Oldgas.com Home  
Home | Help | Events | Auctions | Parts | Pictures | Links | Contact
Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Page 1 of 4 1 2 3 4
#83899 Thu Nov 07 2002 12:42 PM
A
Anonymous
Unregistered
Anonymous
Unregistered
A
The wayne 505 story is neat,or going to be anyway. the gentleman that posted his story about cutting the pipes with a torch to get his pump loose is a great one. lets all tell are most exciting, or most interesting stories!! Mine goes like this: sometime back I got wind of a rare visible in a nearby town. It was on a farm, and I did some research, and I ended up knowing the guys son in-law.I asked the son-inlaw to ask about this pump and the reply was No! not for sale. So I left it at that.A month or so later, I was at a fuel delivery place asking about pumps, and the fellow says "ol Joe has a hand pump, ya-know with the glass on top?But he won't sell it, i've deliverd gas there for years. He,s a nice guy though,stop by some day and visit with him, mabey you can talk him into a deal." So off I went, I have never seen the pump or been to the place,I have only had it described to me. When I got there,I was interupting dinner, oh-god! I thought to my self, sour deal before I even said hello. Anyway He let his dinner get cold why he talked about how rough the old pump was [it wasn't] but he liked haven it around.Well I said would ya sell it?? He said for the right amount of money, [figuring he meant $$$$$]. So I figured I would start low and work my way up. I said is $100 bucks enough?? He said what the hell!! You take it, I'll never do anything with it. So I gave him his $100, and he even through in a couple oilers, and some old brass nozzels he had laying around..Needlees to say I was shocked and very happy.. Frank.

Archived Forum Area

These topics are archived because they are older. You may not post new replies. Contact member through their email in their Profile or by PM message.
Help with contacting members

#83900 Thu Nov 07 2002 04:00 PM
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 1,782
K
Veteran Member
Offline
Veteran Member
K
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 1,782
great idea with this frankie !!!... here's my story and its one of many... i was invited, along with my girlfriend, to a party over a couples house of which she is good friends with. frank and his wife carol own a marina on long island. well... i get to talking with frank and somehow i get into this "gas collecting" thing that i do. he says lets go over to my work area i might have something laying around in there. well.. he starts throwing stuff around muttering kinda to himself like "where the hell did i put that sign". so... he reaches behind this old toolbox and pulls out a gulf marine white pump sign. now... this was the older, round sign of which i have only heard about and have only seen in pictures. he says "how much is it worth". now... i really don't know what its worth but i got a gut feeling so i offer him 200.00 which i have come to learn was way too low. now he becomes the expert and says he's gonna keep it. o.k. i figure... easy come... easy go. so now christmas time rolls around... another party and frank is there. so what does he do ??? he hands me the sign and says merry christmas. i almost fell on the floor. now it gets even better... he says he got some other stuff and i better get my butt back over to his house. well.... time goes by but eventually i get there. the man hands me yet another gulf marine white... a match to the other one he gave me and 2 gulf dieselect pump signs which are also the early round ones. again, i offer big bucks for all and he just laughs and says he don't collect that "crap". take em' all for free. again, i insist that he take the money but he just laughs. needless to say frank and carol will enjoy the cases of very expensive wine that i sent down to them. now... the best part is that we became good friend too and its got nothing to do with them signs. good people are my kind of people... amen.

#83901 Thu Nov 07 2002 06:43 PM
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 5,104
Likes: 20
Veteran Member
Offline
Veteran Member
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 5,104
Likes: 20
Here is a funny one... I went to a guys house a buddy told me about. Well, this guy bought this house from a Texaco distributor and supposedly had a big 6 ft. sign. I got there and the sign was in the back of his property. We get back there and there was the sign and it was in the ring but the pole was gone. Now these signs have the rectangle poles that are supposed to be all one piece. Well, I made him an offer which he took and then he remembers he has 2 of these so we go in the woods looking and we didn't even know we were standing on it. Again this one had no pole so I bought it too. I did find the poles ... they were welded together and being used as a chimney on his barn. Well, I now have the pole welded back to the ring and sand blasted and painted and is now standing in my barn and my stepdad has the other one.


