Between 705 & 1200 SQ/FT 1928 Sinclair

[gas and guns]

Ok, hold my beer.
Here we go. Been checking out the garage journal for quite some time. First I'd like to say hello to all.
Every time I log in I get the message "our records indicate you have not made your first post, say hello" .
So I'll show some pics of my gas station. Its a work in progress.

 

[Bighead38]

That has potential to be awesome.

 

[Grizz1963]

Welcome.

I love Sinclair.

I love Sinclair a lot.

Spoke to their legal department Salt Lake City years ago, to get permission to use their logos on a 1963 Ford Taunus Transit van I was doing.


Looking forward to you sharing a lot more on here.


Potential and Progress Is all you need.

 

[twistedstang]

Welcome. I've admired your place for years. I'm in Lexington

 

[gas and guns]

Had to replace my front door. I wanted it to match the original. 150 mile round trip for one on craigs list. Had to add 1 1/2" width and 1" in height. Then i built a full 1 1/2" jam.
My buddy jokes that I bought an 80 dollar door and put $600 labor into it.

 

[gas and guns]

Thanks guys. The place was built by my great uncle in 1928.
I bought it in 1985. Pumped gas under the Boron name for a few years.
It has quite a history. It started out as a Standard oil gas station. I believe they designed the "house and canopy gas station". A few years later, my uncle switched to Sinclair.

 

[twistedstang]

A buddy of mine is restoring a Sinclair station in Port Huron and was checking your place out a couple weeks ago.

 

[gas and guns]

Yes, my brother knows him. Thats a cool place.

 

[captain14]

Had to replace my front door. I wanted it to match the original. 150 mile round trip for one on craigs list. Had to add 1 1/2" width and 1" in height. Then i built a full 1 1/2" jam.
My buddy jokes that I bought an 80 dollar door and put $600 labor into it.

But the door is period correct. And it’s for the love not the money.

I hope to see more projects on your thread.

Here’s another member and his Sinclair station in Central Iowa.

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=337182&highlight=Sinclair

 

[gas and guns]

This is a pic from 1928. You can see the outhouse on the right.

 

[gas and guns]

The southwest corner inside the station had one of the old Coke coolers with the water in it when i was a kid. By 1985 it was long gone.
When my father and I bought the place, it had an old 1946 westinghouse fridge. I decided to paint it up and put in that corner.

 

[BD1]

Official Sinclair jacket. This one was my uncles from close to 60 years ago.
My dads was abused and worked in.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[gas and guns]

Thats cool! I have one similar.

 

[gas and guns]

Last summer I removed the old shingles from the exterior walls. They were original from 1928.

 

[gas and guns]

Shingles were from just the original station. Shortly after getting all of the old shingles tore off, I blew out my left meniscus. A couple good freinds covered the bare walls with roofing underlayment for me. This got me through the winter.
Now that I'm getting around better, were starting to make progress again.

A few update pics.

 

[gas and guns]

Sinclair used a couple different green colors over the years.
Most all photos I have are black and white. Scraping paint and finding old colors is the only thing I have to go by.
Early Sinclar green was quite dark. Later is a lighter green.
This place has evidence of both.
I chose the later green.
Trim inside and out will be this color.
My friend Wayne sprayed the picture window.

 

[gas and guns]

More pics.

 

[gas and guns]

The pillars on the front were in rough shape. I rebuilt the right pillar about 5 yrs ago.
They consist of 4 1x12s and 1x4 trim. I figured I would find a post inside to support the canopy out front.
I used my old floor jack (original gas station jack) and a post to support the canopy. There was no post inside.
The post on the left had an odd patch panel on the side. I always wondered what it was for. When I removed the rotted wood from the bottom I could see inside and someone had added a cedar post for support. Mystery of the patch panel was solved.

 

[gas and guns]

The bottom was rotted so I added 2x4 for support on the inside and replaced the old 1x trim.
Every year birds build nest under the canopy. This year I had Robin on one post and a dove on the other.

 

[gas and guns]

All the hammering and screw gun ratcheting, the dove stayed right there.
It was getting dark by the time I was done. I was on the outside of the post adding screws to the top and wondered if she was still sitting on the nest. I reach up along side the nest and she slapped me about 4 times with her wing.

 

[Bert_]

I like it. I can completely understand putting the work into that door. A cheap prehung door is a quick way to ruin the appearance of most old buildings.

If you want your new trim to last it's a good idea to back prime all the boards before you install them. I've also been using some treated lumber for trim on my own porch. No experience doing it before but as long as you let it dry it should hold paint. The old stuff lasted a long time without doing any of that stuff but today's lumber isn't the same quality.

Have you ever thought about reversing your color scheme on the door and window? I think white trim with a green door and green window sash would look very good. Otherwise to be consistent all the trim would have to be green. Might get to be a bit much.

