Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion Wayne 50 resto - need some opinions

It would look good unrestored with faded and rusty Firestone cans in so it would look like it was abandoned years ago and only touched be mother nature. I did not have this option with mine because some of it was sandblasted and primed before I got it. Also if it stays unrestored no one will ask you if it is real or repo now that they make them.

I would try to find as many original replacement parts as possible.

BINGO!

Good morning Les, I remember seeing this when I was out your way. Sure wish I would have spent more time with it.
I would say a rustoration of some kind. At least for now. Absolutely keep the insides. A good cleaning, maybe a little bit of paint depending on the condition of a piece and put them back in.
Personally, I can see pump resto's a couple of ways.

1. A total redo with the SEMA quality paint job.

2. The rustoration resto like Mr. Alvarez does. But this takes some specific skills which may or may not take some time to master. It is likely hard to get this right the first time.

3. Of course do nothing but a cleaning and display as is.

And a 4th way, doing what the station owner back in the day likely would have done.
It is very unlikely that a station owner would be breaking down a pump and blocking out panels. More likely, he would sand it down best he could and hit it with some rattle cans. Making it as presentable and nice for his business and customers as possible. I don't know if I've ever seen anyone do a pump like this. But it just seems more real to me. Not necessarily the best way. Just another way.

Just some thoughts.

Thank you all for your comments. I'm really glad that I posted this to get your input. Having an almost complete pump with the exception of the front and back bottom panels/signs I think I'm going to clean it up and try to find the missing pieces. I will replace the glass and have the glass shelves made and buy the lower panels from gas pump heaven for the time being and replace the obvious broken sight glasses. I may add a little color on the bare spots down the road but I think I will just seal the pump with semi gloss after the clean up.

On a side note I talked to my wife about this because I want to put it in our great room and to my surprise she likes the idea of just cleaning it up. As she said "we have enough shinny pumps in there already". Who would of thunk!

I will post my process as I slowly move forward and thank you for your comments.

Good choice! Since your putting it inside, maybe consider just some good paste wax.

...and the only 'rustoration' I would do is on the new (repro) parts...take an album's worth of photos of the entire process for documentation...this ain't a $500 pump...

I am glad to hear that you decided to go this route. Like Gulfiend said, this is not a 500 dollar pump.

I would rather have an incomplete unrestored Wayne 50, than a nicely restored one any day! In my opinion, this is where the hobby is heading to, unrestored original items, especially ones with nice original paint.

I have to agree. What pleases me. What it is worth when I'm gone I could care less. GREAT SCORE- Looking forward to seeing it done.

Les asked me to add these to his thread. I would have liked to have left mine unrestored but a previous owner stripped some of it. At this point the only thing left to do was to get some new color on it. It is not a show car finish but still nice.

wow!!! that is a beautiful pump and display!!
is there a post somewhere that showcases your collection? would love to see more of you shop

Wow that is NICE. Love it! I have the signs now I need a pump.

Matt, thank you for posting your pump and those great Firestone cans. I have asked a good friend who has the same mind set as me about this pump. He just said stay my with plan and live with it for a couple of months and I can always do a complete resto.

But Matt, that is one nice pump!

Matt:
You did a great job on this and I guess I will be the one to say that I would prefer that to what it was at the get go there. Looks great, displays great, and You do not have to apologize for anything.
Love all the insides

that pump in firestone is absolutely KILLER, couldn't have picked a better brand & awesome display of products.
that would definitely be in the house ...