I just brought home this Jan. 1947 (serial # GA 1%$) Erie 77A and found the Original Chevron Ad glass and started to look at the spots below the windows and noticed there is some of the paint is chipped away and there looks to be a stickers under there.
My question is if there is someone on here that could share their trick for getting the paint removed from the sticker with out screwing up the sticker graphic?
I want to keep this one as original as possible. It is in very good original condition with a ad glass missing and a dent on the bottom of the same door. I have not found anything but surface rust so far. The chrome strips on the bottom look to be intact just painted over.
The face plates are in very good condition and came with a licensing metal tag for Oregon 1966-1967!
It would be very cool to get that paint off those original stickers,,
,,,
,,and it would even be cooler if it had a station lighter lamp on it like the Erie Dick B. found and posted pics of! This was a cool find but that one was a SUPER Cool find.

Thanx for any help in advance!!!

Looks like a nice original pump. My first restore was a erie pump.

Looks way too cold for me LOL

I have used a heat gun but there is a VERY fine line between peeling the sticker also.

Usually the old paint will come off pretty easy with the ammonia based paint remover. I have also used Easyoff oven cleaner which works on old enamels. The thing is, you never know what it will do to a decal. If they are vinyl, it doesn't hurt the decal itself, but can take the graphics off of the vinyl unless they are under a clear layer or are actually part of the vinyl. I would just try a small spot at a time and see what happens. If you just leave the paint remover or Easyoff on there long enough to just soften the paint you may be able to carefully scrape the old paint off without it hurting the decal. Use a plastic scraper. Good luck......GB

Thanx so much for all the sugestions.
I decided against trying the paint remover/stripper that I have.
I tried a heat gun on a small area but it instantly heated up the sticker beneath the paint and made it 'blow up' some.
So, here is a pic of my progress with a razor blade so far.



I don't know if it is worth the time but I really like the look! It is tough to not nick the decal on every stroke.

It's a CHEVRON Supreme pump, from California. The Cally pumps, had the "Tax" decal on them.

So far, so good! Keep up the good work!

I do not know about scraping paint off of a decal but when I used a razor blade to scrape off paint on a painted sign I used water as a lubricant and actually a duller razor blade (slightly used razor blade as opposed to a fresh sharp blade) I found worked best, kinda like a mini putty knife. The blunt end scrapes the paint off as opposed to "cutting" the paint off. By the way, nice job trying to save those original decals. John

How about working on it with "Goo Gone or" Goof Off"? I wonder if that might start to lift the decal around the edges if it permeates too long.
See how it does on the paint far away from the decal first.
Maybe mineral spirits?!
I actually kind of like these precise, labor intensive projects! There is a sense of success when its over. IMHO : )

My girlfriend who owned a sign shop for 25 years put me on to a great little paint stripping tool. It is a plastic scraper called a "Lil' Chizler" Will not dig into the paint. Made for removing vinyl lettering, but I use them for everything. Available a sign shop supply store.

Jim, thanks for the tip...

Amazon.com sells the "Lil' Chizlwer" tool.... For those interested.

Every paint supply house has what looks like single edge razor blades, except they are plastic for removing vinyl.

Larry

Here is the great tool.

A Current/expired Credit Cards will save ya a trip to go buy one of those Do Dads!

Heya to all in OldGas land!
You called it, it's a original Chevron Supreme pump and it has a Oregon metal tag and possibly California decals?!???
I got back to this late last nite after putting the kids to bed. Seems like thats the only time of the day that I can get stuff done since my youngest is now home schooled by me.
I ended up using a metal putty knife and I tried a plastic knife but no luck at all with that and other plastic objects. On this job, it needs a metal blade with a solid edge to scrape up the 3 or 4 layers of hardened paint.
Parts of the paint has adhered better to the decal and it's above the important parts so I have just had to slow down and go into "pick it" mode but there is some unavoidable damage and I should've started on the other door since it is not the display side. I still have a little left to get to on this side and then I'll flip it around and start on the other side.
All of the decals have decal #s and the supreme sticker has a 7-62 on it, along with the Dec #, that, I think, dates the decal. There are 2-4 more decals under the top one, some parts that are very close and other parts that have different colors. I believe this decal has the graphics on top of it so a paint stripper probably would've ruined it and there are a few spots that I scraped it off down to a black backer.
Next round, I'm wearing a bandana on my face, freekin flecks of paint go everywhere!
Thanx for everyones input!!!!!!!

That's coming along great. Patience is a virtue...I've done it the same way as you are. It's a painstakingly slow process. Well worth it; when in the end, you step back and take a look at the finished product.

Nice job. Pump is looking good. Have you considered stripping the chrome embellishments?

Thanx all!
Yes, that is on the list too JimT.
There is paint and concrete on the bottom chrome pieces. The window bezels are thickly coated with paint so if I am going to do them, I will remove 'em and do it. The 2 Erie symbols are coated too but they will get the treatment, eventually also.
It is starting to make me cringe when someone calls asking about this pump and they say they are gonna redo it and take it to some other brand. The Rainbow pump that I had was the same way and as far as I know, it is now a Texaco pump.
UGH (people really need to get over it when it comes to the Rainbow brand and the more recent association of rainbows with homosexuals! It's ridiculous to rebrand a rare pump like that just because a person does not want to be associated with gay folks! People are people and gas brands are gas brands. No one's sexuality is based on the brand of gas they like, ok maybe some of the more serious petro nuts on here have sign and gas pump fantasies,,, ha ha ha ha)
Sometimes I really wish I could keep everything I find like this. Original is sooooooooooooo much cooler looking to me!

More pics to come as more stuff gets done.

Finished it today and now I have a skill that I will use on most of the pumps that I get if they have decals that have been painted over.
This side was much easier and took less than half the time that the other did.
See my nice Chevron National Credit Cards porcelain double sided sign I just brought home? It matches the pump so nicely.