt by people who love to live the past.
Description: 25 miles west of Springfield, MO on Historic Route 66.
(3 miles west of Halltown on Old 66) Gary's Gay Parita. Loves for tourist to visit. Has a website garysgayparita.com
Description: Another pic of Gary Turner's replica station lit up with neon
Description: Here is a replica station built by a man who lives close by me, I have always liked this style station myself.
Next time I'm in the Springfield area I will have to stop that is awesome
Heck of a collection Wes! Can you show more of your 60's Dino era can and collectable items. That will give me a goal to shoot for. I love that stuff!
Here is some old gas receipts I have and a Sinclair file box..
Description: June 30, 1919
Description: May 23, 1919
Couple more things from my collection...
Description: Old gas station calendar
Description: Dino coin banks
Description: Toy Marx Sinclair fuel oil tractor trailer truck
I have lived 25 miles from Halltown,MO for 58 years and never knew that Gary Turner had that station there....I go right by on I-44 at least 3-4 times a month and never even think about the old road through town. That's what the interstate highway system has done to us....I need to get out more.
Here's a very few items that have not already been posted. The green-white Power X bank is kinda rare. I have at one time had another of these and I have seen maybe one or two more. Either Sinclair or an individual dealer had decals made to go over the HC which can be seen through the decal if you look closely.
The dinosaurs are from 1964-1965 if I remember correctly. They are just figures made out of plastic, not banks as the green dino's usually are.
The man bank is probably just a fantasy piece. I had to have it because it has my name on it.
The Sinclair Refinery Co. sign is wooden with green background and gold leaf letters. If you look on page eleven of this thread, the ninth picture from the bottom shows a station from the 1920's-1930's that has this sign hanging on the front of the building just above the door. Sundropman posted the picture on March 10. Hope you all enjoy.....Dale
Here's a picture of my Power-X 541 Bennett, also....Dale
These pumps looks awesome, wonder if any survived...
Description: 1964 Super Service Station, Check out those Rocket looking pumps
Here are a few more things I have in the garage. I am getting ready to restore the lubester in a few weeks, I'll post some pictures when finished.
Description: 2 cardboard signs that would have hung outside at the pump islands
Description: Sinclair Lubester with embossed lids that I started sandblasting on for restoration
Description: Lubester sign, one on both sides of lubester
This is probably my favorite piece out of my collection.This Sinclair charger that still works. I water sanded the porcelain sign with 2000 grit sand paper and it took the blue over spray off and cleaned up well leaving only a small chipped spot. I had a friend of mine restore it and also without me knowing he was going to do it, cut a piece of plexiglass and heated it until he formed it like the original cracked piece and it came out perfect.
Description: Plexiglass has to be made because the old one was cracked
Description: Sinclair font on side of charger was hand painted
What a great charger--1950's?
Thank you, charger dates back to early 1930s
Near mint:
Thanks everyone who has contributed to Sinclair COTM. If anyone else has something please share it with us. I have just a few pictures left to share....
Description: Sinclair Swihart spinner clock
Description: Most recent purchase Sinclair oil can, 2 dino soap bars, and a key chain.
Description: Old cloth Sinclair pennant that would of hung to attract attention
The collection
I picked up these early cloth pennants at Hershey this year. Had not seen them before.
Here is a friend of mines shop that lives a little west of me. He called this morning and was going to bring me two visibles that I am going to redo for him in Sinclair so he can put them on the right near the tree ,he said they were not coming due to the weather so I asked him to e mail me photos and told him I wanted to share with the old gas crew ,I hope I got the right pictures , still learning to find correct pics and cant figure out the pic preview yet , I think he did a wonderful job hope you enjoy.
Very Handsome--Thanks for sharing!
Great photos from everyone!!! Tyler, you are doing an excellent job on this thread!!
Personally, I especially like the different stations that enthusiasts have "put together"!...
Dennis those pennants are awesome, I like how each one of them is different..... Travis your friend has a super nice Sinclair man cave, that is very similar to what I want one day behind my house.... Thanks Bob for the compliments, means a lot.
I know it keeps being said but thank you to all the members for making this thread great again. Also thank you to our guest host for the last three months they have a done a wonderful job. If any one else would like to host for a month let me know and we will make it happen. A new COTM starts on Monday so if there is any Sinclair items left post them.
NoChevys will be the guest host for the month of April should be another great month
I would like to see the Company of the months updated over time so collectors can have a one stop place to get info. I know Sinclair was done once before but looking at that thread a lot of the pictures no longer show up. I had a few more things to add since I last posted here.
