severngaspumps.com Blog

Why is it that when you leave town, for a week, that nothing gets done at home? Always have to come back and play catch up for several days. Guess that’s the cost of running a Small Business? Anyway….I drove out to Oklahoma last week.  Total miles one way was 1450+/-. I was really amazed that the Southern States of Tennessee, Arkansas and Oklahoma were green and the crops looked healthy. Usually in July, that part of the country dries out as the rains stop. Luckily, not this year. It was beautiful seeing all that color on the drive.  We were fortunate to find a really nice house, to rent, in Chandler, OK. called The Bungalow Inn.  It is located right in town on Historic Rt.66.

The house was built in 1920 and occupied by a District Judge and his wife. It fell on disrepair years later after the passing of the family. A very nice local lady, named Nelda Matthews, bought it and completely rehabbed it. She took great care to put it back to what it was when new.  She even went so far as to furnish it with period pieces.  We had the whole house to ourselves and  Nelda brought in breakfast every morning at 7 A.M.  She is a fantastic cook and baker……I think I gained a few pounds while I was there! We thoroughly enjoyed our stay there. We’d sit on the front porch and imagine all the souls who had gone by throughout the many years.  Thinking about John Jakes book, The Grapes of Wrath, those folks would have traveled right past this house on their trek out to California…Makes you think, Huh? Here are a few pictures of the cottage and one of the section of Rt 66 going thru Chandler.

If you ever get out that way,  It is well worth the stop. Thanks for coming by and I’ll see you down the road.  Paul

I have a good friend by the name of Scott Anderson.  Some may know him as the author of the book, Check The Oil?  Others will recognize his name as one of the owners of Time Passages LTD. in Des Moines, Ia.  We work several shows together each year and have been doing this for over ten years.  He brought a really unique gas pump to the Barrett Jackson Auction in Scottsdale, Az. last January.  He said the the pump, a Wayne Model 278, circa 1915,  had been used inside a Chicago Cab garage its entire life.   It was completely original having had several coats of orange paint applied over the years.  He put it out for sale. The unit was reasonably priced but needed just the right person to see the beauty in a machine this old.  We were lucky in meeting a very nice gentleman named Larry who realized the potential of the pump. He asked me to do the restoration and ship it home to him in a Phoenix suburb.  Here are the before and after pictures of the pump.

Hope you enjoy them as much as we enjoyed doing the work?  The pump ships on Monday.

A good friend is having an auction in Chandler, Oklahoma on Saturday, July 24th.  His Company is Ball Auction Service.  They’ve been around for many years and always have quality sales.  I’ll be heading out to be there but the shop will be opened as usual. I can be reached on my cell or on the net, if needed?  Be back real soon.