WhIPPET AND WILLYS-KNIGHT

This is an original sign we purchased of f of Ebay. We have had it many years and found the perfect space to place it in the museum. We like almost anything old and that has something to do oikWhippet and Willys Knight was and Antique car that was made in the 20s and 30s. We just liked the sign so bought it.

Perfect for al capone

The 1937 Cord gangster car belonged to a Dr in Chicago, of all the perfect places. We like to think of how this beauty would have looked back when she was brand new driving her owner around the town on a Sunday drive.

Its all about the story

Sparky learned a long time ago it is not often about the currency. Many collectors start off saying the do not want to sell the wanted treasure until…. the right thing is offered and then game on. Many collections are priceless to the owner and are thought of as a treasure not to be bought. This is where the fun begins and negotiations take place. Most owners don’t even know there is something other than cash that will entice them so creativity is a huge part of the fun. Unfortunately auction houses entered the game and almost gone are the days of negotiating or trading . Makes it so the stories are gone and it is not as fun as it once was. Sparky is all about the hunt, the game, the stories, the new friends and yes about finally getting the sign.

The man behind the Mue

The seeds of the collection at Sparks Museum and Event Center were sewn in the Summer of 1957 as Sparky (the creator) went with his friend Todd Roberts, on a trip thru old ghost towns in Nevada and found a very nice original 1929 Model A Ford pickup that he bought for $25 . They tied it to the back bumper of his 49 oldsmobile and towed it all the way over the mountains back to Bel Air where he lived and began restoration on it while still in high school. He sold it before he finished and has always been sorry. Always a dreamer and creator even int the 50s he had the eye to collect and to restore. He loved old things then and loves them even more now.

In 1979 he bought an Erskine in Helper, Utah and that spouted those seeds again . That car he restored when I was a child about 10 years old. I remember him spending hours upon hours on it. He was in need of the parts to get it all back together and would drive all over, becoming what now days is called a “picker” as that was the only way to find parts. There was no internet only your car and lots of farmland with what to many would deem as junk piles. However he would see that so called junk and find the treasure part he had been in search of. Picking was the very best source.

He was a super picker and hauled huge loads of awesome stuff home from every trip he took. Back then the signs and gas pumps he saw he thought of as “junk” The exception was the old visible gas pumps. He did haul a few of those home and restored one as a Texaco and put it in front our home when I was young. We now have that pump in our collection at Sparks Museum and Event Center . This pump is located outside across the street in front of Lakeside Storage along with two signs he picked up. The Gargoil Mobile sign and the Willis Knight sign.