The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 02/16/08
With gasoline prices hovering around the $3-per-gallon mark, one might think the last thing a car lover would want to see is another gas pump.
But that's not the case at all, at least not for antique pumps, dealer signs and service station collectibles. Those items, known both as automobilia and petroliana, have become increasingly sought after by car collectors.
 Curtis Compton / AJC | ||
| Bob Halliday, 56, at his home garage with a display of some of his finished products. | ||
 Curtis Compton / AJC | ||
| A 1934 Erie clockface reproduction pump, left, and an actual 1958 Southwest Pump Company GOC gas pump of some of the items at Bob's Garage. | ||
 Curtis Compton / AJC | ||
| Technician Mark Levitt builds a reproduction Erie model 124 gas pump at Bob's Garage. | ||
What better to adorn the walls and shelves of a collector car owner's garage and living room than an old gas pump, a few vintage signs and an assortment of oil cans and advertising materials?
At the recent Barrett-Jackson auction in Scottsdale, Ariz., the automobilia business surprised even the folks putting on the giant auction.
"It was a barn-burner," said Rory Brinkman, who handles that segment of sales for the auction company. "We were up 47 percent over last year. We had numerous world-record prices.
"Automobilia is a growing segment for us. Nationwide as a collectible, automobilia is growing exponentially."
Brinkman said one buyer shelled out nearly $45,000 for a rare 1950s double-sided porcelain Cadillac service sign. Several rare signs brought in the $30,000 range, but there were some offerings for the budget-minded. Three 1940s-era "Monkey Grip" tube repair tins sold for just $25.
All told, Brinkman said, 488 lots sold for a total of $856,000. And he expects that number to grow substantially next year.
"More and more of the car collectors are now into automobilia, where previously it was more automobilia collectors collecting automobilia," Brinkman said. "Because of that, we're at the tip of the iceberg. With more exposure of automobilia to the general public, they're becoming more interested in this, too."
Marietta's Bob Halliday is one of a small group of entrepreneurs nationwide who has positioned his business to capitalize on the surge in interest in old gas pumps and signs.
He originally set up shop in New Orleans, but Hurricane Katrina washed away his home and business in 2005.
"We were eight blocks from where the levee let go," he said. "Once it let go, it took 19 minutes for the water to cover our roof."
Sitting in a relative's home in Marietta, he watched the events unfold on CNN.
"We realized we didn't have anything to go back to, so we just went to work," he said. "There was nothing to do but get after it, so we got after it."
He rented a building, made contact with his regular customers and once again began refurbishing gas pumps, soft drink machines and signs. He also creates reproductions of popular models.
Almost immediately, orders began streaming in from across the United States and from as far away as Shanghai.
"It was a horrible thing to lose everything, but business has never been better," he said. "I don't know what made the difference. We get 95 percent of our business off the Internet. When we got through going through all the convolutions we had to do to go back to work, business just poured in."
Halliday said that by the end of this year, he and his crew will have restored more than 100 vintage gas pumps, turning rusting hulks into smooth, shiny showpieces that will sell for somewhere between $2,200 and $6,500.
"That's our niche," he said.
For more information on Halliday's business, visit www.bobs-garage.com
