Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion Price of Restoration???

Why are we argueing over what someone charges to restore a pump? Who cares!!!!! Steve wants to charge $12 hour... good! Seth wants to charge $50 hour... good!!! Everyone is happy!

The name of the game here is fun and you guys are not having any if you are argueing.

John....my only intention in posting on this thread was to detail the actual cost of a particular restoration. The A62 I wrote about will make the 45th custom pump we've done this year & we are racing the calendar to complete 2 pumps, 1 islander & 2 lubesters by Christmas. The original question was "can a pump be restored for under a grand" and I was just debating for the no side of the argument. In most situations guys are buying their own resto supplies, paying for sandblasting, paying for paint, etc....it's tough to do it for that. Even if you are doing your own labor, MOST pumps will require a minimum of $300 in parts (glass, ad glass, rubber, faces,id tag, hose, nozzle & globe).

The bottom line is that everybody is righteous in their own eyes...they believe their way is the right way and generally the only way. We all are that way, nothing wrong with a little POSITIVE debate from time to time.

[This message has been edited by Seth Robbins (edited 11-20-2005).]

I agree with Seth and john.Good talking to you tonight John.Seth in my eyes cant restore a pump for under 1000,as I stated pretty much before,he has a business,and a good one.He goes the extra mile on them when us garage guys dont have to.I would be willing to say that 50% of the guys on here dont do their own pumps and go off their restorers advice and prices.I can and do charge less and as long as my customers are happy with what theyre getting then great.If any one person restores a pump the way they like it then at least we know that this one wont go to the scrapper and thats a good thing for the future collectors.

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I guess all I'd have to say on this subject is that if the fellow that did your pump did a good job, and you both were happy with the outcome of the pump and agreed on the price, then you are both home free. I for one can't lay down a show-car paint job, and don't want to lay out the money to buy the good painting equipment that I won't really use that much anyway, so I take my pumps to a local body shop and pay them to do it. Most every body shop I tried wouldn't give me the time of day---they make their $$ on insurance work. Then a friend told me about his buddy that ran a body shop, and how 'he might do your gas pump for you.' Well, he not only agreed to do the work but it turned out SUPER I was REALLY happy with the pump. I have taken several others back to him and he did a GREAT job on every one of them. I am a collector, not a dealer. If the pumps appreciate that's cool. If they go down the drain in value I could care less, I enjoy them for what they are. His rates are not what you would call cheap,(standard rate for our part of the country, 50 bucks an hour or so) but the work is A-1 and I really like the pumps so I just dig a little deeper in my pocket. I don't care. I figure the guy is doing me a favor AND he's trying to make a living so I'm happy as heck and he is too!!!! I tear the pumps down, he does all of it inside and out, and I put them back together so I save the difference there and pay a little extra for quality work on the painter's end.....It all works out.

The day may come where you find someone bought a pump you restored and then resold it! Now if they made as mach as you did on the labour simply by reselling it, then you know you are not charging enough for your work!!

Restoration? What's that?

Is that unpainted drywall in the Garage-MaHal? You better get to work Don!

Hey Bob, I just got back from being there for nearly 3 months. It's all painted now, signs hung, and I'm starting to clear out the boxes of stuff from the middle of the floor. I'm sorry I had to use an old photo, I just couldn't resist. My AD/HD kicking in...

Hey Midway glad you found someone.Being a bodyman for Chevrolet for may years I found out that our shop and many others nearby didnt want to mess with them either.Thats how some of my work got started around here.Nice to hear that there are still collectors out there that dont care about the investment,they like what they see everyday!Take care Steve

In my restoration of the month, Bowser 410, I listed the cost of what it took to restore this gas pump. I had very little into this pump to start with and made most of the parts myself but it should give a person an idea of what it costs to restore a pump. Richard

http://www.oldgas.com/shoptalk/ubb/Forum4/HTML/001260.html

A very good ROTM. Check it out. ~Jason

Beautiful pump I may add! Doing it yourself saves you money but the pride when you show it to family and friends is where its at.Takes alot of time but it doesnt go unnoticed. Using all of your resources helps along the way also,especially if you can wait on some things or a friends help!

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...and also lets not forget the people out there making reproduction pumps.A friend bought two re-po Tokheim Volumeter 850's, had them powder coated, and man they look great. He is putting them outside for display for a replica Texaco station he is building. This helps preserve the originals. I'm going to do this in the spring and bring my Tokheim tall boy 39 back indoors and restore it to stay inside with my other inside-only pumps.

The main thing is get 'em restored and save 'em for the future and not let them rot outdoors...