Well since the ball is rolling I figured it’s time to start the restoration thread. I’ve built classic cars for a long time. I never really caught the bug for a vintage fuel pump until recently. But it sure hit hard. I looked for the right one for a while. Goodguys swap meets, Facebook marketplace place, just couldn’t find one to jump at. But then a friend of my wife’s hired our son to do some tractor work on her land. She showed him some cool stuff on her property to ask him if he’d be interested in taking it in exchange for more tractor work. An old fuel pump was on of them.
My son wasn’t interested in the pump. He took an old semi truck scale because he’s currently restoring a vintage semi truck, along with a 77 trans am. He’s got a bit of a Smokey and the Bandit thing going on.
Anyways, my wife’s friend came over and I fixed her dually for her, and she told me about the pump.
She said her dad used to collect them, he had a million of em and all are long gone. This was the last one she had. She is in her 60s so her dad who has be a while has had this for decades. She said she’d sell it to me as long as I’d fix it up whenever I could.
Anyways the reason why I am talking about her so much is tragedy just struck. I was hoping to restore this in time for her to see it when she comes over for a 4th of July bbq, but sadly last week she, who has been a lifelong horseman, was just bucked off one of her mules. Her neck was broken, and she is currently paralyzed from the neck down. They did surgery but sadly nothing has improved.
It’s bittersweet working in the pump now but I know she’d want work done. She worked everyday all day long. So I promise she’ll see this pump restored. I won’t sell it, it will be nestled between our classic cars.