Opening up dads box of signs. The newspaper between them was dated June of 1941 if I recall from Chicago
Couple more cans
I would like to see the Company of the months updated over time so collectors can have a one stop place to get info. I know Sinclair was done once before but looking at that thread a lot of the pictures no longer show up. I had a few more things to add since I last posted here.
In the COTM features years ago, many pictures were hosted on sites like Photobucket where the pictures are dropped after a while. Now we have our internal File Manager Attachment system for images. There are no plans to ever delete images from our hosting unless there are not compliant with the forum Guidelines.
Sounds good Jim. Not trying to cause you more work but....
It would be nice if there was a seperate category for all of the Company of the months so they would be easier to find instated of searching through the Showcases and stories to find them. Just an idea
Couple more pictures, sorry if some are duplicates;
The Four Brothers company was bought out by Sinclair. This can is before the buy out I think
And this one is duel branded and would be after the buy out
Sinclair also bought out the Cudahy Refining Company out of Kansas City. They kept the Opaline brand name. I know where a matching half gallon can is, there might also be a gallon can and others?
In the 1960s the Pan Am sulfur Company (PASCO) had part ownership in Sinclair.
And a sign like this was posted in the COTM before but this one is in a lot better condition so here it is again. Double sided porcelain with two different logos on it. Probably about the 1930s time frame?
Just an ashtray here, great stuff everyone!
My little Station/Museum. Gradually getting there. About through with the inside, then start loading up with all the stuff in storage.
Love that station...Great job Blair, Awesome !!
Sinclair Ad Glass
heres a porcelain double side 22 inch sign made in usa
Here is a can from the Cudahy Refining Company that matches the sign several post back. Half gallon, does anyone have a gallon? Cudahy had the Opaline name that Sinclair kept when they bought out Cudahy.
Also a standing dinosaur five gallon bucket.
This shovel has a plate on it about the ground breaking ceremony at the Sinclair research center in Tulsa Oklahoma. It has the mayors name down as James Maxwell if I recall. If you are a Sinclair collector named Maxwell this would be a must have item almost.
Also some tin give away type ashtrays from Sinclair dealers.
A few more cans. Most of the earlier pictures were big group shots.
Sinclair had PD bug spray, so named because it did Police Duty protecting you from bugs. Some had different concentrations of DDT.
Very nice bug spray cans and sprayers. Those insectiside tins are my weakness.
Mike
Sinclair gave out a lot of pinbacks and badges.
A couple salesman sample kits.
Couple globes, the block lettered and italics versions of the HC and the Marine globes.
Couple more thermometers. The one is for a tobacco barn. It is from Goldsboro North Carolina where I was stationed 10 years in the Air Force at Seymour Johnson AFB.
Some aircraft/ turbo cans and marine products.
Some grease cans.
Here are 7 different Sinclair salt & pepper shaker sets.
3 of the sets have red tops, 4 sets have white tops.
Heres mine
Unusual light up sign on my station. Came from Jackie!
I wondered who got that one.
Wes looking back through your post you ask about the wood shiping box, had anyone seen the gallon can. You could very well be looking for a can that only reads Pierce oil co.S.A.. I have found some items mostly paper that proves they retained the Pierce Oil CO. S.A. in Mexico. Used along with the Rooster logo.How long? Still working on that. Check out this completed ebay listing 261796905164- 1930 sinclair map of Mexico. Hey maybe you won it!
Hope this helps.
...
I think it is cool that there are more things added as time goes on. So here are a couple of mine.
I have these pieces in my collection, the box with the little flags I have no idea as to what purpose it had. It's dated Jan 13th 1938.
It also appears that Sinclair marked the globes as what lens were intended to be placed on them?
Wes you have an amazing collection and it's always fun to see what you have added to it!
Grandpa Miller had the local Sinclair bulk plant back in the day along with his business partner Clyde Miller. When they retired, my dad and another guy bought them out and took over. I posted some pictures earlier, here are a few more I copied from slides last week.
First ones are from a flood that happened over the 4th of July, 1969
You can see the top part of a Dino globe sticking up from the water, it was attached to a Bennett 700 series pump I think.
Awesome! Love the pictures and wish I had the globes.
Wes great photos thanks for the story! Scott B.
