Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums Petroliana Value Questions Value of Chevrolet Dealer's Clock (Neon)

This clock came from the Warner & Wirtz dealership out of New Freedom PA where it hung in the front window - my Father first saw the clock there in 1952. It was obtained by my father's Uncle in 1970 from Warner & Wirtz, after it ceased working and was in a trash can. The Uncle then took it home and blew it out at which time it started working again. He gave it to my Father in 1972 for his business (automotive shop). It has hung in the shop since then, has never been repaired, or messed with in any way. It has run continuously since 1972, barring the rare power outage. Dad never unplugged it. It ran 24/7 all the time I've known it (45 years).

No sunlight (at least the 46 years my Father has had it) shined on it so the colors are fairly bright and clean. However I reckon that it hung at least 20 years in the dealership front window. Now that Dad's retiring, he gave me the clock.

How much should this be insured for? I am also curious about the marks, would "1 49" mean - made January of 1949?

Any advice appreciated.





Back markings:

the pictures are pretty bad. these clocks surface quite often and value really depends on the condition of the case and if the original paint is in good condition, etc.

without seeing the clock with better lighting, it could be worth anywhere $700-1500

Yeah those pics were just ones I show to show someone at work the neon lit. Here's some I took before it was hung in better light and detail.

It looks like something was removed between the 10 and the 2. Nice clock still.

When in use back in the day, it would have had a plate between the 10 and 2 with the name of the local Chevrolet dealer. Often seen with the plate missing.

Very nice example of the Chevrolet dealership "TIME" clock! The market for any of these collectibles often gets inflated because of a few random high sales, but this is a very nice example and short of missing the dealership plate, its in excellent condition! I recently bought one of these with the dealership plate intact and in the same shape as yours. It was on the market for over 2 months and hadn't sold yet when I bought it for $1200. I subsequently sold it to a good friend for the same money because it meant a lot to him and was just a nice clock to me. I feel the $1200 purchase price was under retail for a clock of this caliber and realistically, it should sell around the $1600 dollar mark in this condition and complete. I don't know how much to value the missing tag, but a value should be placed on it too. The final value is something that only you can determine and its that amount that it would take to release ownership of it (if there was a willing buyer).
These collectibles are a volatile item as far as value and can vary from collector to collector--area to area-- and region to region! One thing is assured, you have a nice clock with some family history--Hang onto it!!

I just paid $800 for one w/o the dealer name plate.The dealer call out ones bring the most,and if it's one a buyer recognizes,it can peak over 1K.
I'd say realistically $600-$800 on yours,based on what I've seen for sale @ Peotone,Iowa & Ohio recently.

Thanks for the info fellas. I think a good insurance number is probably 2k. That way, over time I don’t have to worry about it. It’s not going anywhere but to be passed down the family line.

Also, I’ve not seen one without the blue in the bow tie, and just the orange outline. Is that common?

Nice old clock and great story! If you look closely you will see that the Chevrolet lettering in your clock is faintly visible in the bowtie. It appears for some reason this has faded out over the years. I have included an image of what these clocks "normally" look like. Based on this I would say you are well covered insured it at $2k, in my opinion a true market value would be more like half of that.

Here is a picture of mine with the name plate.

Indeed, I did see that on mine, but what puzzles me is that it's the same blue as the numbers and yet they are unaffected. I owned a sign business where we did a lot of restoration work on old signs that involved color matching of old paints and I've never seen such absolute obliteration of a color that dark. It's puzzling the ***** out of me.

As far as the name plate goes, I could easily fabricate one - with Warner - Wirtz. But I'd like to have a good photo of it in the window there to at least get a peek at it. I'm currently trying to track down former owners or their families for photos, or against all hope, the actual plaque.

Again - thanks for the help guys.

Repop plates are available. Waynes clocks may have them and possibly Petrorelics. Id try petro relics first. The edges are turned down on the plates. Ive seen lots of different layouts and font sizes and even some slogans on the plates. i have a repop plate somewhere . if it turns up, Ill get a picture and exact size for you. I wonder if the blue flaked off? It wasnt painted over? Id get that restored
PS -yes -thats the date your clock was made .
PSS. Heres another I have to show you how faded it is and how the painting on the numbers seemed to hang in there.