 

[gas and guns]

I like it. I can completely understand putting the work into that door. A cheap prehung door is a quick way to ruin the appearance of most old buildings.

If you want your new trim to last it's a good idea to back prime all the boards before you install them. I've also been using some treated lumber for trim on my own porch. No experience doing it before but as long as you let it dry it should hold paint. The old stuff lasted a long time without doing any of that stuff but today's lumber isn't the same quality.

Have you ever thought about reversing your color scheme on the door and window? I think white trim with a green door and green window sash would look very good. Otherwise to be consistent all the trim would have to be green. Might get to be a bit much.

Actually the color scheme I'm using is pretty close to how it was painted originally.
There will be a few changes but it will stay close to original colors found when scraping.
There will be a few touches of red also.

 

[Bert_]

Actually the color scheme I'm using is pretty close to how it was painted originally.
There will be a few changes but it will stay close to original colors found when scraping.
There will be a few touches of red also.

It looks great either way. I was just looking at the picture in post #10. But I guess you did say that was before it was Sinclair.

 

[mercifiknow]

Neat! I like it! Subscribed!

 

[don long]

Sinclair huh
Well I have a station in my back yard too. I've always liked the brand. My Dad traded with one when I was a kid
So I built one while building the party garage.


I need to work on the pumps and oil rack out front

 

[gas and guns]

Sinclair huh
Well I have a station in my back yard too. I've always liked the brand. My Dad traded with one when I was a kid
So I built one while building the party garage.


I need to work on the pumps and oil rack out front

Nice job! I like that alot.

 

[gas and guns]

The front window is actually quite an interesting piece. I'm not sure how they built this back then, but it may have even been a used salvage window when installed.
It has quite a bit of detail. The only fasteners visible on the outside are wood pegs. It would be interesting to see how the notches and angles were cut.
Coping saw and chisels? Stanley plow plane?
Go ahead and chime in if you know these things.

 

[gas and guns]

Many years ago, a porcelain sign hung above the window. On the sign was my great uncle's name. It was blue and white porcelain. I'm sure it was issued by the Standard Oil Company.
Their colors, only reversed.
It was only fitting to put the sign back up in it's original spot.
His first name was Lawrence but all the patrons knew him as "Sandy".

 

[gas and guns]

Time to meet "Sandy".

 

[ambenz]

Cool that you have a chance to preserve a little bit of your family history, that alone makes your story, super interesting!
Subscribed! Hope you find the funds to do your station up right. I am a bit curious if you are in a town where you could get some support from a historical commission or on a busy road where you could open it later for tourism?
We do a lot of road tripping and love seeing these old gas stations. They make for a cool photo opportunity.

 

[gas and guns]

Cool that you have a chance to preserve a little bit of your family history, that alone makes your story, super interesting!
Subscribed! Hope you find the funds to do your station up right. I am a bit curious if you are in a town where you could get some support from a historical commission or on a busy road where you could open it later for tourism?
We do a lot of road tripping and love seeing these old gas stations. They make for a cool photo opportunity.

Yes I am on a fairly busy road. Many a traveler has stopped over the years to take pics.
Watertown was a busy place back in the day. It had a grain elevator, railroad depot, blacksmith shop, a couple of general stores, hotel, and a couple auto repair shops.
Sandy ran another gas station about a quarter mile west of here before he built this one in 1928.
Two brothers built the garage in 1930. It was known as "Wesch bros. garage".
This was during the Great Depression .
They only ran it for a couple years and then moved away to more populated areas to find work.
The garage door still has the old address numbers on it.

 

[gas and guns]

The side windows were salvage that I installed back in the 90s.
Not exactly period correct but still probably late 60s vintage.
The old windows were so bad i couldn't keep the snow out.
It was time for the brickmold to go.
I figured i would add 1x4 trim to match the front.

 

[gas and guns]

 

[gas and guns]

Made a rain cap for the top to match the old trim.

 

[gas and guns]

Post have now been painted.

 

[gas and guns]

This picture was taken in 1911 from the top of the grain elevater.
Follow the road from left to right all the way to the tee on the right side of pic.
The vacant lot on the corner is where the gas station would be built.

 

[gas and guns]

Restoring the lights.
So many coats of paint, you couldn't see the detail.
Repaint with rustoleum.

 

[Bert_]

The front window is actually quite an interesting piece. I'm not sure how they built this back then, but it may have even been a used salvage window when installed.
It has quite a bit of detail. The only fasteners visible on the outside are wood pegs. It would be interesting to see how the notches and angles were cut.
Coping saw and chisels? Stanley plow plane?
Go ahead and chime in if you know these things.

It's mortise and tenon. It's a very strong joint and is standard construction for wood windows.

 

[gas and guns]

Built a small shelf in the corner to get a few oil cans out of the way.

 

[Bert_]

Looks nice but it looks like you just installed it over the shingles. It will leak at the top. The bottom will leak also since it's not a true sill.