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Great book Jack!!Wondering if any Canadian pumps will be in your revised edition...like Twin visibles,Ecometers,etc...thanks

Jack's book has revolutionized the pump parts business. We have a copy at every phone in our warehouse. My employees have become very spoiled!! It is just so easy to get on the same page (no pun intended) with your customer when they really can't identify their pump. Thanks Jack

P.S. it also doesn't hurt that we've sold 600 copies & counting, nice addition to the product line

I agree with most of you that Jack did a good job on the book although it would have been a lot better with a whole lot more actual photos instead of an artists depiction of a certain pump. The values of pumps listed in this book help some of us and hurt more than they help. The low values on a lot of pumps are not low enough and some of the high values aren't high enough. I think it's like all antiques though, price is governed by region that you live in. There are people out there now that are using Jack's book as the "gospel" on what a pump should bring and as a result they are sitting on a pump that will never sell in that region for that price. Just my 2c's worth.

Mike

Mike,
I thought about getting pictures of the 1500+ items I used in the book, but I couldn't get anyone to go with me while I visited 1500+ places and asked permission to take 1500+ pictures. If you were to wait for someone to do this the book will never appear. One other reason I used original literature is that they show more detail than a picture. Most people don't know how to take a pictue, especially of a pump. They will usually put it in front of everything they own and you can't tell when the Texaco sign lets off and the pump begins, or the pictue is taken out in the weeds and you can's see the bottom 1/3 of the pump. Pictures of pumps sent to me usually require a great deal of editing to get rid of the background. I have spent 3+ hours editing one of these pictures. I only use pictures people send me if I don't have a factory picture.
As for the prices, most collectors will concer that the prices of the older pumps may be somewhat under priced and prices of the newer pumps are a little over priced. But when people post here on this discussion page that people are paying $600.00 for a Tokheim 39 I don't feel bad abut the job I did on pricing.
I tried a very unique thing when it came to pricing, I had 5 collectors do it for me. This way we can blame Dick Bennett for any mistakes.
Unless I find a pile of original literature on Canadian pumps they will not be in the book. What literature I have found has been too expensive to purchase.
Jack Sim

Hey Bikesavage, how about you compile you own data,invest your own time and money, have it published, market it to petroleum collectors, and we will end this argument and decide who has the best book!!

I too am disappointed with Jack's book. Now that I see all those pumps in his book it reminds me of how many pumps I don't have yet. Jack don't let the nay sayers get to you. Literally thousands of us in the hobby enjoy your labor of love and look forward to future works.

I just finished reading the Dictionary and I noticed some words that I hear now and then, and even use occassionally, are not listed... Whats up with that??
Seriously tho... I give Jack a big "Thumbs Up" for a job well done. His book is a valuable reference and a "must have" for any Petro-nuts library.
Thanks Jack!!!

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Frank

[This message has been edited by FrankSargent (edited 10-16-2003).]

The technical writers job is to ilustrate certain points of the item for sale, often easier to see certain details than in a photo. The said illustration of a pump was not used in a brochure til the writer captured the points the maker wanted to emphasize, then it was considered ready for use
A massive and much appreciated project Jack took on, even at 5.00 per brochure , it could easily have gone over 5K just gathering enough material to work on the project..Kudos for Jack and his work...dodogas

I just purchased his book a month ago and I think it is awesome. He is a true hero in Petroliana if you ask me. Anyone to give that much time and effort to make it easier on the rest of us is a "GAS GOD" in my opinion. Looking foward to more of your work Jack. And Thank You!!!

