Hello everyone and happy holidays!
Got another story for you about how I aquired my Neptune 855.
There was a store that specialized in old automotive advertisments (suitable for framing) from magazines like 'Life', 'Time', etc. along with model car kits and the like in Utica Michigan. I used to stop in there occasionally. You never knew when you might find a 'kewl' ad for your favorite car or truck. And the models were always nice to rummage thru. I had a passing aquantance with the owner, another car buff like myself. We said "Hi" to each other when we met outside of his store - that kind of thing.
Anyway, one day soon after my divorce, I stop in just to browse. The owner and I get to chatting with another guy in the shop and the talk turns to 'boy toys'. You know, the stuff guys collect and have to keep in the garage 'cause the wife won't let it in the house? This third fellow mentions that he has a gas pump he is restoring to put next to his Dodge. I mention that I collect pumps and have about a half dozen (at that time anyway).
So the owner pipes up and says to me "Do you want another?".
"What?" I say. "You got a line on one?"
"Nope, got one in the back on consignment."
So we truck back in the storage area and, low and behold, there sits a Neptune 855. All intact with the exception of one broken ad glass and no globe. It's a Shell pump with the water transfer decals and original ad glass. The owner says he is taking offers on it and the guy that left it will make a decision on the offers in about a week. I offer him a buck and a quarter. He replies that he already has an offer for a buck and a half.
"Oh well." I said. "Maybe next time."
Since I'm practically broke anyway with the divorce just being finalized about a week before this, I figure it's not meant to be. I leave my number (just in case), say my goodbyes and split.
So about three weeks later, I'm sitting in my sparsely furnished living room eating my daily dose of Mac-n-Cheese, when the phone rings. It's my bud from the store.
"You still interested in that pump?" He asks.
"Sure!" I reply.
"It's yours. But you gotta pick it up by the end of the week."
"You talking at my buck and a quarter or the buck and a half someone else offered?' I ask.
"A buck twenty-five. The other guy couldn't come up with the cash."
"I'll be there tomorrow to get it." I tell him.
So I went to the bank after work the next day. Pulled some of my few remaining dollars out and picked up the pump. I got it home in the snow and didn't feel like messing around trying to get my two-wheeled cart thru the drifts and out to my display room. So I put it next to the front porch steps and go in the house. This was on a Tuesday.
The very next evening, I'm sitting in the living room when I hear a knock on the door. Someone on the porch. I go out and see what he wants.
"This pump for sale?" He asks.
"Nope, sorry. I just got it home yesterday." I told him.
We chat for a few minutes and he leaves. I get to thinking that the pump is visible from the road - and I'm not home during the day - I better move this thing now or it may not be here tomorrow! So I did, and my Neptune has been happily sitting in my display room for the past 9 years.
Jim
[This message has been edited by T-way (edited 12-05-2002).]
[This message has been edited by T-way (edited 12-05-2002).]
