National Pump Company built their Model A38 for purchase by any oil company, national or local, that wished to buy them. The green porcelain finished ones were custom built for Associated Oil, but plain painted steel examples were found everywhere. In the south Pure Oil was perhaps the largest purchaser of these pumps, but virtually every major oil company used them. Gas pumps are purchased at various levels - a local jobber could buy any one he wished (except for those custom branded examples), a major oil company could buy any they wished or could commission custom examples with a minimum purchase (still works that way, I am in that business), and a major oil company could make a deal with a pump company to make certain models available to their jobbers at a specific, discounted rate. Those buying arrangements are how we've come to associate certain pumps with certain brands (Bennett and Sinclair's long term arrangements, Gilbarco with Esso, etc., up to the point that Martin and Schwartz was owned by a group of oil companies for a number of years - Conoco, Mobil, Standard(IN) and Sunoco). In the back of the Gas Pump Restoration book there are examples of most of the original A38 ad glasses I've found over the years - this will give you some idea as to how many companies used them.
Wayne Henderson
Petroleum Collectibles Monthly