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~Jason
http://www.galtsmiles.com/Jason's%20Antiques.html

I for one am truly dissapointed in Jack's book..... it just doesn't stand up...... too many trips to the pickup... back to the computer..... to the pickup..... back to the computer... I am just gonna have to buy that second one before I completely wear this one out.
As far as I'm concerned there is absolutely no downside to the book... as Jack has said it is and will always be a work in progress... as long as there are more pumps to find.
I have to agree with Ohio Oil..... too many pumps... too little time.
One of these days Jack I am gonna take a pic of my Wayne Cut 521 visible and send it to you unless you have found some lit on it.
Thanks again for a great book.
bob

So on this subject, what is the most different pumps anyone knows of in one collection. With the big variety out there must be a few guys that have a hundred or close to it.Anyone know of such a collection, you dont have to mention names, we just like to hear about them.....dodogas

On the return trip from Iowa Gas, Gaspump Rob & I visited a friend of mine. We were there over 6 hours, and NEVER-NEVER-NEVER saw all of them, 1200+++++++ [he QUIT counting at 1200]. WE were asked not to photograph them [it would have been like photgraphing the GRAND CANYON in 1 picture--SORRY]. There were some VERY EARLY, VERY RARE [only 1 or 2 known], unknown manufactures, common pumps of all kinds. Hand cranks, visibles, clock face, computer [including TWINS], European, Mexican, Canadian, and maybe Cuban & S. America, Austrailia [that's close]?
PLUS he has multiplies of MOST of them.
AWWWWWWWWWSOME COLLECTION !!!!!!!!
Dick

[This message has been edited by Dick Bennett (edited 10-17-2003).]

Yes, I have to add my two cents. I thought I had a lot of pumps at about 80 or so including overseas pumps , I was blown away by this collection of pumps that filled one of the warehouses that this collector had which Dick described. We were welcomed into this building that had rows of let's say 40 Wayne 615s , 40 of Wayne 515 etc. We are talking about a 10 thousand square foot warehouse filled with rows of pumps. It is like something from another planet. An overpowering sight! You could not even get between these rows because the rows were so close together. When Dick mentioned common pumps he did not mean Tokheim 39s or 300 series pumps. He ment Boyle Daytons ,Garanteed 117s,77s 71s etc. Hundreds!! He had maybe 15 Wayne 492 Greek column pumps in one row. Rows of clockface pumps , Double clockface and double visibles like the ones you use to find in Canada. We saw pumps that I never had ever seen before in any books! It is unbelievable how many pumps were manufactured on this earth. I wish we could get a total someday. After that building he took us to two or three more, National 80s,Tokheim 36 ADC showcase pumps ,Wayne 800s,Wayne 50 A pumps,old Coke machines, Bicycles, outboard motors,Old motorcycles, Etc. I never saw one Wayne 60,70 or Tokheim 36B so I asked him if he had any. He said "those are tucked away in my trailers". We were there till about three or four in the morning. Dick ended up sleeping on top of my Martin/Schwartz clockface pump in the back of his truck on the side of the road , because we could not drive anymore . I promised the person that I would never tell anyone who he was or were this was. All I can say is he started collecting at the age of 16 and now is only in his fourties. So far, in my opinion the largest collection on earth that I know of!

GasPumpRob

[This message has been edited by Gas Pump Rob (edited 10-18-2003).]

Cool, great story. A while back Torkiki asked who has the biggest collection. I started thinking that if you had a really big collection and bragged about it enough you may become someone who Had a big collection. Even in the collectible of the month I am noticing that some of the people prefer to remain anonymous, they dont mind showing it if everybody doesnt have to know where it is.
You have to respect that and be glad that you got to see it and learn to keep your mouth shut. you have to be careful what you say about it or you will never get to see or touch it again.........dodogas

The day we saw the pumps, [friday] we had gotten up about 5:30-6am. Did the swapmeet, packed the truck & trailer and were on our way.
We were given the ROYAL tour from 11pm-4am. At about 5am WE needed some sleep [1-1 1/2 hr nap on top of Rob's pump]. Then hit the road AGAIN.
Stopped at anther collector's place about noon-ish. On the road AGAIN.
WE hit the wall [so to speak], could not drive anymore [EITHER ONE OF US] on saturdat about midnight, so we got a motel.
AND still had a FULL days drive to get home, so we could go to work on monday.

Thanks for the GREAT TRIP ROB. ARE YOU READY TO GO ?????????