Just when you're busiest, it seems to happen! I've been doing a lot of cleaning and waxing of pumps, signs and cans to get ready for my auction here in North Dakota on the 9th of February and yesterday was no exception! I don't have a bead blaster but theres one available to me at a friends auto service shop. I was in there yesterday, cleaning up some pump parts to be painted and some nozzles that were pretty dirty!
This is a 3 vehicle shop and there were 2 vehicles in there being worked on and one of them belonged to an old friend that farms south of me about 20 niles. He was wanting to trade his Ford pickup for a newer model and I put him onto a friend in Nebraska that always treated me right and he made the call right there and then.
After his call he was thanking me for the connection and he happened to ask what I was doing lately? I told him all about my current addiction to Gas & Oil memorabilia and the upcoming sale. He was very interested and suddenly asked me if I would be interested in a couple more pumps!
I expressed my interest and asked him to describe them to me. He could only remember that they were over 6 feet tall and one of them used to have a white crown on top. I instantly thought Gilbarco 96 or 98 as Standard Oil used them a lot in this area.
I made an appointment to go out and see him this morning as I'm going to be pretty busy for the next 2 weeks. When I arrived, he was feeding his cows and stopped his chores to take me up to an old grainery where these things have been stored for the last 40 years! When he opened the door, stuff started to fall out, as it was so crammed full of junk that the building was FULL!
We had to climb over a lot of stuff to get to them but I had already seen the top of a Wayne 60 sticking up along the wall and was already pretty excited! I was hoping for another one behind it but when we got in there, I found a beauty of a Gilbarco 80 tucked in behind. It was the pump that had the white crown on it at one time as the remains of the mounting ring was still there. Of course there was a 6 to 7 inch adapter on top of the Wayne 60 too, so who knows?
I paid him for the pumps and told him I would be back to get them in about a month. We stopped at another building and found a nice brass nozzle and a Cities Service oil filter and a few other odd pieces that he threw in on the deal. He said we could rummage around in there and take a good look when I come back to get the pumps. He said the building is coming down, so whatever I find, I can have!
There was absolutely "NO WAY" for anyone to ever know that thease 2 pumps were in there! If I hadn't had the conversation with him yesterday, they might well have gone to the scrap yard next summer!
My point is---In order to be successful about finding this gas & oil related stuff, you have to be constantly working it! I keep an ad in the local paper year around. I sell a few things at the local car show sale every year. I'm on Old Gas talking about Cities Service, every chance I get and I'm rewarded by a lot of members that PM me about an item that they have spotted.(just got one this am)
This stuff is getting harder and harder to find, but if you're passionate enough about it and really work the avenues available to you--it WILL TURN UP! That and a bit of "GOOD LUCK" never hurts either! What goes around--comes around---so maybe, just maybe I'm doing it right!
I sure hope so! Have a great day on me!!--KEVIN

good story with good results..

Good deal there Kevin for sure!!

Nice pumps Kevin, good finds!
Darin

Stories like that are sweet!

Someday I hope I can post a story like that! But Kevin is right, you just never know what people have tucked away until you get them talking about it. Great find , Kevin!.......Gary

I love stories like this

Great story Kevin. A few years ago I was at an auction that had alot of Model A and Model T parts. Also is where I got my lubester that Phil restored. A few boxes of old license plates came up and I was standing by a friend of mine at the time. I mentioned to him that I have one from every year in KY from 1949-1992 except one year and that was 1952 when they put a sticker in the window. The auction went on and then I left. About an hour later my friend called me. He said what would you give me for a 1952 license sticker? He said after I left there were items on a wagon and on the corner of it was a piece of cut out glass with a 1952 license sticker in it. He bought it and gave it to me for what he paid for it. So like Kevin said sometimes conversations can really help you find items.

Brian

that's great

You lucky dog! Nice finds there Kevin!

Great story,and yes your doing it right!!

To quote a kid rock song. " You get what you put in and people get what they deserve". Good things happen to good people. KWF is good people in my book!

Thanks for the praise Jonathan. I can't wait to get back there and get to go thru the other buildings he mentioned! Just to dern cold today!
Its going to be fun pulling those pumps out of that building too. From what I could see, they appear to be in great shape. Of course when something has been stored inside for 40 years, it makes a big difference!

Cool story Kevin! Wayne 60's are always a great find but that Gilbarco 80 is a awesome looking pump too!

Great story and this newb is taking notes on how to do it right!!
Post pics after you get them out!!

Awesome pumps!

Those are nice! And finding pumps like this being tucked away for so many years priceless!!! Great find and super story ,this is why I like old gas , for the great stories and pictures ! Thanks for sharing Kevin.

Great find, YES, you are doing it right.

Hey if you need a young strong back to get them out let me know im available. I just need to borrow a warm jacket not sure that i own one.

You must be living right!!!

Kevin did you ever dig these two out. Or waiting for the thaw out.