Art & Inspiration Old Signs

Here's one on Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA. Too bad some d-bag tagged it.

 

Here is one from 1964 I picked up recently.
The Garage sign I made and also the Auto Races sign.

 

Here's a few that I've drug home. the NHRA sign is from Niagara Drag Strip. Hubbas was a gas & service station along the Blackrock canal in Buffalo (service cars out front & boats out the back), late 20's. The Goodbody sign is all cut plexiglass, think it was dental supply but not sure

 

Not sure why only one of three posted... Take two

 

Maybe its the darn ipad... Last of three

 

Another nice one from Klamath Falls, OR.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/vintageroadside/9035482146/" title="Give us 1 day... by Vintage Roadside, on Flickr"></a>

 

Time to light up the friday! I saved this one one year ago. It havent been electrified for over 40 years they told me.


It has been on the roof since 1956, but the guys at the tyre center thought it might have been moved from the "old" place so it is maybe even older. I have found aeropicture from 1959 that verifies, it was there!

All the tubes looked ok and after som hassle with the electric on the six meter long sign, it lightened up! Gonna move it to a better place like the roof of my workshop, but i need my friend with his cranetruck, its BIG
Friday greetings from Sweden

 

Glad to see this thread back up! I've been collecting Bonneville Salt Flats signs. Tough to find, and the salt flats is a place that has lots of meaning to me. Anyway, I have a few cool salt flats pieces I've found over the years....

Gilmore Gasoline "Bonneville Flat Utah" from 1937



Frontier/Beeline gas "Official Gasoline at the Salt Flats" from the late 1960's



One of my prized posessions, Covey Oil 6 foot porcelain with the salt flats streamliner.



If any of you have vintage salt flats stuff you are willing to let go, PM me!

Mac

 

OH, MY GOD! I MUST HAVE IT!

 

W. M. Miller Garage, Monida ID
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Way up on the old road on the continental divide between Idaho and Montana. This was around mile 950 or so on a 1700 mile trip. The A-bone is stock.

BTW the lens 'glow' is on purpose. 4X5 film and a 1910's portrait lens that has that effect.

 

wow great thread!

 

Let me think about that........ NO!

 

Big Mac:

I spoke with you at the last L.A. Roadsters deal and you showed me a picture of your Mobile Gasoline sign and told me the story of it's rarity ... the folks following this thread would find it interesting.

Thanks for sharing.

 

These signs were made in the 1950's (mine is dated '56) by a local company named Covey Oil. They produced two styles; the "all red" version above and one with a white background in the circle behind the streamliner. The red is more scarce. They only produced a few of these. I think the number is less than 30 total. They stopped because they were sued by Mobil (the mobil with the pegasus logo) for using the word "MOBILE" on the sign. The didn't make anymore of these after that, and they took all the existing signs that were being used and drilled holes in them to mount a plate over the word "mobile" so it would now say "covey". If you ever see another one of these, look at the top. There will be 10-12 holes drilled in it. That is why. I believe because these were "screw ups" most of them were trashed. There's only a few still known to exist. I know of 2 in local collections, one in a collection back east, and another recently went to auction in the chicago area. The one that went to auction was the white version and in very rough condition with lots of damage and touch up. That's it. I don't know of any others that exist.

My is extremely unusual due to 3 things:
1- rare red background
2- fantastic condition
3- Somehow, this sign survived through all of that without ever being drilled for the covey plate.

So add all that up, and it's a pretty cool sign to us weird sign collector guys.

Mac

 

We travel the back roads of America, looking to buy rusty gold... before it was popularized by the TV show

 

Has anyone seen JESSIE JIVE? It was about 12' long, 18-30" tall, and had Dr.Pepper or Coke logos on either side of the name. (memory) Last in my possession in Aspen, Colorado area. You won't forget this one. I got it off of an OLD convenience store in Houston in the 60s and displayed it for years. Please send me a PM if you ever see it. Thanks. Rob Frazier

 

I've virtually just started my sign collection, but it is growing...




Posted using my Lil' Orphan Annie Secret Society Decoder Pin

 

Just picked this one up today. I've never seen one this style. All the letters were hand hammered to create a reflective surface when your lights shine on it. Very interesting. I'm guessing it's from the 1930s but I'm still doing a little research to find out for sure. Ogden Utah is where my dad grew up, so it has a little extra meaning to me. I love this stuff!

 

Here's one from a local Chevy dealer that's been there as long as I can remember!

 

Ain't that a BEAUTY! Almost looks like turned gold. Is the panel itself made of polished brass or does it have some sort of gold finish applied to it?

Nice find! Can't say I've ever seen another one made quite like this.

 

Very cool, i like it. Lee

 

You have a great collection of signs, very nice colours to them. Lee

 

Love the NHRA sign but that set of staging lights is very cool, are they an original set from a racetrack or just made up? Lee

 

So much history connected to old signs from years ago.

Thanks to everyone who shared their signs with the rest of us.

Jimbo

 

I have a couple over here in Australia, but i also purchased a few when i was in America last year.

 

This sign i wanted to bring home but i think it would of upset some people.

 

Boyd came to Australia in 2003 and signed these for anyone that bought his wheels.