Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums Showcase and Stories, Petroliana My first FREE gas pump! It's most of a Bowser 595!

My first free gas pump!
I was waiting for this day and this story exceeds any of my expectations of this event.

A new customer came by, yesterday, and is buying the theater seats and my green wood burning cook stove for her AMAZING restaurant in SW Spokane. (CHAPS) http://www.chapsgirl.com/
She was a absolute sweetheart of a gal with a very cool eye who is beautiful AND she is a critical care Nurse, Restaurant Owner, Mother of young children AND A PICKER! I guess SUPERWOMAN exists.
She mentioned that she had a gas pump that she brought home on one of her runs and said I could have it! I WAS STOKED. She kept on saying, "oh, it's so rusty and broken down that you probably won't want it." and I kept on telling her that I did not care, it's free and I will come running to get it. I figured that it was a 70s gas pump or something like that and I did not care. It was just sooo cool that she would give it to me.
I had to run to Spokane today and thought I would stop by her restaurant on the way home. I parked outside of her restaurant and started walking up to the entrance and noticed a 50s pickup truck in the front yard area along with some great antiques like a bicycle, a old 3 lamp light post and much more. Then we stepped inside and I was walking around the place looking at her amazing style of decoration everywhere for at least a half hour.
The menu looks delicious and very tasty with a wide variety of foods and they have a pastry chef named Gina that makes incredible treats. I had no idea such a cool and tasty place existed around here.
She came by the restaurant and I followed her to her house where she had the pump.
I was sooo happy when I saw it and she got a kick out of my excitement over it.
I ended up just loading it up in my car and brought it home.
Now that I've gotten it home I did a light assessment of condition and what it has and what's missing. The base and frame are stellar and the one door that it has is in decent shape. The sides and top aren't too bad with one extra hole and a couple of missing pieces.

Now I'm on the hunt for parts because this one, I am going to keep and restore it because I can afford to keep this one.
Anyone have some extra parts for a 595????

Thats awesome!! My very first pump was free! It is awesome to know you get something that someone might have found it an d scraped it or destroyed it. Good pump, and cool story...

Great story wish I was offered a free pump.

Thanx guys!
Keep plugging away and havin fun and stay positive and it should happen to you also, John.

Yea. My only problem is I don't have any contacts and there's no one in my area that has anything to sell.

Your saying there Aren't any farms/commercial businesses in your area of Mich.?
Don't wait for someone to contact you, get out & beat the bushes, Advertise where Farmers buy stuff/have stuff fixed.
Sitting at home & saying "Poor Me, why can't I find/buy stuff" will get ya ZERO.
Ride your bicycle around to garage/estate sales, Ask If they have anything your looking for [most times Grease/Oil/Bug Spray/Weed Killer cans are in a box waiting to be taken to a Hazmat center for disposal].
Quit feeling sorry for yourself & throwing a guilt trip on us.

Your lucky day Dave , congratulations ! DB's advise is good as always. If you ask enough people and beat the bushes as he says sometimes stuff will turn up , I got a couple really nice mobil cans recently this way and for very little. Squeaky wheel gets the grease my grandma always said.

Every area has a "Pennysaver" type newspaper where ads are cheap to free. Craigslist is free and you can advertise in surrounding areas, too. The deal with this stuff is that you never know where it is until it sees the light of day. I bought a visible pump this summer within 2 miles of my house in a suburban area. It had been in the back yard, visible from the street if you really looked, for over forty years and everyone just shook their heads when they realized it had been under their noses all these years. This is a VERY unpredictable hobby, but stuff will not seek you out randomly.

Way to go Dave!! Should be able to find parts for this pump without to much trouble.

I go to at least 20 garage/estate sales a week and find lots of stuff that's where a lot of my collection comes from. I have ads on c list as well get lots from that to. just missed out on a mobil globe on c list yesterday. I'm sorry if it came across as a guilt trip to you guys.

Do you ask Every One that is working the sales?
Print out some cheap cards & pass them out to everyone you talk to.

Gas Station Items & Advertising of all kinds
Collect, Buy, Sell, Trade
Signs, pumps, cans, maps, globes, S&P, Match Books, Give aways, paint, bug spray, tire paint, etc

ps: Include your phone # & Name on cards!