Couple more pictures tonight. Most people are familiar with the cans shown on the can rack sign. From the 1960's, cardboard cans. Not an expensive can, probably more collectable to a Sinclair collector than a quart can collector. I got the three center cans in the second picture today. They are metal and instead of being a full quart, they are instead 1/8 gallon size. Never saw them before. Plus the can on the far right is plastic. I have seen a similar Texaco before if I recall. You never know what will turn up next.
Neat sign. Totally Flintstone.
Couple more pictures to keep the thread alive.
The High Compression sign showed up a few months ago in Texas if I recall. Never saw it in person but it looks right to me. It was later shown in PCM magazine. Experimental design? There is also a matching globe out there if I recall.
The three one piece globes are from Scott B's web site. The smaller size ones are not very common.
The Rest room curb sign is coming up for auction soon. I got the picture from eBay. I saw the sign before, never saw them displayed this way before. Could be original?
These two are from Bob Drake. The Triple Check collection. The 6 foot round signs are the most common from what I have seen. The 4 foot rounds also show up sometimes. I never saw the third sign in person. I have seen several pictures of them from back in the day. Experimental signs used in 5 cities as a test design between the HC logo and the trapezoid Dino sign they changed to.
The porcelain panels are also different as they have the letters in the panels, instead of hanging a sign on the building.
(Nice display Bob)
I also have station panels that have "washing" and "lubrication" on them. They're all from the same Sinclair station. If anyone knows the era they were put into use I'd like to know.
I agree the 6' triple check is the more common of the three versions. I've upgraded the 6' since that picture was taken. (Thanks Wes and Mark).
As far as I know that's the only trapezoid triple check sign. I'd be interested in upgrading if a better one turns up.
Like Wes said, the triple check logo was experimental. It was used in a few markets from 1956 through '59. I've seen a picture of a Sinclair station with triple check signage in use as late as 1961.
There are two versions of triple check globes as well. They're even tougher to find than the triple check signs.
Couple things that showed up at the Missouri show this past weekend. The decal was on a salesman's sample kit.
The pricer curb sign is one I never saw before. Power-X and HC, would be from the 1950s I would think. It also came with a box of red numbers to show the price per gallon.
Haven't posted anything in this thread lately. This came up on Facebook the other day, two different Dino globes. Minor difference for sure but goes to show how many different types of globes Sinclair used. One has the circled R, the other one doesn't. I think the plain one is the most common.
Here's a Sinclair coin bank.
Finally got my bar logo Hc gasoline sign in a ring and on display. It was hanging on the wall, I like it better displayed like this.
This is one I have.
Amazing thread here is my best sinclair find.
Don't have much Sinclair this is what I have
I just joined this site today - very impressed with this thread. Outstanding stuff !!!
I basically collect Sinclair "smalls" and Sinclair ephemera from the 1960's. I'm relatively new to collecting petroliana - starting in 2015.
Here are some pics of my Sinclair "smalls" collection.
I also have a Sinclair ephemera collection from the 1960's - which includes some dealer items: "Free Dino Soap" dealer poster, "Trip n Travel /Prize-o-Rama" dealer poster, '59-'66 Annual Reports, Mini Bag of Dinos promo sheet, and a consumer Dinosaur Stamp album/booklets '59.
I also collect all ephemera related to the 1964-65 New York World's fair Sinclair Dinoland exhibit: all 13 official Postcards, "Thanks for Visiting Dinoland - Free Gallon" coupons, "Exiting World of Dinosaurs" Brochures ('64-65, '66, '67), "I Visited Dinoland" stickers, "Dino News" (published by Sinclair) cross section of press coverage for 1963-64, Magazine Articles and Ads about/advertising Dinoland, Jay DeBow Press Packet with 8x10 glossy's covering Dinosaur Barge ride down Hudson River to the World's Fair, "Dinoland Model Unveiling" brochure, and an early version brochure called "Dinosaur Watchers Guide", plus hundreds of images of the Dinoland dinosaurs from when they were first created at Louis Paul Jonas Studios - down the Hudson River - in Dinoland during construction before the World's Fair was opened - and many color images of them at the fair while open - as well as many images of the "Dinoland on Tour" exhibits at malls and parking lots across the country in 1966 and 1967.
I know my Sinclair smalls and ephemera collection is tiny in comparison to the collections that many of you have posted pics of here, but at this point in time I don't have the necessary funds or space required to get the big signs and cans that I envy all of you guys for having. I'm glad this site exists so I can at least see them all. Thanks for posting !!