Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion Richfield lubesters

I have quite a few lubesters (or whatever you want to call them) I want three matching pumps in front of my Richfield station. The problem is, I don't know what color to paint them. I want to try to make them look correct.
I have three matching Bennett pumps with glass cylinders and dip sticks.
What do you think??

Remember, I want to make them look how Richfield made theirs look.

...since you asked for opinions...I think you should repaint some different lubesters...this style may have been made for Texaco (Jack Sim - can you weigh in here? Are these 'for Texaco' like the GOC stuf was 'for Gulf'?)

...I know I've seen a LOT of Texaco lubesters in old photos that had glass cylinders, never looked too closely - surely there's a Texaco guy on Oldgas who could verify or dispute...these are really nice with the brass tags and all, I'd degrease them and see what's left of the original paint and decals, they could probably be replicated easily (I know I could redo the artwork from what you've got from a couple of good photos, probably without any noticeable difference from the old decals...

...I think it would be a shame to restore them as anything but Texaco...correct period Texaco lubsters done right would be a cinch to get top dollar for down the road...lots of people are crazy for Texaco stuff...my opinion...lubesters are relatively cheap - I'm sure you could find three more identical ones to do up as Richfield...if you've got lots of them - well, it would be that much easier...

I actually have a lot more Lubesters. I like these because of the Bennett lid that they have.
I think these were always Texaco. I didn't know that Texaco had Bennett make their own pumps.
This is good information.
Thank you!

If they had been made for TEXACO, they would have TEXACO lids & a brass tag soldered on tank stating they are Property of TEXACO.

Lots of companies used BENNETT oil dispensers & pumps. As a station owner & you decided to change brands, you &/or the distributor would re-paint your equipment & buildings & put up the new signage. So what was once a TEXACO could have been changed to ??? or the other way around.

Paint them the way YOU will enjoy them.

That is what I was thinking. Do you know what color Richfield used for them?

...and a hippie could have painted a '33 Chevy like a toadstool in 1966 - but that doesn't mean that's the way to restore it...

...relax...all I'm saying, is since these are so complete - and maybe Texaco did use a lot of this particular model - those are some old decals and brass tags - why not make remake these as Texaco (period correct), or clean'em and leave'em?...there's LOTS of unloved lubesters out there to paint as Richfield...

There is a guy that advertises in the magazines that is the Historian for Richfield/Arco & lives in the foothills of centeral Calif.
PM sent with info.

This is where I want to display them, and why I wanted Richfield.

I say paint them to match the Pumps.

Bennett refered to these as Lube Tanks.
First of all the history. Bennett went in business making greasing equipment (around 1921), branched into oil dispensers a few years later. By 1928 the company was doing over $2,000,000 worth of business. It was this year that they were purchased by the Service Station Equipment Co. of Montreal, merged with another acuation (the Shotwell Bearing Co.)and made their first gas pump.
In 1926, Bennett introduced the Highboy line of oil dispensers. The feature of these units was that they were narrow and taller, it seems that the older wider ones were prone to bulging.
The Highboy was offered with a 30 or a 60 gal. tank, blind or visible , with a "non-drip," "Seal-O-Matic Nozzle" or a water and dustproof self-closing Return Dranin Arm.
Your unit appears to be either the 387 (30 gal.) or the 687 (60 gal.)
The basic Highboys were made into the 1960s, but it appears they stopped advertising the "visible" in the mid-1930s.
From a technical point of view, your Lube Tanks are older than your gas pumps, but this doesn't mean anything, as these tanks far out-lived many gas pumps.
This is the first time I have ever seen tanks with the Highboy lids. No one will ever be able to determine if these tanks were always used by Texaco. Since the tanks were probably made in around 1930, how old are the decals. Most of these tanks were purchased from a local service station equipment dealer, they were delivered in red, and the oil company that was delivering to the station put the decals on them. Within a couple of years these tanks were usually so covered with oil spills no one would ever try and repaint them.
What should you do with them? Restore them to any colors you want, this doesn't matter, what does matter is thay you have some very old Visible Lube Tanks and they should be restored.

Sales and Parts literature are available on my website at: http://www.petrolianacollectibles.com/bennett%20highboys.htm

Jack Sim

Paint them to match your pumps, they will look awesome.

And....everybody in the hobby calls them lubesters.

We call gas pumps manufactured before gravity/glass visible pumps as 'pre-visibles' even though that's not what they were called when manufactured or used. There is certain terminology that the hobby uses as common expressions and everyone understands what is being described.

Most everyone calls them "lubesters" & the rest know what you are referring to.

This is a real LUBE-STER made by BOWSER;

To Jack & I & a few others, it's as different as Night & Day !

Yours are the 30 gallon size.

It's probably an age thing

Holy crap!! I am sure glad i asked. I really appreciate the history, Jack! From what I can see, these were white originally then red 4 times over.
I use Lubester as a generic term, but I would rather call them by their rightful name.
I do auto body repair for a living. So I can guarentee the restoration will be beautiful. I would just like to know how Richfield did them.