Looking for anything from Hoosier Pete, Platolene 500 and Red Bird.
#83902 Fri Nov 08 2002 12:13 AM
A
Anonymous
Unregistered
Anonymous
Unregistered
A
Great stories guys!! Here's another good one. I went to a farm auction that had a Tokheim 300, Firechief. I figured $100 bucks max!! [I just bought a toke 34- two months previous for $ 75.00] anyway, the pump went for $350.00 !! I was more fired up than a skinhead watching the Jeffersons!! So I left the auction and less than half a mile from the auction, we spotted a Tokheim 39,tall signs, glass, globe ring. We stopped at the house and asked if it was for sale. He said what would you give me? I said how about $50 bucks??? He said how about $100? I said yes sir, with no hesitation. I paid the man and was gone within fifteen minutes. The moral of the story is the guy at the auction can overpay all day long. Just look down the street and keep pump hunting.

Frank

#83903 Fri Nov 08 2002 08:16 AM
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 294
Petro Enthusiast
Offline
Petro Enthusiast
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 294
ok heres my two cents worth of a story. While attending a jr. college in a small texas town I took a drive around to see what I could find. Well as it turns out I met an old man who once worked for sinclair and then phillips 66. He said his old station house was located in the "downtown" section and he thought he might have some pumps. So we go there and there are two bennett 600 series pumps with all their attachments. So I ask how much. His reply was that he was ordered by EPA to have them removed and if I could take them I could have them for free! So I come back with a truck and I go around back of his building to take a whiz and there in frant of me is a bennett 371 a bennett 76 and a bennett 700 series! He also said I could have these for free! So as Im calling for more trucks he askes if I need some parts for these pumps, seeing where he was going with this i said yes and the man opens his shop. You talk about a kid in a candy store. This guy had been running 25 stations from 1940-1989 and he had pumps, globes, signs,computers, and an old lubster never used!All in all I made it out of there with a collection some would kill for,for free!!!! I did go back and do lawn care for him for that entire semester. Talk about a wet dream come true.

#83904 Fri Nov 08 2002 09:18 AM
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 3,739
Likes: 87
Veteran Member
Online Content
Veteran Member
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 3,739
Likes: 87
Hi guys (and you gals too)!

I have a story like frankie's. I moved out to the thumb area in Michigan from Detroit because I found a house with an old converted 'Chicken Coop' that I could display all my Petrolania in. The building has heat, better electrical than the 100+ year old farmhouse and it's totally finished inside. It boasts over 3,000 square feet of usable space.

Anyway, I spend some time running around the countryside looking for pumps and find a Tokheim 39 within a mile and a half of the house. I stop and ask the people at the farmhouse if it's for sale. They direct me to the newer house next door. This house is about a 1/4 mile down the road - remember this IS the countryside. So I boogie on down and ring the doorbell. A lady answers the door and I inquire about the pump and make an offer of $100. She says "Hang on and I'll get my husband." Well the guy is so rude that he won't even come to the door, he just yells at his wife that the pump isn't for sale and I should just "leave them the Hell alone!" I apologize to the wife and take my leave. All the time thinking "What a dick!"

So . . . a couple of years pass and I hear through the grapevine that there's going to be an auction on the property the pump sits on. I head over there bright and early on a saturday morning with my wife and we spend all day watching old farmers buying old farm equipment. Finally the old pump comes up for sale around 4:00 PM.

Now, I have an arrangement with my wife. I tell her what I'm willing to spend (the same 100 bucks I offered the farmer's wife initially) and she bids. That way I don't get in trouble for spending more than I intended if my testosterone level increases during the auction.

So three old farmers are bidding against each other for the pump. It gets down to two and the bidding is slowing down when my wife jumps in. She gets the pump for $90! And the seller pays the auctioneer's commission! The farmer made less money at auction than he would have selling to me in the beginning.

