A quest!

People of the internet, I have for you a quest.

A damn close approximation
of our pump.

The Ibid family lives on a farm in Kansas. Some time back my grandpa managed to get his hands on a used Skelly gas pump and some metal signs. Skelly was an oil company in the midwest for a long time. They were taken over by by Getty Oil in 1977. For decades that pump has been used to fill our tractors and combines and wheat trucks from a couple of diesel tanks. Apparently that pump has now been retired.

Twenty years ago it could have been retired with dignity. But that last little bit of sunshine broke down the plastic so it bleached and broke and is mostly just ugly now. And, presumably, non-functional. Don't stress too much about it. It wasn't one of those really nice ones with the globe on top and a glass chamber. No, it was much closer to what we see now. No credit card reader, but blocky with an odometer type counter and plates along the top that said Skelly. Still, as a kid I thought it was kinda cool. I probably still would if it hadn't taken so much weather damage.

But now there is no pump. Now they're relying on gravity. OK, there is a tank that is mounted on wheels so we can take emergency gas to the field if necessary. That thing has a pump. But, really, that's not a permanent solution. A replacement is needed. And I'm hoping that you good people can help. My searches have been pretty worthless. (Until just now. Seriously? Where was this site yesterday? Or last month when I was looking for fun? Well I've already started writing this so I'm pushing ahead.) Do you or someone you know have a gas station? Where do they get their pumps? Do you have a secret stash of strange junk somewhere? Do you know of a gas station that closed and forgot to take their pumps with them? Are roving gangs of gas pumps terrorizing your town? Let me know. Dad and The Punk need one to go with that brand new 1987 combine they just bought.