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#720955 Sun Dec 09 2018 02:50 AM
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I'm new to this forum, but not to old pumps and signs.
I have a Bennet 966 that's almost ready for paint and was thinking of doing it in the Texaco Sky Chief theme.
I see a lot of different options for colours with Sky Chief. Is Silver and Green correct for it?

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Shaker #720989 Sun Dec 09 2018 04:07 PM
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All silver pump with a black base. NO GREEN in Sky-Chief. Fire-Chief is all red with a black base. I see alot of Sky-Chief pump painted in green but that is not correct.

Last edited by keithia; Sun Dec 09 2018 04:09 PM.

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Shaker #721016 Sun Dec 09 2018 09:25 PM
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See below, I punched the button to quickly.

Jack Sim

Last edited by Jack Sim; Sun Dec 09 2018 09:28 PM.

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Air Meter ID book also available
Shaker #721017 Sun Dec 09 2018 09:26 PM
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I have over 500 original Bennett blueprints showing how pumps should be painted. Every time Bennett got an order from a pump company for a certain amount of pumps and how they wanted them painted and decaled, Bennett would print a blue print (actually more of a onion paper sheet}. It would indicate what colors and where these colors were to be. They also show where how many inches above this or below this the decals were to be, including where the :Contains Lead" signs were to be. Most of these date from 1925 and 1950.

These orders came from different parts of the country, meaning different divisions of the oil companies. Let's just use ABC Oil Company, I have specifications from division X of ABC and then different specifications from division Y of the same oil company. Most were not the same. I keep trying to emphases this, not every pump from a particular company was painted/decaled the same throughout the country. How about Mon & Pop that owned their own company, they owned everything, the ground, the building, the pumps, the sign pole, everything. Different local distributors of oil products wanted them to purchase the gasoline and other products from them to sell to their customers. Some offered a sign and the products, some offered painting their pumps, decals for their pumps, advertising signs, you name it. So Mon & Pop chose the ABC company, they sent out a couple of guys who would erect an overhead sign the customers could see about a 1/2 mile away, they would also bring some decals to be placed on the pumps. If the pumps were red (Mon & Pop had purchased a couple of used pumps from a company in the next largest city where there was a small company that refurbished old used pumps and sold them to people who could not afford a new pump), these green decals would be placed over the old original red color.

Back in 1956 I was in the Army at Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri. I fell in love with a young lady whose family lived about 10 miles out the back gate of the Fort. You drive down a paved road, then turned off on a dirt road to reach the house her parents lived. This road ended at a "T." At this T was a country store. I don't remember what brand of gasoline they sold, I do remember driving up in my 1953 Ford to a visible pump. The owner came out and pumped the number of gallons I wanted.

This was a Mon & Pop location, groceries inside, gas outside. Not another station for at least ten miles, who cared what brand of gasoline was coming from that glass cylinder, it looked like gasoline so it must be gasoline. In 1951 telephones had just been installed for the first time, electric had been installed in the late 1930s under the Rural Electric program of the U.S. Government. I doubt this pump had a electric motor, so I assume it was pumped by hand. This is what Mon & Pop stations were like even in the 1950s, and there were 1000s of them, so before you see pictures of gas stations from the city of Chicago and the pumps all alike, remember there were only100s of pumps there, out in the heartland of America there were 1000s of gas pumps painted/decaled just about any color you could imagine.

Paint it any way you like, if you are Scottish as I am, paint it to match your clan. or kilt.
Jack Sim

Last edited by Jack Sim; Sun Dec 09 2018 09:29 PM.

Author, 1st & 2nd editions of Gas Pump ID book, 3rd edition is now available at www.gaspumpbible.com
Air Meter ID book also available
Jack Sim #721100 Tue Dec 11 2018 12:37 AM
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Great information guys, I now have a very different and clearer view of how the system ran. It makes sense.
I'll go back to the drawing board and do some choosing. Thanks for your input. I'll be asking more.
I don't plan to restore too many though as I really like the look of old original pumps, easier to care for too.
Have you ever heard of the Belt Buckle Pump?
Randy

Jack Sim #721126 Tue Dec 11 2018 01:44 PM
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Irrespective to what the Mom and Pops painted their pumps across the countryside the official color for Texaco Sky Chief pumps was silver/black base
which was the question

Shaker #721130 Tue Dec 11 2018 01:58 PM
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The belt buckle pump is what a lot of people call the Smithway L-1. It uses a unique metal latch to open and lock the door. The buckle fits over the site glass.

Shaker #721148 Tue Dec 11 2018 06:39 PM
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Neptune L-1.

IMG_2281.jpg

Drive with Care and Buy Sinclair!! I buy Sinclair globes, signs, cans, ect.
Shaker #721194 Wed Dec 12 2018 03:47 PM
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Neptune is a rare pump!


Tom Hutchison
Shaker #721204 Wed Dec 12 2018 04:57 PM
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Rare pumps? Not so. Neptunes are pretty common. I have six or seven in the barn awaiting restorations. Paul www.severngaspumps.com

Shaker #721225 Wed Dec 12 2018 10:53 PM
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Love sky chief, done a few! Green / Silver combo is really nice together IMO. I would not worry too much about what was stock colors, lots of times the gas stations did whatever they wanted to do.

sky1.jpg sky4.jpg 11.JPG

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gascollector56 #721229 Thu Dec 13 2018 12:11 AM
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I have one of these pumps, was just wandering as I don't see restored ones on these sites very often. Cool pump anyways.


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