I haul the pump home and stick it in my grainery. A couple of weeks later, my buddy and I start dissassembly. The entire pump is full of mouse nests. All the way up to the bottom of the glass in the doors. My buddy even has a couple of mice run down his arm and dissappear under the floor in my grainery while we are stripping the weight out of the pump!

That particular pump is still waiting for me to get to it. It and a sister pump will be matching Sinclair pumps when I get to them. One Dino and one an Ethyl.

Keep collecting. You never know where your next pump will come from!

Jim

[This message has been edited by T-way (edited 11-09-2002).]

[This message has been edited by T-way (edited 11-11-2002).]

[This message has been edited by T-way (edited 11-11-2002).]

#83905 Fri Nov 08 2002 10:34 AM
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 93
J
Active Member
Offline
Active Member
J
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 93
I have always blamed my wife for getting me into the hobby, not that I mind at all! In fact, she found the first pump I picked up, Tokheim 39, short pump. She mentioned to me that she had seen it behind a house that was for sale in our town. Later that week I found out the house was sold as a HUD home and saw that someone was fixing it up. I stopped to see about the pump. The person working told me that he was going to take it home and put a coat of paint over the surface rust, but his wife wouldn't let him. He was planning to take it to the dump later that day. I ran home and got my station wagon and we threw it into the back. I took the summer to restore it, cheap, but it is one pump I will never sell. It started the ball rolling, now I never drive looking at the road, not many treasures there - look in the backyards!

#83906 Fri Nov 08 2002 01:18 PM
A
Anonymous
Unregistered
Anonymous
Unregistered
A
Seven years ago when we moved to the area where we live now, one of the first people I met was a guy who bought a visible pump from me. He starting coming around about twice a month for coffee, and we got to know each other. One day he tells me he has another pump he'd like to find a little more about, could I come over and have a look. So I drop over, and I'm impressed by the mass of things this guy has, tractors, stationary engines and lots of other cast iron "junk" He winds me through the maze of iron to the middle of the yard, and sitting there, upside down stuck in the mud, is a Wayne 800. Well, after I get back on my feet, I casually mention an interest, and get an instant, its not for sale. He tells me how he salvaged it from an old building that was being burned down with everthing in it by the owners, so they let him in to pick through before they lit the match. I drive past that yard all the time, and you can still see scrap metal poking through the ground where they buried everthing after the fire. After getting my camera and taking a few pictures, I urge him to at least put something over it to protect it from the weather, he just smiles and escorts me to the gate. Several years go by, and Jack and I become friends, he buys a few more visibles to cram into his yard, and every once in a while I mention the pump, hoping to soften him up over time. Well, about 2 years ago now, I make a big sale and have a pocket full of cash, so I decide, even though Jack told me he'd never sell the pump, I'd head down there and try one more time. I get to his place, and he's out in the yard unloading his trailer, I find out he's going to a big auction the next day with plans of bringing home something big, so I think, here's my chance, surely he could use a little more cash at that sale. So I go into a big pitch about how much I want the pump, how I promise to keep it forever and that I can finally afford to make a decent offer. He smiles like he'd been expecting this pitch for some time, and sensing my enthusiasm says, how much? So I go deep and tell him........$2500, figuring that will make him blink. Well he almost fell over, and says he had no idea it was worth that much, then sticks his hand out to grab the wad of hundreds I was holding onto. We had to dig the pump out of the mud where I had seen it the first time years earlier, he never did cover it up. At the time it seemed like a lot of money for a pump, in hindsight, I count my blessings. It's in black primer for now, picking a brand is too big a decision. So I told my Wife and Kids when I die, to have me cremated, mix my ashes with a fresh coat of paint, and stick me back in the corner. I'll probably spend eternity a shade of Orange, she really likes Sunray!






[This message has been edited by pogogas (edited 11-08-2002).]

#83907 Fri Nov 08 2002 02:37 PM
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 796
S
Petro Enthusiast
Offline
Petro Enthusiast
S
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 796
Great story lance!

