I have been into cars since I was 12 years old, and use to work at my uncles Shell gas station during the weekends, spring break, summer & Christmas holidays.
It never occurred to me that people collected gas & oil items. In 2004, I bought an auction house and took note of how passionate some people were about advertising and gas & oil items. Not to mention the prices these items pulled.
In 2006, I sold the auction house and started collecting. I bought a double Gilbarco 96B off of e-Bay. When I picked it up, I bought a bunch more items from the seller in WA. I asked him if knew of any other gas pumps for sale. He said he knew a guy with over 120 gas pumps; but that the guy would never sell them. I asked him to introduce me to the individual.
I became good friends with the person with all the pumps. One day, he told me that he had all these pumps. I told him I knew and he stated I was the only guy that never asked to buy any. I said, that I knew they were not for sale. He had, had them in storage for over twenty years in a barn that he was renting. He had gone through a divorce and kept them and had paid a small fortune in rent over the years. He offered to sell them all to me and I bought them all. Probably, overpaid for them...But, I have no regrets.
