Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion Advice on Bennett 541 Pump

Hello everyone. I am new to the gas pump game.

I purchased an old DX service station that I plan use as a shop/man cave. I’ve been looking for an old pump to stick out front and came up with this old Sinclair branded Bennett 541.

My intentions were to pull out the motor/pump assembly, get the dial mechanism freed up and paint it up with DX ad glass and decals.

The more I’ve been looking at it, it just seems too nice and original to paint up. Looks like everything is there minus the globe, computer faces, and sight glasses. Since I’m new to this I’m looking for some advice.

What’s your thoughts? Leave it as is? Try to trade it for a DX pump maybe more period correct (late 50’s-early 60’s)? Go with original plan and gut it and paint it?

Hello, and nice find! Years ago accumulated quite a collection of pumps with the hope of having a museum {small, poor man's museum} so as to allow people who love this stuff and those days see the cool history. Life brings change that we didn't expect, and I ended up having to sell most all of them. Always wanted to totally restore all 30 of those pumps but found over time appreciated the original patina. That said, in my humble opinion I would just clean it up, get it complete, and ENJOY!!! God luck!
P.S Am actually looking to find a Bennett 541 now myself!

Welcome to Oldgas. Too nice to restore, very nice pump. If you want a DX I’m sure can find a DX

Welcome to the OG world Seth. I am guessing you will get a difference in opinions on here, but it is really up to you. I for one think that your model pump is the top 5 pumps for many collectors. I would leave it unrestored and would spend a little time and effort cleaning it up and getting a few original parts if possible for the pieces you are missing. Neil

on this subject from a current thread: .. ...

http://www.oldgas.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=129108&Number=744256#Post744256

Seth I sent you a PM, (flashing envelope) upper right corner in the top margin of your OG page. Neil

I would leave it alone, really hard to find decent original pump any more. There are tons of pumps with layers and layers of paint out there that could be restored to DX or what ever you want. I would keep this inside and put a reproduction Sinclair globe on top and call it done.

Thanks for all the replies. The video in the linked thread was interesting. Those techniques will be helpful. Seems like the consensus is the way I was leaning, to keep it original. I’ll try to find some faceplates and maybe a repop globe for the top.

Guess the hunt for a DX pump is still on.

Seth,

For what it’s worth, I completely agree with all the comments above. A pump in original paint and patina looks great cleaned up. Just re-wire it as well. Still a fun project to work on. It will be a tough hunt, but you can always try to find a DX pump in original paint. That would be a fun hunt. Or (as mentioned above) restore a pump with a junky paint job into a nice DX pump.

I sold an original paint DX pump to a guy 1 1/2 years ago. I sent you his number to see if he still has it.

Hello ,
This is Gas Pump Rob. I would agree you should keep that pump original and sometime find a rough looking one to restore. Your pump looks awesome! This is one more video that might inspire you.

Thanks,
Rob[video:youtube]https://youtu.be/P5XuPr-q4cA[/video]

I don't care what you do with your pump, that is up to you. What bothers me is this use of the word "patina." When I got into this hobby back in the late 1980s you never heard that word. If you sold pumps you either sold a restored pump or you sold a pump that needed to be restored. At one time I owned over 200 unrestored pumps, no one ever said they had nice patina, at that time they were just pumps that were waiting to be restored. I have probably attended over 300 car shows and I can tell you I have never seen a 1957 Chevrolet that had nice patina. They were all restored back to what they looked like when they left the dealers showroom.

Over the years I had pumps sitting outside my garage. When I had, say a Bowser 141 out there, people would say, what is that thing. But if I had a nice restored Wayne 60 out there, they would say, that is a very nice looking old pump. My feeling is that no one is going to say to you that that pump has nice patina, they are going to say, "are you going to restore that pump?"

Again, do what you want or can afford with your pump but I wish we would quit using that term "patima."

Jack Sim

Times have changed jack, you will see many cars at a car show today with patina! At one time I only wanted shiny restored pumps, but now my favorite pumps are unrestored patina pumps. Unless itt has surface rust on 90% of it & looks like a brown turd, I wouldn’t restore it. Look at what Matt alverez does with (RUSTORATIONS) there awesome.

No problem Chris, most of this is about age, I am almost 85, my feelings correspond with my age. Forty years ago, it didn't cost much to restore a pump, now it does, hence, patina. By the way, I have never seen a '57 chevy with patina.

Jack Sim

Seth, This is for sale on Facebook, and I remembered this post. This pump is priced very high in my opinion, however if you really like it, maybe you can talk them down.