The kids have really enjoyed working on this pump. The one girl that I have in class is probably the hardest worker of the bunch. One of the boys made the comment today about how he wished gas pumps still looked like that. He (this is a 16 year old kid) said he wished our society was more concerned with making things that look cool instead of making them convenient. He said it would be way more enjoyable to get gas from a pump like ours than drive up, slide your card in, and rush off before the 6 people behind you get too mad. I was pretty impressed with his thinking!

Although they absolutely love working on the pump, they hate the square nuts, and it drives them crazy to call the "number thing" a computer!

I'd love to finish the pump myself over the summer, but I think the kids would really be mad if I did. Only two of them are seniors, so I think if the others show up next year and see a completed pump I'll have a mutiny on my hands.

Several people from the community have stopped by the shop to check out the progress and they are all pretty happy with it. A couple of the old guys have some good stories about when they actually used to get gas out of it -- more like what they did after they got the gas!

It has been a really fun project. I'd sure like to keep doing this type of thing in the future -- besides our ERIE 71, the kids really like the looks of the Tokheim 36B. I really think this is a good way to give these kids some skills while at the same time giving them an appreciation of the past.

Chris