There's this guy at my church that I've known for probably ten years at least. Well, the other night after a meeting he and I were just shooting the breeze and we somehow got around to talking about how I restored old gas pumps. He ask me exactly what kind of pumps I was talking about. He said he had this old pump on his farm that had those "little glass bulbs the gas ran through when it pumped". Said it was there when he bought the place but the real estate agent made the guy he was buying the farm from take it off its pad and dig up the old tank to satisfy dnr. He said it was now hidden by blackberry briars but if I wanted it he'd be glad to get rid of it. He said we need to wait til cool weather when the wasps and weeds thin out. I can't wait to see what it is! Ill post a pic of the find when we uncover it. Free is always best....even if its not that good!

Yea I ask all of them. My dad works in a print shop so I'll have him make some cards for me.

Make some 2X bigger for posting any where they have a Business card tack board [scrap yards, junk yards, Dump, grocery stores, Home Depot, Feed/welding shops, tractor/tire/parts stores, coin op laundry, car wash, etc, etc].

[after all these suggestions, I get 1/2 of everything you get John, from now on, DELIVERED [NO CHARGE] to Iowa Gas in August!]

Here is a update.
I was wrong, it's a Bowser 585 and was a Shell brand pump in it's last use at least.
I noticed a raised area on the door and knew it was a decal so I got the scraper that I use out and started to work and here are the results.



It still has all of the door hinges and pins and the door grabs are still functional and looking complete on both sides. The base and sides are in really decent shape with no rust and it looks like one extra hole in the pump handle side. It was setup for farm use and the computer was removed but it looks like all the winder pieces are there on each side and some of the computer mounting brackets but I'm not sure. I still need to take some close up pics of the inside before I start taking the pipes and stuff apart.
It is missing one door, the computer, the electrical conduit and lights, the sight glass and internal pipes that the gas went through to be dispensed and more like the handle and hose are not original but in all, it's a very straight, rust free, incomplete pump and I'm super happy about it still!

Lol dick. I'll do that thanks.

I think that I have a matching red door for your pump.

Dave the shell decal is great ! Maybe you can use Matt a's removal and scraping methods and save it . Keeps us posted . I would try to clean it up and leave it like that , I like that froze in time , but that will be a great pump to add to you collection.

Ryan,,OOOOOOO a door??? I'm sending a PM! That would be awesome!

Travis, that is what I'm trying to do with it. The white must be a primer and is the coat of paint that is right on top of the decal and it's tough to get off but I'm gonna work it. I might do the whole pump like Matt,,,,, or not. I'll play it by ear as I go. I kinda want to do either a Rainbow pump or a DS but who knows! I like original sometimes too.

Thanx for the input everyone!

DS = Duck Soup?

No, but I do like that Marx brothers movie!
Direct Service brand.

Well, the primer on top of the top decal is too well attached to the decal and it's taking off layers of decals instead of the paint on top of the first, so, it's one to restore and I need to gather the parts before I take it apart. It will look great where it is at while I gather the parts for it.
I don't like a globe on top of these but I don't think there was anything else put on top of them. I think some type of glass or lit up topper would look good but I doubt anything was or is made for them. Let me know if you know of anything and thanx for all the informational PMs about this one and parts leads!

Here is a link to the DS topic with great info from BR!
https://www.oldgas.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=461948

I decided to break out a pad of steel wool and here are the results.



Not bad huh? I will try to get the edges back some more in the next few days.

I like it!

Geez Dave those lubesters look like they are as active as rabbits, they are multiplying!

Thanx for the laugh Fred! Most of them will be gone in a couple of days but I might try to get another 4 here soon so, ya, they are kinda turning out like rabbits. If I come across them I try to pick them up because they compliment gas pumps when I get them in. They are also becoming harder to come across so I figure I should pick them up if I get in front of some.

Dave is correct in his statement and I am looking for parts for this pump to complete it instead of parting it out. Good Luck on it and post some pics if you get the chance ABC123!!

I don't usually like Shell brand very much but I think this would look very cool restored to Shell with a glass seashell Shell globe on top and maybe with the Penzoil lubester restored next to it also! I wonder if Penzoil and Shell Yellow are the same shade of yellow???

Thanx again for all the kind words and thoughts!