Ok hear is my story.

A few years ago I was out hunting pumps when I came across this farm with a Tokheim visible. This was a beauty, blue glass not a crack in the cylinder and the body was perfect! It was my first visible find on a farm. I started towards the door with high hopes and shallow pockets. The old timer that answered the door indicated that he would part with the pump but that I would have to remove the "150 gallon" underground tank if I took the pump. I eagerly agreed to the $400 he asked and I was off to gather some help. My good buddy (my dad) was lassoed into helping me and we grabbed a few shovels and set out for the farm on the weekend. As we arrived my dad noted the soil was clay and he mumbled a few things under his breath. The farmer indicated the tank was 12 inches below the ground and it was about 3 feet by 4 feet. We quickly removed the pump and started digging. About 1 hour later and 3 feet below the we finally hit the tank. Another 2 hours after that and we had uncovered the tank. We realized that this was not a 150 gallon tank, it was a 1500 gallon tank six feet wide and eight feet long. The farmer (nearly blind) decided that we should try to pull the tank out with his tractor. He was back in half an hour with a few chains and his large tractor. We broke several chains that were huge farming chains trying to get that tank out but it was stuck in the clay and not about to budge. Finally the farmer conceited that we had given it an honest effort and told us to cover the tank, remove the fill pipe and we could go. We were finished filling the hole about an hour later when the farmer and his wife came out with some water. The farmer handed me back $200 of the $400 I had paid him and said he had made the offer to several guys looking to buy the pump with no interest. He said the honest effort was worth $200. My dad no longer goes pump gathering with me but he still enjoys telling the story of the Tokheim pump that kicked our butts that day...


Scott
Wanted- Powerine and Powerlube items!
#83908 Fri Nov 08 2002 03:40 PM
A
Anonymous
Unregistered
Anonymous
Unregistered
A
I'll add one more blurb here...........
About 5 years ago I read an ad in a local paper. "2 Tall gas tanks for sale, $25.00 obo" First thing I do is grab the phone and call, well its busy, and its busy, and its busy for the next four hours, so I'm thinking to myself, well their gone! I finally get through about 9:00pm and it turns out she just got home, and just chased her daughter off the phone. I was the first call, so she hadn't sold them yet, but it was to late to come out tonight, could I meet her at 7:00 the next morning. So I thought about it for .00001 seconds and said sure. I drive the 2 hours to the farm, and its pouring rain, but the lady is there, waiting for me, so we drive out to a junk pile, and sitting there in the grass is a Boyle Dayton and a Clear Vision pump, both complete with good glass. So I do the stand up thing and pay as soon as possible to firm up the deal. After we load the pumps, I find out she was hired to clean up the property, and was told she could keep whatver she wanted. Looking around I see there are several old buildings still standing and ask if I can have a look through them, she tells me to take whatever I want, because the excavators are coming this afternoon to level everything, and if I don't take it, it will be hauled away anyway. So I go rooting through the buildings, and its all crap, nothing worth having, one last building to go through, as I open the door, the first thing that catches my eye is a wall full of old cans. almost 100 quart cans, full of nuts, bolts, screws, and all near mint. There were 25 Silver Shell, which are pretty rare in Canada, some Golden Shells and x-100's and a few others, not a bad $25.00 spent.

#83909 Fri Nov 08 2002 07:38 PM
A
Anonymous
Unregistered
Anonymous
Unregistered
A
I get goose bumps reading these stories!! What a rush it is to make a deal on a neat pump.When I first started collecting, a guy I knew managed a bulk fuel outlet, I ran into him and asked if he had any old gas pumps? He said "well there is one still in the box, but the wife wants it to put in the house" I questioned the still in box reply, he said "its still crated up from when the railroad dropped it off at the building where we store oil"[The railroad tracks were fifty yards from this building.) He didn't know what kind it was, or how old it was. So I left it alone and a year or so went by. I ran in to him one day riding our snowmachines and I asked him how his wife liked the pump in the house. He replied, "what pump?" I said the one in the building that is still in the box. He said Oh...that one, she'll never do anything with that. Come by tomorrow and take a look. So I went by and I opened the door and in this old bulk plant in the corner, sat a tall hardwood crate. After dragging it out into the light, we discovered it was a tall wayne like a 70, but no ad glass, visu gauge on the side. "I can't remember the model number. I sold it last year." It was brand new, never used. The pump had keys to the door and all the original tags. It was bright red. It was not a calculating pump. Anyway, $150, and we were gone. An original unused pump in the crate. To bad it wasn't a really neat pump like a 60 or a national A-38. I threw a firechief sign on it and a guy made me an offer I couldn't refuse. $850, and he even picked it up. Great stories everybody. I can't wait to hear more.
Frank

