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Discovery of huge fuel-can stash reveals 500 rare artifacts

By General Posts

from https://www.hagerty.com by Charlotte Vowden

A shedload of surprises: Discovery of huge fuel-can stash reveals 500 rare artifacts

Editor’s note: In the interests of preserving the authentic whiff of petrol that pervades this remarkable story from our U.K. colleagues, we have made only slight concessions to an American lexicon. All quotations remain untouched.

Alan Pooley’s pursuit of petroliana was purely sentimental, but the collection of more than 500 automotive artifacts that he amassed during three decades of buying for love not money is so remarkable that it could fetch up to £65,000 (roughly $88,600) at auction. Including over 250 oil cans, 60 two-gallon fuel canisters, and dozens of enamel signs, oilers, and pourers, it is set to go under the hammer later this year.

“The important thing about this collection is that it is completely fresh to the market, but the exciting bit about it is that no one really knew about it,” says Tom Godsmark, an associate and vintage specialist at Cheffins auction house, the agency managing the sale.

“It’s a big collection in terms of scale, but it’s the extensiveness that’s so interesting because it ranges from little items such as lapel badges, old match boxes, and advertising pencils for Rudge bicycles to a fully restored petrol pump.”

Among the pieces which the late Mr. Pooley carefully stored, restored, and displayed in sheds at his home in Norfolk is a two-gallon fuel can that, to the untrained eye, stands out because of the large lightning bolt and bold lettering embossed on its side. Those in the know will recognize it as one of the few surviving examples of a limited-edition run of Shell Racing cans that were produced in the 1930s. With an estimated value of £400 to £600 (approximately $545–$818), it’s one of the rarest pieces of memorabilia to have been discovered in its original condition.

An automotive body finisher by profession, Alan, who passed away in 2020, was equipped with the skills and patience to rejuvenate items in a state of distress and spent a great deal of his spare time doing so. “It could be quite a long process, but he was a master of the art and was able to bring them back up to a really good standard, it gave him a huge buzz,” explains Alan’s partner, Karin Burleigh.

His penchant for rescuing fuel canisters from ruin (originally known as “motor spirit” cans) extended to vessels produced by the Scottish Oil Agency, Mobiloil, Alexander Duckham & Co Ltd, and Anglos Taxibus Spirit. “If it wasn’t for him, some of those cans wouldn’t be in existence anymore, they would have just rusted into a little heap on the floor,” says Burleigh, who considers the “best” of the three sheds Mr. Pooley used to house his automotive memorabilia is the one in which he arranged his favorite pieces—on every available surface.

From to floor to ceiling—where oil pourers, Shell-branded hard hats, and Castrol Racing baseballs caps hung on hooks that he had fastened into the timber beams supporting the roof—Alan had curated his own at-home exhibition that showcased the containers, canisters, tins, tools, and signs that he treasured the most. “You name it, it was all there,” says Godsmark. “My first thought was Crikey! I imagine he liked going in there and just admiring it. I suspect it was a bit of a sanctuary for him.”

As a boy, Burleigh reveals, Alan cherished the time he spent with his grandfather, and as a man, the tools and Francis-Barnett water cycle that he inherited from him held huge nostalgic value. It’s this relationship and those heirlooms—which are not for sale—that she believes sparked Alan’s passion for automobilia and subsequent apprehensiveness to let any of it go. “He may have sold one or two things, but the majority stayed here,” she says. “Looking at the collection it looks like we spent our whole time at boot sales and auto jumbles, but honestly, we didn’t.”

With so many items in need of a new home, the collection will be divided into lots and auctioned gradually so as not to flood the market. “Collectibles such as gas pumps, fuel advertisements, enamel or tin signs are continually seeing a growth in value as the market continues to gather pace,” says Godsmark. “Values can be hugely varied, ranging from a few hundred pounds for a good example of an oil can right up into the tens of thousands for the best of class in petrol pumps.”

Of the six vintage motorcycles found in Mr. Pooley’s collection, Godsmark tips the 1937 499cc Norton Model 18 and 1966 649cc 650SS Norton as the ones likely to attract the highest bidders due to their condition, low mileage, and thorough documentation.

Making the decision to part with Mr. Pooley’s collection has been incredibly difficult for his three grandsons, who were entrusted with its care upon his passing, and the family’s biggest hope is that each of the items will find their way to “someone who will love it like Alan did.”

Honda Motorcycle bought in 1981 with zero miles in original condition

By General Posts

Honda motorbike bought in 1981 that has zero miles on the clock because it was confiscated by its teenage owner’s father and locked in garden shed goes up for auction for £2,000

  • Honda CB100N was bought 40 years ago but was never ridden by its teen owner
  • Strict father banned him from riding it and it stayed untouched locked in storage
  • After father died, son found his bike in remarkable condition four decades later
  • The 1981 bike is now going up for auction and is expected to fetch up to £2,000

by Katie Feehan from https://www.dailymail.co.uk

A 40-year-old Honda bike with no mileage on it has been rediscovered and is up for auction after the disapproving father of its first teen owner banned him from riding it and locked it away in storage for decades.

The 1981 Honda CB100N was bought brand new by the youngster in his youth while he lived with his parents.

However, his boyhood fantasy of riding a motorcycle never materialised because his strict father banned him from riding it.

Instead the machine was left to languish in storage for the next four decades.

After his father died the unnamed owner, who is now aged in his 50s, was tasked with clearing out his house in Bridgewater, Somerset, and stumbled upon his old but immaculate bike.

He agreed to sell the time-capsule Honda to neighbour Graham Tozer who has now put it up for sale at auction.

The bike still has its original tax certificate with an expiry date of July 31, 1982. The odometre displays the exact mileage of a mere four tenths of a mile.

Mr Tozer, 64, said: ‘I’m a collector of classic bikes and cars, so six months ago my neighbour called me up and said they needed rid of it.

‘He was born in the house and spent all of his life there. When he was a youngster he really wanted his own bike but when he brought it home his dad wouldn’t let him ride it.

‘He’d saved up for such a long time to buy it but his father just said, ‘you’re not going on that. You can stick it in the shed’.

‘Apparently his dad was really strict. He was ex-military and he was the boss of the house.

‘I would have loved a bike like that when I was younger but my dad probably would have done the same thing.

‘To have a motorbike from the eighties which hasn’t been touched is so unique. It really is like the Holy Grail for collectors.’

George Beale, a specialist at Charterhouse Auctioneers of Sherborne, Dorset, said: ‘These bikes were ordinarily used for commuting, so those which are still on the market from the 1980s tend not to be in the greatest condition.

‘But with a little work this one could be like brand new, which is incredibly unusual for something so old.

‘It would be rare to find any vehicle from the 1980s without any miles whatsoever. It just so happens that this young boy’s tyrant father was far more forceful than he was.’

The Honda is being sold with a pre-sale estimate of £2,000 at the Haynes International Motor Museum on October 14.