Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums Showcase and Stories, Petroliana Orange Rotating 76 Ball Hidden in plain site

This Orange 76 Rotating Ball was painted over in the late 80s when it was closed and became a small used car dealership

I recently went by to see if the ball and pole were still there and it was

of course all the car salesmen were wondering what I was doing taking photos, I asked if the Ball was for sale and was told that the owner won't sell it

I learned long ago to never believe a car salesman

so I'm going to find out thru public records who owns the property and let them know how I remember the sign as a kid and would like to restore it to its former glory

Wish me luck

Good luck, Orcutt! That's an ambitious project!

It Never hurts to ask, and you can see the white paint is already coming off,

These balls are painted from the inside,

The White paint has probably preserved the inside paint, removing the paint from the outside will take time , but with some buffing it will look New

If there is a problem with the inside paint a good sign painter can fix that

I'm hoping the owner thinks the same thing, "That it's a mess and good luck with repairs"

IF YOU NEVER ASK THE ANSWER IS ALWAYS "NO" LEARNED THAT AS A TEENAGER!!

I drive by this one all the time in my area. As I am not from this area I accepted the story that it was the old Seattle PI newspaper ball. Just googled that and that ball was 30 feet in diameter coming in at 13.5 tons. I don't see any signs of orange on this ball so I am not sure of its real history.

Maybe it was a mini Seattle PI ball somewhere else.

Jim, Have you asked the owner about the history of the ball? If you look at the base, it sure looks the same as the 76 sign - a lot more so than the newspaper sign. Certainly worth asking about!

Wow that s a BIG ball , Thanks for sharing