1935 Gas Station Resurrection

[NickTheGreat]

This is a really cool thread. I'm not all that far from Perry; I may have to come check this out some time.

 

[HD FLHX]

I've been wanting to put together a display that honored the 38 years the station was in business. Kanotex gas and Nourse Oil products were sold at the station from day 1. Sometime in 1953 Anderson-Prichard bought out the Kanotex refinery and they rebranded Kanotex stations as APCO stations. I picked out a handful of my favorite ads spanning the entire time frame along with a couple era correct reproduction signs to help tell the story. The APCO globe is real deal. Those are not reproduced. Above is the collection of Montgomery Ward oil cans.

20181210_210721 by Joe Unger, on Flickr
20181210_215245 by Joe Unger, on Flickr
20181210_215429 by Joe Unger, on Flickr
20181210_230336 by Joe Unger, on Flickr
20181210_215337 by Joe Unger, on Flickr
20181210_230515 by Joe Unger, on Flickr

 

[xtremek]

Those are some really nice additions to the collection.

 

[Hugo L.]

The amount and variety of branded items is simply astounding.

 

[Finallygotit]

Joe, when you first started this restoration of the building, did you plan on doing the recreation of the station with all its history or was that something that evolved with you? Just curious.

 

[Loose Ctrl]

That's a great tribute to your station's and town's history.

 

[HD FLHX]

Joe, when you first started this restoration of the building, did you plan on doing the recreation of the station with all its history or was that something that evolved with you? Just curious.

The station recreation, a tribute to the buildings history and a forgone era was part of the plan since day one. The history of the building was its biggest appeal. As I dig more and more into the history of the Perry Oil Company and how it was a community owned and operated independent station serving Perry for 41 years, 34 of those years at the 3rd & Willis Ave location, that appeal has only grown greater. That building has a soul.

 

[Bears Fan]

Great story and recreation! I have enjoyed following along

How's Dino and the sleigh doing out front? I bet that setup is getting a lot of attention

 

[SkywalkerCR]

Joe,

You may have covered this earlier, but I have to ask anyway. How many years was the building used for other non-automotive businesses?

Your rescue of it is not only a testament to the building's heritage, but also to history itself. Think of younger generations who will see these items never having being previously exposed to these products and their uses.

Do you have a credit card addressograph? If not it would be great if you could find a Sinclair branded one.

 

[Finallygotit]

........ That building has a soul.

Indeed it does!

 

[Supa Dexta]

Looks good

 

[HD FLHX]

Joe,

You may have covered this earlier, but I have to ask anyway. How many years was the building used for other non-automotive businesses?

Your rescue of it is not only a testament to the building's heritage, but also to history itself. Think of younger generations who will see these items never having being previously exposed to these products and their uses.

Do you have a credit card addressograph? If not it would be great if you could find a Sinclair branded one.

Montgomery Ward left the building in 1970. There is a period from then until about 1977 I'm uncertain what the building was used for. I know who the owner was, just don't know what he used it for and the family is unsure also. I know for sure starting in 1977 through 2016 when I bought the property it was used for small retail.

I don't have a credit cars machine simply because they didn't have them yet. 30s/40s/50s Sinclair still used a paper credit card with hand written receipts. If I came across one cheap I'd probably buy it though.

 

[HD FLHX]

To the Garage Journal family Dino wishes everyone a Merry Christmas.

2018-12-22_07-24-19 by Joe Unger, on Flickr

 

[SkywalkerCR]

Joe,

Dino and Santa look dashing! What a transformation. Interesting about the paper credit cards....never knew there was such a thing.

How is the Ford truck coming along?

Inquiring minds want to see some pictures.

 

[dchance]

Your Christmas card looks great.

Merry Christmas


Dwight

 

[booch]

That's awesome, Joe. Merry Christmas!

 

[xtremek]

Way cool sir. Happy Christmas and a Merry New Year to you and yours.

 

[PugetDude]

Merry Christmas, Joe!
All the Best for 2019.

 

[Bob Heine]

Joe, thank you for your fascinating posts. It's great to see an efficient workplace come together and I look forward to the evolution of the second site.

I hope you, yours and Dino have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

 

[Jayman17]

Joe, Merry Christmas , that's a great Christmas card, Dino and Santa make a great team. Thanks for taking the time to post, I really enjoy it. All the best to you in 2019! How's the pickup coming along?

Jay

 

[HOTFR8]

Your Chrismas display is fantastic. Well done. I am sure it must be a great talking point and attraction in your city.

 

[xtremek]

Happy Christmas. I pray it's filled with joy.

 

[HD FLHX]

Cold gloomy winter day here in central Iowa so I figured it would be a good day to kill a little time at the library. I'm trying to figure out when the rear 60ft shop addition was added on. You would think there would have been a newspaper article or advertisement of some sorts about it. No luck on that yet, but I did find an early advertisement right after the station was built. Man what I would give to have a good copy of that pic.

20181228_130140 by Joe Unger, on Flickr

Thought this was an interesting ad for higher octane KANOTEX aviation gas.

20181228_143227 by Joe Unger, on Flickr

This was a 1940 front page article about the growth of the Sovereign Service brand. If there were that many stations it sure is hard to find any Sovereign stuff beyond map now a days.

