Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion Southwest Pumps Information Needed

I am in the process of restoring a 1938 Cities Service gas station. The rehabilitation of the building structure is completed so now I'm beginning to focus on the exterior of the station. My goal is to put two pumps in front of the station in order to give it that look of authenticity. Obviously, I'd prefer pumps from the 1930's or 40's but I'd settle for the 50's and maybe even the early 60's so long as I can restore them in the proper Cities Service paint scheme. Thanks to a recent newspaper article about my restoration efforts I've had several locals offer me old pumps at bargain basement prices. Today, I purchased three Southwest pumps, all model 72CR-1. Can anyone provide me with information about this model ... especially the period of time in which it was utilized? Photos of the pumps are available on my website at http://www.thisoldservicestation.com/pumps.htm

Nice pumps! They're not in the pump book, but look very similar to the Southwest 70 that is in the book. I'd say they're from the same general time period - the book lists 1948-54 for the model 70. The "short" pumps with sight glass in the faceplate (like a short Tok 39) are generally from the late 40s to early 50s.

Do you have any pictures of your station? Is it on old 80 or 59?

I'm from Shreveport originally - I'll have to check it our next time I'm home.

Wes

The 72-CR is in the 70 Series, it has an exterior 11 foot hose (the 70 has a 15 foot hose on a reel).
The 70, 72 and the 72-CR will all be shown in the revision of my book.
I have color ads, a color sales brochure and a parts/repair manual available, if you are interested, email me.
Jack Sim
Author, Gas Pump Identification book and Air Meter Identification book
Need a gas pump parts manual? www.petrolianacollectibles.com

Thanks for the info thermactor ... Shreveport huh? ... I get over there about twice a month for some kind of errand. You can see pics of my station and read about the project at http://thisoldservicestation.com Please come by and visit anytime.

Jack, the information is much appreciated. My primary question about these pumps is "what years were they used" and/or "when did they first go into use?" I'll fire an email off to you today or tomorrow. Thanks again ....

John,

Nice pictures! The building looks older than 1938 though. Do you know if it was a Cities Service from the start? The structure looks kinda like a Phillips station to me. Have you checked the old city directories at the library to look it up by address?

Keep up the good work!

Wes

I stand corrected... I read the "research" portion, and now I see that you've already covered all of that. It's surprising to me that a cottage style station was built that late. Pretty cool, though, that your picture is of te station in its new condition.

Wes

Are you going to put the striped window awnings back on? I can see them in the first photo of your station. Do you think they were green and white striped too?

We seem to be getting away from the topic of the old Southwest pumps and focusing more on the restored station so I'm going to start a new topic named "Have You Seen This Station" in this forum. I still need to know as much as possible about the pumps so please keep those postings coming.

[This message has been edited by JohnT (edited 10-27-2007).]

I'd say that most likely they're all from the same time period (48-54).

Wes

Southwest 70 series, introduced in 1948, made through 1954.

Jack Sim