Read the fine print at the bottom of this one and it stops being an ordinary Texaco sign. It says Property of Texas Co. (A/asia) Ltd., and beside it, Metters Ltd. This mark never hung in America — it went to Australia, where gasoline was called motor spirit.
Printed on a Gildan 18500 heavy blend hooded sweatshirt — 8 oz cotton-poly, classic fit, double-lined hood with a color-matched drawcord and a front pouch pocket. Tubular knit with no side seams. Tear-away label. Machine wash cold, tumble dry low.
The red star with the green T is the mark everyone knows, but Motor Spirit on the ring is the giveaway — an export design made for a market that used British petroleum vocabulary. Metters was an Australian manufacturer, and their name on the bottom edge means the signage was produced locally under license rather than shipped from the States. Export petroliana turns up far less often than domestic, and the wording is the whole reason collectors chase it.
The perfect gift for the collector who hunts export signage, the Texaco specialist who already has the domestic version, the restorer with a right-hand-drive project, the dad who notices a word that shouldn't be there, and anyone who likes a familiar mark speaking a different dialect.
The Faded Label Co. — keeping the golden age of American roadside art alive, one product at a time.
