Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion Customizing gas pumps

...sigh...NO ONE is telling anyone what they can or can't do...they're merely advising you as to what you should or shouldn't do...

...every time this debate comes up, someone posts the red herring that 'people are telling you what to do with your stuff'...I suspect it's because the idea of someone telling you what to do, just really irritates some folks to the point where they can't realize that no one is actually doing that...

...all it succeeds in doing, is successfully distracting us from the actual topic: whether or not we have an obligation to preserve the history, instead of vainly rewriting it to suit our 'taste'...

...I've seen some of these 'customizations' - and some of them are so god awful tacky, that I'm compelled to disagree with the old saying 'there's no accounting for taste'...

...I see a customized pump the same way I see a nice, 'non-neon' sign that someone added neon to: it's a shame, and a waste of money...if the original look of this stuff doesn't do it for you, then why are you messing with it?...just create your own designs out of raw materials...

...in ten years - happily, after this 'tattooed-Jesse James-ultimate garage biker-gang-wannabe' fad only rears its ugly head as an embarrassing answer on Jeopardy - you won't be able to recoup the money spent as easily as you will be able to, if the pump was RESTORED to it's original appearance...

...'customizing' does nothing to preserve and protect the history - it actually does the opposite, by deliberately obscuring the truth of what this stuff looked like when it was used...and therefore, its purpose...

The owner that redid this Boyle and Dayton did custom things to it but I think it was because of 2 reasons.
1 he was doing it during the early-mid 80s and there wern't many reproduction parts at the time and I figure he could not find the original parts at that time either.
2 I think he liked 'nautical' things and this pump kinda looks like a light house to me.
He kept most of all the parts on the inside and covered them with repop skins that are a good thick high quality sheet metal.

I've been trying to figure out what I'm gonna do with the pump and I've decided to re-do the pump and up the customization to make this thing droul worthy.

I understand both sides of this debate and agree with both sides and I have my own personal rules that I follow when it comes to stock vs. custom.
I will go custom to this one because it was already done but my Erie 77a that is a original Chevron Supreme pump, I am NOT going to touch except to get more of the many layers of paint and concrete off of the original decals and pieces that are abundant on this pump. I really hope that the person that gets the 77 either keeps it the way it is or that they do a full on restoration back to Chevron Supreme, but I don't have the right to tell them what to do with their pump, I can only heavilly sugest it.
I personally would take a pump back to original if it was a rare pump like a Godshalk (there is one for sale on Spokane CL right now that is killing me that I can't go get it http://spokane.craigslist.org/clt/3691728480.html ) or the many others that were made in the teens and 20s that aren't hardly seen anymore but a pump like my B&D, there are many amazing stock examples that people have done out there (look at the amazing job that Craig Osbeck did on the !4! that he has or the many others that have been pictured on here) so, I don't feel obligated to take it back to that.

BUT IT'S ALL JUST MY OPINION and it's fun to share and see the amazing jobs everyone is doing wether it is custom or stock.

I've put alot of thought into this subject and I would never disturb a pump that's in super great unrestored condition. However, when I get around to customizing a pump for myself I'm going to do a winter Sohio pump with old man winter placed in the area where the pump plate goes (I've looked into having this decal made already) blowing cold air and snowflakes out around so the snowflakes wrap around the pump in the paint job. Its just my weird imagination but it should turn out decent as long as my patience and beer supply holds up. Using the Sohio "Heat" globe of course. Customizing pumps is completely fine if its what you like and YOU are happy with it.

Goober

Gulfiend you're the man! I agree with you a 100%!

Def agree with gulfiend on this one. Doing customization on a pump is like painting a pink heartbeat on the side of your teal green beretta and thinking you'll like it in 5 years. Or morphing three pumps together with some wood and framing nails so you can store your collectibles inside. They all look cool until the shrooms fade off and the. Your left with a pump that needs blasted and a new restoration done to em. Keep it original or keep it classy and you never have to worry about waking up one day and thinking ...... Did I really do that?

Jimmy I LOVE the iron cross pump. That's a great idea and very original. I would do one like that in a heart beat. I've been wanting to do something different to set by my bikes other than the same old Harley theme. I may have to "barrow" a couple idea's from you on that one lol!

As far as the topic. I'm all for original but at the same time I think you should do whatever you like and will enjoy. It's your pump.

Uh o, better not let DB see what you just said there Clinton.

Too many oranges will cause ya too do weird things Craig!

Somebody help me up!

Sure, make fun of the working guy everyone. By the way the oranges were juicy and good.

I take it that Maria & Mick DON'T Like AVOCADOS ANYMORE, EITHER ?

Uh oh...

Sorry for the misunderstanding. I just brought that picture up in response to Oldiron's post. That rat pump is definitely not my creation. To me these whimsy pumps are OK to look at for a minute but original items are what I am fascinated by. If you want to see more pictures of the Iron Cross pump heres a link. http://www.oldgas.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=182294&page=1

I would like to have seen Craig trying to peel the Key Limes! They were about the size of his Thumbs!