> Vintage Commercial Neon Signage

This was a neat old dual-side neon sign I saw on eBay.   No, I didn't buy it.  The glass was special Italian Uranium glass.

The seller had the glass special ordered to replace as the original tubes were that type.   The glass as you can see has a unique green color glow!   This old classic neon sign certainly dates back to the late 1930's!

I really liked this sign.  I stumbled on this picture at a museum's site.   I've owned many a Cadillac in my day.  Love to have this sign!

Here's a really large neon sign.   The auction for it stated it measured 32 feet in length!   The picture is of the original installation in the Cadillac dealership.   Fairly obvious by the cars in the picture, the neon sign dates to the 1950's.

This is a prime example of a very popular Ford dealership neon sign.   These neon signs came out after Ford started to manufacture the "new" V-8 engines.

The classic Ford logo neon sign.   As some will tell you, "At least they've circled the problem!" I'm unsure why this photo taken was taken with the sign turned off.   Judging from the clear center tubes and white outer tube, I bet the sign would lit up like the V-8 neon sign above in red and blue.

Back to that Museum site, I saw this really cool old Greyhound sign.   What a classic design.

This was offered at an estate on-line auction along with the 32 foot Cadillac neon sign.   It appeared to be in immaculate shape!  Simple and beautiful advertising.

Way back before my nativity, neon signs similar to this one adorned store windows to attract shopper's attention.   The neon attracted attention, people could conveniently see the time and see the advertisement!   I have on very rare occasion seen one of these signs with a Christmas message or motif.

Many gasoline stations used neon signs and Mobil certainly was one of them.   A super red, white and blue theme.

Here we see the other popular Mobil gasoline neon, the Pegasus winged horse.   These are super popular among sign collectors.   Most of the Mobil Pegasus neon signs were huge too - 4 feet wide or bigger!   The one pictured has 4 tubes to make the shape outline.

I wish I had this vintage commercial neon sign.   I own old Pontiacs, and this sign is simply awesome to me!   This classic commercial neon dealership sign was also at the museum site I visited.   It's a two-sided sign that would have hung outside the building.   This neon sign probably had some accent neon originally around the curved edge extending into the horizontal lines.   Over the years, as tubes were damaged, I'm sure many business owners got tired of neon sign company service bills!   So, many times sign companies would re-work the sign's wiring to just the basic message lit.   So, trim neon tubes would be eliminated to save maintenance costs down the road....

This is another old sign I wish I had.   I love old advertising directional arrows!   Another two-sided sign that obviously hangs outside the building over the service garage door.

Here is an example of an old 1930's neon sign used for advertising.   Art deco rounded edges, recessed neon tube and relatively small size.

Something about the green glow in these old neon signs that is simply fantastic!   I'm too young to know what Towle actually sold.   Certainly the sign gives no further clue.

In the picture above we can see the transformer housing of the Towle neon sign.   It is quite typical of old neon signs of this 1930's to 1940's vintage.