A relic I inherited...

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Aug 4, 2020
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My grandfather recently came down to visit. He wanted to catch up and wanted to see how my shop was coming along. He surprised me with an entire (large) carload full of collectible things, automotive decor, signs, hubcaps, etc. It took me a few weeks to unpack and sort through everything. It was truly an impressive assortment. Among them, there was one thing I figured you all would appreciate. It's unopened and in the original box, and I intend to keep it that way, but I took several pictures through the plastic. I have never seen one of these before, but I bet they were once very common. Here it is:

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I assume this was a tool used to open and pour from oil cans? It's in fantastic condition. Sealed in the plastic, so zero rust.

I'm not selling it, but out of curiosity, what is this worth? I see some used/open ones without packaging online for about $10 bucks. No idea if these are plentiful or if I have a rarity because of the condition and packaging. Either way, enjoy!
 
Very cool piece. Yes I believe that is an oil spout for the oil cans. My dad has one somewhere but who knows where it’s at now.
 
I had one of those.. you pierced the metal top of the oil can (body was cardboard lined with material to protect it from leaking), and left it in to pour the oil. Except in practice, the cheaper ones would leak around the pierced hole 😎.

I probably still have that old spout in my stuff somewhere with barely any use: plastic oil bottles became popular in the mid 80s and rendered my neat little spout obsolete. 😀
 
i remember being confused growing up when the red sox had a guy named “oil can” boyd, but when we went to the store, all of the oil was in bottles.
 
I have one of those on a shelf in my garage. Every “gas station” had those at the pump island back in the 50’s and 60’s for dispensing oil from metal and fiber quart oil cans. Plews made all sorts of tools for the gas station business. I had a Plews grease gun back in the day.
 
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Even in new condition, it won't be worth much except for sentimental value, but perhaps somebody would be interested.
That tool was used in the day when it was common to have a quart of oil leak inside the cardboard box holding the case....and leave a puddle of oil on the shelf of the store.
 
I also have 2-3 of them in the garage..not in plastic but out there somewhere
 
I sold those in the early 70's, to stations.
Makes me think though, cars don't leak and burn oil like they did then - so an always open / top-off source is not needed.
 
Wow. My dad had one when I was a child (70s). I didn't see it when I cleaned out his shed this past summer, so I guess he ditched it when cans went the way of the Dodo.
 
There was a big difference between the "professional" ones and the cheap ones too, especially when the cans went to fiber. A quart every 1000 miles was pretty normal use back then, a good thing too because you had to add the full quart of oil.
 
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