DOUG’S Q-C COLLECTIBLES: Nostalgic gas pumps are in big demand

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By Doug Smith | Monday, May 12, 2008 12:15 PM CDT | () comments

(CONTRIBUTED PHOTO) This 1920s-era pump brings back happy memories of full-service stations and inexpensive gasoline.

Dear Doug: I have enclosed a photo of a gas pump we received some 15 years ago as a gift. What can you tell us about it, and what might it be worth?

Mr. & Mrs. G

Dear Mr. & Mrs. G: I am using only the first letter in your last name so you can remain anonymous. By the way, that’s not Mr. G standing by the old pump is it?

Well, this is quite a gift that someone has given you! It’s obvious that my cheapskate buddies don’t know the meaning of true friendship.

It looks to me like you’ve got yourself what is commonly referred to as a “Wayne Visible” gas pump made sometime near the mid-1920s. It was manufactured by the Wayne Oil Tank and Pump Co. of Fort Wayne, Ind., and is referred to as a “visible” because you actually can see the gasoline in the glass “gas cylinder” at the top. Wayne and a few other companies made several models in those early days, and you should have a small placard fastened below the glass frames where the manufacturer’s name, model and serial numbers are inscribed.

This appears to be a model 519, which stood 8 1/2 feet tall minus the globe on top. Yours has literally received the crowning touch atop the red frame, but a well-versed collector might snicker a bit at the anachronism since the white crown globe is from a later period. Standard Oil of Indiana adopted a red, white and blue color scheme in its Standard Oil Products sign and carried the theme through with the use of a red crown for its leaded regular symbol and a white crown for leaded premium gas. Unfortunately, these crowns weren’t being manufactured until the 1930s and were used through the mid-’50s. Your pump has obviously been repainted and restored to some degree, and there’s no way of telling from your photo whether the crown is an original or not. Many of the globes and parts for the old pumps have been reproduced, which helps with restoration projects.

These old pumps are so nostalgic. There wasn’t any such thing as self-serve in those days. A cheery, snappily dressed attendant would hop to attention to pump your gas, check the oil and tires, and clean your windshield, all at no extra charge. He would hand-pump the gasoline from the holding tank below ground into the visible gas cylinder window above, which was graduated in gallons. When it was filled to the desired level, he would drain it by gravity into the automobile’s tank.

One need only envision the service stations as they once were and compare them with the corner coffee and gasoline stops we have today and an account of American progress is at hand: “Ma’am, should I fill ’er up? … 22 cents a gallon.” Boy, that’s depressing.

If the glass cylinder in your pump is not cracked or chipped, it is worth $1,200-$1,800. But deduct $100 if the pump handle is missing. If the milk-glass white crown is original, it is worth an extra $300-$400. And if so, that should be sold separately since it isn’t original to the pump.

Giving credit where it’s due, there still are a few real service stations around the Quad-Cities such as Dittmer’s on West Locust Street in Davenport and Silvis Independent Service on 1st Avenue in Silvis, Ill. Furthermore, anyone who has never been to the Filling Station restaurant on 35th Street, just off Brady Street in Davenport, will be impressed by the collection of original service station globes and other memorabilia on display there. Owner Don Wachal tells me he thinks he has 78 different globes, which were collected nearly 40 years ago.

Contact Doug Smith with your collectibles questions by e-mailing him at DougsQCCollecting@hotmail.com or send a note to the Quad-City Times, Attn.: features editor, P.O. Box 3828, Davenport, IA, 52808. Please send a photograph, if available, either by e-mail or letter.