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

Have many people started to customize gas pumps like car customizers do with cars?
I don't mean turning them into lighted display cases or putting in a TV screen.
I mean really making changes to the overall look to suit the owners taste while still having it look like a gas pump.
Adding chrome where chrome had not been. Adding a new style or shape of top. Making a pump using parts from different pumps and making them into one.
Car guys have been doing this for 70+ years. Taking the rear end of one car and fabricating into onto another model.
If you have any pictures to share I would love to see them.

I haven't gone as far as marring 2 different manufactures together, but have created Twins out of extra parts. 300 Bowser & 34 Tokheim.
I had a busted up 36B that I used to create the Showcase between the 36B Twin.

Lots of folks are customizing their pumps these days. I've seen em with custom paint to match their cars, shortened visibles to put under low ceilings, TVs installed behind the glass, and even people building wooden pumps or using wood to build pieces that are missing from their pumps! Who's to say there isn't a few oak 36b tops in people's collections!

Those are AWESOME!

Gas Pump Ronnie of somewhere in California was doing a lot of custom pumps years ago. One I remenber he did was a "Bomber" theme National A-38 to look like a WWII flying fortress with brushed aluminum look,with turret guns and lots of rivets. Also a Bengal tiger theme Wayne 40A with tiger stripes and paws on the base. I cannot find any pictures though. Maybe somebody on here still knows were to get ahold of pictures of his creations...they were cool!

Jim

Another he did was for Gene Autry, a 541 covered in cow hide w/ a showcase area in bottom. He also did one for Hugh Heffner "Playboy" & several for Reggie ?, pitcher for Ca. Angles.
Gaspump Ronnie lives in Hesperia, Ca.

Leave the pumps alone! Car customizing is cool but gas pumps no!!!!!!

I disagree. Why not make something more appealing to the owner?

I disagree with anyone who tells you what you should do with your pump. It is yours, your found it, you bought it, you brought it home, it is yours to decide what youy want to do with it.

I have my preferences, but I will not list them here as I do not feel I have the right to tell you what to do with your pump.

If you intend to keep the pump, restore it any way you want. If you intend to sell it, do it any way the customer wants it.

Jack Sim

W/O Repop parts, New Paint, decals, signs, globes, you'll most likely have an Incomplete pump Collection!
NO ONE has the Rights to tell anyone else what to do w/ THEIR PUMPS.

I remembered seeing this "Von Dutch Theme" pump at Columbus last year. This picture was taken from Oldgas' archives of Iowa 2012. Not sure who's it was.

For the most part, we customize almost every pump we restore to some degree. Even though most of mine are restored to an original theme, I'm pretty sure they never came from the factory with base/clear paint, polished fittings and nozzles, powder coated bases, and mirror polished stainless trim. I have plans to customize one into a display cabinet for my Texaco die cast planes that I am going to use a fantasy Texaco Aviation globe on. I'm looking for one that is incomplete to do that with as I wouldn't want to mess up a perfect pump or one that is super rare and valuable to do that sort of thing to. But hey, I say do whatever trips your trigger......most of the time you could redo it back to original if you wanted to anyway unless it was a full on George Barris type job with Caddilac tail fins welded on it or something.......

Now this is what I am talking about. That Texaco sure looks great as well.

I did buy a partial pump last year (chassis, sides, doors) for $200
I had it custom painted with my business name on both the doors and globe as well as some pin striping. A computer screen is going to be put in the door.
The pump will be placed in my vendor booth at local car shows. It will be used to play old hot rod films to entertain our customers.

Hi Trent,

I don't know how many people "go all out"at it,but yes,a member here on Oldgas did a Rat Rod theme pump to promote his business,I think,a few years ago.Some of the guys may remember gasalleykid from 2010.

Anyway,he did a rat rod theme pump that was the wildest thing I've ever seen.Think about:

1) Fully exposed VR with a skull (??)in the sight glass,
2) Welded chain hose guards.
3) An air filter and exhaust pipes on the.

He was working with a Tok short 39.Definitely a one of a kind.

If you want to look at it,go back into my own posts for Mon Apr 5 ,2010.The topic was "Rat Rod Tok. 39 build pictures" posted by gasalleykid.That is the only way I know how to find it.

Interesting reading.IMO,go for it!!

I know it seems like I dont have a life. Im laid off right now. Honest.

...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!

Notchcad makes a good point. Have you seen the teal green Beretta he drives?
I appreciate an overdone pump, all polished and chromed, with a layers deep paint job. If the pump was so far gone it needed a complete restore, I have no problem with going that route. The pumps I really enjoy though, are the survivors that are in good enough shape to leave alone. They are only original once! If you want to butcher a pristine pump into a full custom, I say: OUCH! If you have a pile of parts laying around and want to assemble them in a way pleasing to you: Have at it, and I hope you enjoy it.

Interesting idea

To over simplify to 2 sides:
side 1) You should do your pump the way I want you to do it
side 2) You should do your pump the way you want to do it

I'm all for preserving history, but let's face it, as much as we love old gas stations and gas pumps, they aren't the liberty bell or the Spirit of St. Louis.

If 1 out of a thousand Wayne 60's are made to look like a space ship, it's not the end of the world or completely obscuring or rewriting history.
If it gets up to 5 out of a thousand, then we should get the government involved to make at least 3 of those 5 conform.

I thought that they were lemons. Should have been here trying to peel one.

LOL

Its yours .Do as you please . Don't Get me wrong ,I like rust(patina) just as much as the next guy. Most my pumps I have not touched. But if the only way I can get a few in the house is restored , then so be-it. A lot of the major brands back in the days had pretty common paint schemes. Some pretty boring .Just one color and do beleive they need just a little more than that.

GENE

I'm late to this topic but thought I'd post a link to Old Irons mention of the skull pump...

http://www.oldgas.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=28929&Number=182294#Post182294

. Perfect...and all I have to say to you notchcad is.....

.

Clinton will look good going to Iowa gas in that mick, maybe he will pick me up as well , Clinton I will pay you gas money! But does the a/c work , isn't that in August?

Maybe he has a Portable AC unit like the use in Colo.!

It's in August but its not hot. I was running around helping people load pumps and carry ice chests and filling my trailer for 4 days and never broke a sweat! Ill find dick a beretta gt to take out there with AC so he can conserve gas and sit in the AC and eat his fruits and smoke all week long in style!

How many people that collect and restore gas pumps actually worked in a gas station or seen them in every day use?

Gas pumps for the most part in every region of the country were painted over with several coats of paint by hand. As components failed many times smaller companies, jobbers, and independents mismatched parts to keep things running. It wouldn't be uncommon to see holes drilled in panels, bailing wire, and many other concoctions.

The second you blow a nice shiny paint job on that pump authenticity went out the window. So what difference at that point does it make what you do to it?

When I started collecting and restoring pumps I don't remember signing any user agreement that I would assume any liability to 'represent the gas and oil industry in a historically accurate manner'

If that's the criteria to own a gas pump I would say 90% of all pumps in people's collections are frauds. Better call the pump police and start fining folk.