Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion Fry model 171 and Bennett model 371

I am a new collector, so please forgive my ignorance on the subject of old gas pumps. I have acquired a Fry visible pump, model 171, and a Bennett model 371. Having borrowed a friend's copy of Gas Pump Collector's guide (by Benjamin & Henderson), I see a listing for Fry model 117, but no 171. Could anyone out there assist me in identifying this model, correct color schemes and decals for Gulf, and maybe the approximate age ? As for the Bennett pump, it looks very much like the model 541, even having the numbers 541 in very small print on the metal face plates at the upper left corners, yet the data plate on the side says model 371. The aforementioned book lists a model 373, but no 371. Also, this Sinclair HC pump appears to have been originally red, then painted green & white. Another couple of oddities - the book mentions vertical 6" white bands and a round Sinclair decal, but this one has a horizontal 9" white band across the middle of the front and back, and a diamond shaped impression in the paint (unreadable) on the lower part of the front where the round emblem is pictured in the book. Can anyone help me with ID and age on this one, and what is correct for the paint job ? Also, are parts, decals, emblems, etc. available for either or both of these pumps ? Thanks very much in advance for your help and expertise - it will be most appreciated.

I don't show a Fry 171 in my research either. Most of the Frys were the same, the model numbers differed due to the accessories that came with the pump. If your pump has a 18" (approx.) base it was introduced in 1924. No records remain to determine the exact year your pump was made.
As for the Bennett. The 371 was the computer version and the 373 was the clock version. Both were introduced in 1938. The basic difference between a 300 series Bennett and a 500 series is that the 300 has a pipe frame and the 500 has an angle iron frame. Most other features were the same.
Please don't get caught up in the idea that all Sinclair pumps were painted and decaled the same. While the gas pump book lists one of the more popular ways Sinclair prepared their pumps it is not the only way. Sometimes different regional offices of a oil company had a different idea. Also remember if you were an independent service station owner, and you just ordered a pump from the local equipment dealer, it arrived in a crate and was painted red (red was always the standard color for gasoline, green for kerosene). Unless you had the pump painted at a body shop before you installed it, it was going to be red. Sinclair would give you some decals and a globe to put on it, but that was about it. Pumps were also traded in on a new one, and if you purchased a used one, you would have to get out the old paint brush and give the old Shell pump a coat of green paint to make it Sinclair.
Enjoy your pumps, paint them for any oil company you like. If your father was a Pure dealer, paint the Pure blue, once they are sandblasted they all look alike. Don't feel you have to replecate the existing motif on the pump, there are no gas pump police out there (yet!).

I forgot to mention, for parts, globes and decals, contact Time Passages. For faces, contact Ron Scobie. Both are linked to this website. For literatue (ads, sales literature or repair/parts manuals) contact me. Jack Sim jhsim@swbell.net