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The pig in overalls, encircled by an aluminum ring of lightbulb sockets, was resting against a fence.
Chuck Clowers and Cameron Eagle dug it out from behind a neon light repair shop in south Oklahoma City. The lightbulbs had long since been broken.
The sign that once adorned Hollie’s Drive-In was orphaned decades ago when the restaurant closed.
The jolly pig painted on canvas was just the kind of relic the Junk Yard Daddies wanted. They removed it from the junk pile and took it home
Clowers, 44, and Eagle, 51, who wear matching black Dickies coveralls adorned with their logo, JYD, stored the sign near a corrugated steel building where it is awaits restoration. The Junk Yard Daddies’ treasure hunts across the state often turn up such gold.
Their shop is at 541 N Ann Arbor, and they have other lots filled with collectibles in Oklahoma City and Luther.
The two have been rebuilding broken pieces of the past for about eight years. Eagle had been a commercial illustrator and Clowers was the son of a TV repairman. both are from Oklahoma City and have a fondness for local icons and culture.
"We go on junking safaris," Eagle said. Parts of a 1948 teardrop-shaped Spartan travel trailer found half-buried outside Chandler have been used for a children’s wing in the Wildwood Community Church in Norman. The front part could be turned into a restaurant booth, Eagle said.
Log boat rides once used at Frontier City Amusement Park in Oklahoma City are parked on their property. one has been made into a leopard-print couch. They are, Eagle said, kind of "Flintstones-like."
An old Roadrunner sign from a NW 10 and May Avenue strip bar is another restoration project.
They don’t just collect and restore. Their creations find markets.
"Redneck love seats" made from the back ends of Ford pickups were sold to Toby Keith for his restaurant in Thackerville.
Better than original
Last week they brought home their latest purchase, the 66 Bowl sign they bought at auction, to begin the restoration work.
Clowers said they differ from "American Pickers," the duo in the History Channel reality show about antique collectors, because they aren’t just in the resale business.
They restore their finds, often to something even better than the original condition and maybe for use beyond the original purpose.
Like the 1957 Chevrolet front-end Clowers is turning into a cooktop vent for his wife.
"We pick the stuff up and revitalize it ourselves to bring it back to life," he said.
They think the outdoor advertising signs of yesteryear had character lacking in designs today.
"a lot of the signs we see today are pretty boring," Clowers said.
There are customers for restored oddities, too, such as the oversized, 3-foot-tall yellow hard hat and the big chicken found in Texas that had been abandoned side by side and once used for who knows what, he said.
"our customers are people who appreciate it because it has personal memories to it or because it’s colorful, artistic or just fun," he said.
There is a 1974 Winnebago Brave motor home in their collection that they plan to restore to use on field expeditions for more signs and junk.
Meanwhile, the pig on the Hollie’s sign awaits restoration, Eagle said. He said it’s hard to find signs like that one, which has circular lights called chasers.
"It’s very Las Vegas-style," he said.
The Junk Yard Daddies found bunches of old signs recently at a junkyard in Custer County. They envision opening a museum along Route 66 filled with signs that were orphaned when businesses closed.
Clowers said such a museum would showcase the past commercial art of the Mother Road, and restoring and exhibiting the signs could inspire art in future generations, too.
"It even inspires capitalism and entrepreneurialism because these people are entrepreneurs who built these businesses," Clowers said. "most of these aren’t corporate, they’re individually owned businesses and this is their sign and their dream and their vision and to me it inspires people to do something new in the future. It’s a lot of inspiration."
Clowers said he would like for some of the signs to be displayed outside, lit up "like they were in their prime."
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<a href="http://newsok.com/oklahoma-citys-junk-yard-daddies-enjoy-the-hunt/article/3505251tag:news.google.com,2005:cluster=http://newsok.com/oklahoma-citys-junk-yard-daddies-enjoy-the-hunt/article/3505251Sun, 17 Oct 2010 05:13:07 GMT 00:00″>Oklahoma City’s Junk Yard Daddies enjoy the hunt
canvas, decades, overalls, tv repairman
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