Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion Poll: How old are the collectors in our hobby?

I'm going to be 69 next month. I missed this and Dick Benett sent it to me. For good or bad Dick had a lot to do with my getting in or at least staying in. For those that don't know Dick, he's one of the nicest (unless he's in a bad mood which dosen't happen much anymore) and most knowledgable guys I know. I think that's what you call a two fisted complement. My wife and I started collecting antiques in the late 1960's and she opened an antique store here in Carpinteria in the 1970's. We used to travel, towing a U Haul trailer, back into the Mid West buying oak furniture and I honestly don't remember even seeing any gas & oil stuff during all those trips. Sometime in the late 1980's we were traveling the east coast and I had gotten, I think from my first meeting with Dick the bug to buy a gas globe. We had come through Kansas and I had found two mint, in the box, Texaco globes. I asked at a gas station in Penn. if he had or knew of any globes and he said you should have been here last week we had the Carslie Flea Marketbut Hershey opens tomorrow. We decided to go to Hershey and I ended up shipping a Fry Mae West 5 gallon home (cost me $100 to ship and I think $250 to buy0. I didn't do anything else until about 1992 when all Hell broke loose and I started BUYING and it hasn't stopped. I've met some of the most interesting, you all, people in the world and as you know sold my sign collection, all 250 pieces this past summer and since then have bought 25 more...Here we go again

I'm 23. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

yeah right!!,and my moms been 29 for 40 years!!LOL

I was encouraged by another member to tell a little bit about myself in this thread. So here it is...

Just turned 35, only collect items of the Gilmore Oil Co. Why?… my last name is Gilmore. Not sure when I officially started collecting, just know I was young. That is, if you call having reproduction/novelty items collecting even. As long as I can remember, my dad always had (repro) Gilmore signs, photos, toys and globes and I always had street rod shirts with Gilmore logos on them. Friends and kids at school would always ask me what “Roar With Gilmore” meant. :-)

My father got me interested in racing, old cars, gas pumps and Gilmore. Since he was a kid, he had always been messing with and fixing/ restoring old cars. He was involved in racing (mechanic on pit crews) at local Chicagoland tracks in the ‘60s and eventually owned a performance speed shop. Believe it or not, my mothers aunt raced cars in the area in the '50s - '60s and was quite successful. She was known as Flyin' Flo Nelson and looked every bit the typical grandma with her white hair and way she dressed (the old school grandma look). Our garage was always a shop atmosphere with cars and car parts all over. My friends father was part owner of a family owned body shop and had a shop in his house garage. That was my “home away from home.” Many an old car, street rod and gas pump was restored there. Growing up, our vacations every summer were planned around driving the current old car somewhere and always had a stop at some car show/ swap meet. Dad knew about a prewar west coast gas company named Gilmore and knew of them racing and winning the Indy 500 but didn’t know much else until he'd seen an article on Gilmore Oil history that appeared in a late ‘70s - early ‘80s mag called OLD CAR ILLUSTRATED. I believe that’s about the time when he seen Gilmore stuff in gas pump restoration catalogs like Weber’s and likely when his “addiction” started.

For me, it wasn’t until 12 years ago, when I bought an ERTL Gilmore tanker truck on ebay, that I noticed, bid on and won a Lion Head can. That was my first “real” item. Noticed some old race car photos at that time, with Gilmore livery on them, bid on those and won them too. Since then I have acquired a few more photos, about 400! I collect everything Gilmore but old photographs and paper ephemera are my main direction in collecting. For the last few years I have been researching newspapers and trying to document the history of the Gilmore Co…. little by little. I may have a problem!

I am 58, My grand dad had a Ford Dealership in Eastern Colorado in the 30's. I found some pictures of him and the dealership with 37 Fords and a Texaco pump in front of his shop. In the 40's he had Conoco stations. I started collecting because of him. My wife knew I was interested in the stuff and bought a restored Wayne 60 done up in Conoco for my birthday 10 years ago! That really got it started. My handle is Ducecpe and I owned a Custom Blown 32 Ford 3 window coupe. I built a shop to build more street rods with my son, well you can guess what happened after that first gas pump! No more street rods just a shop full of PUMPS, SIGNS, GLOBES and every thing else that goes with this SICKNESS! Best of all is my wife loves it and my son aged 36 is an active collector here too.
Ric

I am 62 been collecting since 1985. Owned service station for 17 years

Actually, me getting into this hobby was a love of a Gilbert And Barker T-176 . I was maybe 6 at the time . Dang thing fascinated me as gasoline was pumped into a Blue cylinder . I guess I started collecting the "Premiums" at about age 8. I started collecting roadmaps at around 12. I'm 62 now .
Heck , I aint stopping . Ed Shaver

78 years old--did 30 years with Shell-started in 1967.Bought my first Shell globe for $20.00 at a bulk plant in Patterson Ca.in 1972.Passed it on to a good friend for-----$20.00!!

Im 53- Started garage sailing and flea marketing when I was just a kid with my parents. Found my first Mazda lamps display -which I still have, when I was around 10 or so. Got into collecting antique advertising pretty heavy when my wife got bitten by the bug about 15-18 years ago. We both like anything cool-Barber-Soda Gas-whatever. Signs-displays-anything goes. Crazy. Now she has a good nose for Coke (the drink) but likes petroliana too. I started with lots of country store stuff but gravitated towards mostly gas and oil now a days..

69 , Started buying , scavanging , collecting and selling when I was 14. Worked in auto garages 47 years , so anything automotive interests me.

I'm 26 and I'm going on my 27th on July 7th, I started nearly 4 years ago by buying my first wallbox after I went to san francisco, now I'm into petroliana with a preference in brands like shell, BP, Texaco and caltex, I'm also into soda pop with early coke items, I also collect americana items ( car hood ornaments, microphones, bakelite radios, wallbox, bottles, pedal car, ... )

I am 15 and started when I was 13. I couldn't have started in a better hobby!!! I collect anything gas and oil. And i like the old metal boxes with graphics on them too.

I am 50. And dont slap me to hard, but I kind of owe my finding this hobby to "American Pickers" show. Of course I had seen gas pumps and things aroud but it was that show introducing me to the signs and things that really got me wanting to look into this. Then my wife and I were at a large antique show last spring and I bought a Sunoco PPP and a beat up oiler.

I am 59. I have been visually documenting cars, gas and oil stuff for years but education, family and work delayed my ability to fully engage in the hobby. I am a fan of Canadian Pickers (don't slap me either) and went to their auction and bought a few items thinking I could turn them over and lo and behold I still own them! Two years into this and looking forward to more, I just need to get my wife as engaged as Steve's. It makes bring the signs into the house and garage easier!
Fred