#83910 Sat Nov 09 2002 07:46 AM
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 1,918
Likes: 1
S
Veteran Member
Offline
Veteran Member
S
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 1,918
Likes: 1
Well, you guys' stories are just killer. Like all of you, I've got a few doozies, but mine mainly deal with signs & globes. May of 2000, I went with my dad and brother on a trip to old Mexico to deliver a Dodge Maxi-Van to a missionary (my dad is a pastor). I figured there would be some good junkin' along the way. We got just across the border and were driving up and down some side streets and out of the blue, wired to a chain-link fence is a porcelain Dr. Pepper sign about 3' x 4' with the 10-2-4 and the bricks, I mean just an unreal sign in about 8.5 condition. They Mexican missionary was with us and so I had him get out with me to approach the four old guys playing cards in the front yard on a porcelain Coca-Cola table. I just stood there listening trying to make out what was being said with my 2 years of high school spanish. I told the missionary to ask the old men if they had any other signs, they said maybe and that we could look around the piles of junk and see. After a few minutes, I spotted a small chicken cage (with chicken in it) that appeared to have a sign as the bottom....it was a Standard of Nebraska flange with the gear tooth edge!!! It was covered in chicken crap, but had minimal chipping. So know I've found about $1000 Dr. Pepper and about $1000 flange and I told the missionary to see what it would take to buy them. He was dickering back and forth with the old men and I was scared I was going to lose the deal altogether. In all of my knowledge of spanish I heard the old men saying $100, & I thought this is crazy so I just whipped out a Ben Franklin and laid it on the table where they were playing cards and they all just sort of hushed and stared at me. I loaded up the two signs in the van and got back in. The Mexican missionary was just shaking his head. I said what's up, that was a great deal for me. He said, you might want to brush up on your spanish, the old men were asking for $10 not $100!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Needless to say, I could care less that I paid them 10 times what they were asking.

[This message has been edited by Seth Robbins (edited 11-09-2002).]

#83911 Sat Nov 09 2002 06:38 PM
A
Anonymous
Unregistered
Anonymous
Unregistered
A
As long as were talking pumps, and doing a little bragging. I was out for a drive today with a buddy of mine, and we had to go to the junk yard to drop off some scrap metal before we left. So we get there and on the way out what do you know here comes the junk guy with another truck load of scrap metal, and whats on the back, a $50.00 G&B T-88. But I still need doors, can anyone help?





[This message has been edited by pogogas (edited 11-09-2002).]

#83912 Sat Nov 09 2002 07:27 PM
A
Anonymous
Unregistered
Anonymous
Unregistered
A
No doors,,But Awesome find!!!!!!!. I'm going to move where you live, so I can get all the cool stuff.. Frank..

#83913 Sun Nov 10 2002 09:46 PM
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 1,019
F
Veteran Member
Offline
Veteran Member
F
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 1,019
The stories are great!! I saw that the "pump stories" was beginning to lose ground on the main page.. so I am replying to bring it up to the top. I do not have any great stories, but I sure enjoy reading yours. More please.

------------------
Frank


Frank
Page 1 of 4 1 2 3 4

Link Copied to Clipboard

Click here for Classic Car Project auction listings

Copyright © 2023 Primarily Petroliana Interactive, All Rights Reserved

Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.5