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Restoration Projects And Unusual stories |
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A lot of people restore these old clocks. Some do a lot better job than we've done, but some do a lot worse. Although we didn't restore these to 100% original, we came pretty close for a couple of amateurs.
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An early restoration project |
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This old Cleveland came off the front of a plumbing company. The building was owned by the Small Business Administration, so just getting through to someone who would sell the clock was a miracle. I painstakingly masked off the face and repainted it, only to discover a year later that a local neon clock reproduction company had a silk screen of the face. |
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A time-ravaged Aztec
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This was discovered on the front of a sign company! Dave A. put a lot of work into restoring this one. He even hand-cut an Aztec "ring" from presswood to complete the Aztec look. |
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The Dew Drop Inn |
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Yes, there really was a "Dew Drop Inn" (and you thought the Charlie Daniels Band just made it up). This was a monster clock, about four feet tall. Ol' Doc Hearns had some stories to tell as we were taking this one down. He started the bar, then was drafted into WWII, and came back to find his "partner" had married his best girl. He even told a story of a man getting shot in the doorway under this clock. Seminole was a tough town. And this was a tough restoration project. Dave W. sanded this down to bare metal, then repainted it. Under "Dew Drop Inn" and "Beer" was "Hotel Frank" and "Rooms", respectively.
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Bill Who??? |
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The unanswered question. We discovered this clock on the front of a building being torn down. When we inquired about the clock, they told us to "Hurry and get it down before the bulldozer comes". This was a freebee. It ended up being a Valentines Day present to Mrs. A, but that's another story. This was another one that required total stripping. We never figured out who Bill Cavin was.
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An Amazing Find |
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This was a Roto- Dial clock that had been sitting out behind a shed for years. It was aluminum, so it didn't rust, but all the paint was stripped off by the weather. The amazing part is that the neon still worked. |
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Bait Shop Clock |
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This large clock was discovered on a bait shop. It had a previous life on a hotel on main street. The paint on the glass was peeling, so I created this concept from an old drive-in theater advertised in an old newspaper I found. Pretty fancy glow dial, eh? |
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