20181228_142940 by Joe Unger, on Flickr
20181228_140139 by Joe Unger, on Flickr
20181228_140042 by Joe Unger, on Flickr


A couple Nath ads that I thought were neat


20181228_142119 by Joe Unger, on Flickr
20181228_142600 by Joe Unger, on Flickr


And to finish off the Sovereign Service talk I just picked up this really rare rest room sign. I was pretty excited to get it. It came from a Kansas City collector.

2018-12-28_05-07-46 by Joe Unger, on Flickr

 

[HD FLHX]

Took advantage of some unusually warm January weather to install some new signage I had been working on for the last couple months. These are 1/2 inch plywood letters that I coated in fiberglass resin and painted. I had these cut probably a year and a half ago, its nice to finally get them up. The station used the Perry Oil Service name for most of the 40s into the 50s. I felt it was fitting that it went back on the building.

20181219_192559 by Joe Unger, on Flickr
20190103_193131 by Joe Unger, on Flickr
20190111_165908 by Joe Unger, on Flickr

I had been looking for the right sign pole for the last 9 or 10 months. I finally came across the right one last weekend and spent the day on a roadtrip over to NW Illinois to pick it up. The thing I really like about this one is its size. Its not overly bulky and at a total height of 16.5 ft it will be very proportional to the building. For reference the height of the peaks on the front of the building is right around 16 ft. The pole itself is 11ft with a 5ft ring. I may cut down the ring to fit the 4ft sign I have for it or I may just hang it inside the ring, that decision is yet to be made.

20190107_185157 by Joe Unger, on Flickr

While I was there the guy and I were talking about signs and he offered to sell a Sinclair 14ft sign he had at a very reasonable price. Although I didn't have any plans to buy signs I knew if I didn't buy this one I would regret it. Its going to be placed over the front service bay door. As luck would have it the lights that are already in place are 16 feet apart so it will fit nicely in between them. They have a swivel head, so I'll be able to focus them on the sign.

20190106_211013 by Joe Unger, on Flickr
20190107_173814 by Joe Unger, on Flickr

 

[xtremek]

That Sinclair sign will look great, good score. Looking forward to seeing the sign pole up.

 

[txvwnut]

Letters turned out great! I say leave the sign pole ring as is and hang the sign in the middle.

 

[SkywalkerCR]

Joe,

Great finds! I second that about leaving the sign pole as is and suspending the smaller sign within the circle.

I would suspend it with four chains two on top, two on bottom. With it suspended it will be a lot more sustainable to any strong wind gusts and be able to give a little in the case of steady winds.

Just my two cents.

 

[rmalkow2]

Wow, some really great signage additions there. The new letters finish off each door nicely and that sign pole will be interesting to see how you use it and place on the property.

 

[jimreed2160]

Just when I think your station is perfect you add more bling that takes it to another level. Outstanding!

 

[Loose Ctrl]

You keep coming up with good stuff and ideas. My brain doesn't work that good.

 

[Bob275]

I've been looking for a good ******* style sign pole for a while. I think I have finally located a good one within a days drive from me for a reasonable price. Its a new pole that was never installed for whatever reason. 20ft tall with a 6 foot arm and has a galvanized coating which should make it maintenance free. I'm going to pay city hall a visit Monday morning to make sure they don't have an issue with where I want to put it. With their blessing it'll be going on my trailer and heading to Iowa sometime this week.

2018-10-21_03-31-41 by Joe Unger, on Flickr

What ever happened with this one?
Did the city say no?

 

[HD FLHX]

What ever happened with this one?
Did the city say no?

Sold before I could get to it.

 

[Loose Ctrl]

Sometimes you just have to follow the money.

 

[HD FLHX]

I'm actually glad that it worked out like it did. The first pole was a little taller than I preferred, but it was a smokin deal. The pole I have will fit the space better. It will be going just to the north of Dino up by the sidewalk along Willis Ave, which btw is the main east/west corridor through town. As far as working with the city they have been great. They basically said they are considering it "Art" so it will not fall under any of the business guidelines.

 

[shortykorte]

Definitely a piece of art and glad they realize that.


Sent from my iPhone using The Garage Journal mobile app

 

[Bob275]

Sold before I could get to it.

I'm actually glad that it worked out like it did......................As far as working with the city they have been great. They basically said they are considering it "Art" so it will not fall under any of the business guidelines.

I'm just glad to hear the city didn't shut it down, but by all the newspaper articles I think they are happy you are there!

 

[dchance]

I agree with the city it is art Get it up and then it will be grandfathered

Dwight

 

[HD FLHX]

I hung the sign inside the ring tonight to see which route I was going to take with it. I ended up cutting five and a half inches out of the ring so it will be about 3 inches bigger than the sign. I need to make some new brackets to hang it in the ring. The original ones are a bit short to get the sign centered right. I need to see if I can tweak the ring a bit more. I found before I cut it apart it wasn't a perfect circle. It's closer, but its still about a quarter inch out on one side.

IMG_20190119_204159_278 by Joe Unger, on Flickr
IMG_20190119_204159_279 by Joe Unger, on Flickr
IMG_20190119_204159_282 by Joe Unger, on Flickr

 

[53PontiacSD]

Oh yeah, much better. What color is the ring supposed to be? I thought maybe green, but wasn't sure.

Billy

 

[HD FLHX]

Oh yeah, much better. What color is the ring supposed to be? I thought maybe green, but wasn't sure.

Billy

Typically they are either black or white. I'm going with black.. All the street light poles in the downtown district are black, i want the sign to compliment the streetscape not be the main focus.