Wayne 50 restoration done! - Thu Nov 12 2015 03:26 PM
Some of you may remember when I was able to buy my Wayne 50 showcase from an old friend of mine that had found it here in North Dakota, many years ago! It was in bad enough shape, that I started on an immediate journey to have it restored.
I pulled the computer right away and sent it off to Joe for rebuilding, and then I sat down and stared at the pump for a long time, and finally decided that I wanted a better restoration than I was probably capable of, and I also had too many projects! I decided to send it to Nate Schmitt here in North Dakota. Nate has a restoration shop here in North Dakota, and his work is impeccable! His attention to detail is just amazing! He is also a member of this site and has done work for other members too!
My pump had a few issues with some rust deterioration around the window frames, and we decided to have new inner frames made. A few phone calls later, I was able to contract that work out with a master craftsman from California, and we sent off the parts needing copying.
I was also missing the lower doors for the pump, but Gas Pump Heaven had a set in stock for me. I had them sent direct to a porcelain shop that I use in Kansas City, and asked to have them porcelain coated white, rather than painting them. I got another bright idea about a week later and called to see if they could duplicate a black clover and triangle into the panel, and was surprised when they offered to try it. It took a couple of tries to get it right, but the results were great and I now have porcelain doors on the pump with a Cities Service clover and triangle cast right onto the front and back doors in porcelain!
We took off all the parts we wanted chromed, and sent them off right away to be chromed and polished. We also needed new trim pieces on the interior and Ron Scobie had those parts for me, along with the clips for the glass. That left me needing glass, and after a few more phone calls, I was able to locate a person that could get some glass panels made and shipped to me! Looked like we had everything covered, and it was simply a matter of sitting back and waiting!
Well, nothing ever happens fast in the collectibles industry, and this pump was no exception! It seems like there were always little problems that would pop up and slow the whole process to a snails pace. There was never anything that was earth shattering, it was just that there were so many people involved, that any little problem seemed to slow everything down while we waited for the problems to be resolved! It took 2 years from the time we started, until I picked it up about 2 weeks ago! It was very hard to be patient, but good things are always worth waiting for, and I knew this was one of those good things!
With a pump this big and heavy, there are always little things that slow you down, and even the loading and unloading from my truck was a task that had to thought out and some special equipment utilized! When you have a bunch of time and money into a restoration, you tend to be very careful when handling it. We ended up using a car lift to get it into my truck for the journey home, and found a pickup with a Tommy lift to transfer it into, to lower it to ground level again!
After getting it into place, I got a little busy for a few days, but was able to tackle the installation of the glass shelves, and loading all the display pieces into it! Just the shelves and display items took up a whole day! Anyway, its finished for now, and I snapped a few pictures last night. Here they are!
I pulled the computer right away and sent it off to Joe for rebuilding, and then I sat down and stared at the pump for a long time, and finally decided that I wanted a better restoration than I was probably capable of, and I also had too many projects! I decided to send it to Nate Schmitt here in North Dakota. Nate has a restoration shop here in North Dakota, and his work is impeccable! His attention to detail is just amazing! He is also a member of this site and has done work for other members too!
My pump had a few issues with some rust deterioration around the window frames, and we decided to have new inner frames made. A few phone calls later, I was able to contract that work out with a master craftsman from California, and we sent off the parts needing copying.
I was also missing the lower doors for the pump, but Gas Pump Heaven had a set in stock for me. I had them sent direct to a porcelain shop that I use in Kansas City, and asked to have them porcelain coated white, rather than painting them. I got another bright idea about a week later and called to see if they could duplicate a black clover and triangle into the panel, and was surprised when they offered to try it. It took a couple of tries to get it right, but the results were great and I now have porcelain doors on the pump with a Cities Service clover and triangle cast right onto the front and back doors in porcelain!
We took off all the parts we wanted chromed, and sent them off right away to be chromed and polished. We also needed new trim pieces on the interior and Ron Scobie had those parts for me, along with the clips for the glass. That left me needing glass, and after a few more phone calls, I was able to locate a person that could get some glass panels made and shipped to me! Looked like we had everything covered, and it was simply a matter of sitting back and waiting!
Well, nothing ever happens fast in the collectibles industry, and this pump was no exception! It seems like there were always little problems that would pop up and slow the whole process to a snails pace. There was never anything that was earth shattering, it was just that there were so many people involved, that any little problem seemed to slow everything down while we waited for the problems to be resolved! It took 2 years from the time we started, until I picked it up about 2 weeks ago! It was very hard to be patient, but good things are always worth waiting for, and I knew this was one of those good things!
With a pump this big and heavy, there are always little things that slow you down, and even the loading and unloading from my truck was a task that had to thought out and some special equipment utilized! When you have a bunch of time and money into a restoration, you tend to be very careful when handling it. We ended up using a car lift to get it into my truck for the journey home, and found a pickup with a Tommy lift to transfer it into, to lower it to ground level again!
After getting it into place, I got a little busy for a few days, but was able to tackle the installation of the glass shelves, and loading all the display pieces into it! Just the shelves and display items took up a whole day! Anyway, its finished for now, and I snapped a few pictures last night. Here they are!
Description: Wayne 50 as found
Description: Sitting in the truck, waiting to be unloaded!
Description: Finally sitting in my shop!