Gustafson Sells Tires, Service and Nostalgia

Customers take a stroll down memory lane each time they set foot in Greg Gustafson’s dealership.

"When people come in, their jaws drop,” he says. “I feel so blessed to be able to display all of this stuff."

The “stuff” Gustafson refers to is a carefully curated collection of tire and automobile industry memorabilia – everything from antique porcelain signs, tire ashtrays and vintage gas pumps to model cars, toy replicas of old-fashioned service stations and more than 100 tire patch cans, accumulated over the course of several decades.

They’re all displayed in the spacious, sun-drenched waiting room of his dealership, Fremont Tire & Cycle, in Galesburg, Ill. (In addition to selling passenger and light truck tires and offering auto repair service, Fremont Tire & Cycle also sells motorcycles and scooters.)

Gustafson, who opened his store in 1987, began collecting in the early 1990s, “picking up items that were tire-related – maybe a tire ashtray or a tire patch can or an old antique tool that might have been used for tire work... an antique tire machine or something of that order."

As Gustafson combed swap meets and met other collectors, his assortment of artifacts quickly expanded.

His tire patch can collection started  “as one of those flukes. One popped up and I bought it and thought, ‘This is a unique thing that not a lot of people collect.’"

He soon met other tire patch can collectors “and I found that some of these cans can be expensive!"

The porcelain signs that he’s collected also “are somewhat expensive and somewhat rare. I have a big BFGoodrich sign that’s pretty valuable and some older Firestone, General, Atlas, U.S. Royal, Gates, Seiberling and Goodyear signs. It seems that they're very sought-after."

Also rare are the seven toy service stations on display inside Gustfason's shop. “I remember having one as a kid and when I saw one at a swap meet, it really grabbed my interest, so I bought it and added to it a little bit and began buying others.

"Another item I really like is the old-fashioned air pump” on display at his store that was manufactured in the 1950s. “Each shop only had one air pump in those days,” making them more rare – and thus more collectible - today.

His all-time favorite piece is a vintage National cash register that dates back to 1914. The machine, he laughs, is strictly for show and isn’t used to process transactions at his store.

It all adds up to a fun experience for customers. “They just love it. They tell  me, ‘This is the neatest shop. It’s so unusual to come into an old-fashioned setting and see this.’

"Just the other day, a customer came in and was looking at it all said, ‘You don’t mind if I film this, do you?’"

The customer proceeded to take "a full-blown video” of Gustafson’s collection. “He walked around the shop and narrated as he was looking at stuff and then sent the video to me.”

Gustafson concedes that his collecting days are slowing down. But there’s always space for one more item.

"I don't have too much more room to put things, but if I see something that trips my trigger, I’ll probably buy it,” adding that he’s looking forward to attending a big swap meet on Labor Day weekend.

"Every time I buy something, I try to find a spot for it. You have to get creative sometimes!”