BajaNomad

Do you remember..... hand crank gas pumps?

surfer jim - 1-27-2009 at 09:53 PM

These had a big glass tank at the top and the attendent cranked a handle to raise the gas from the storage tank.The glass tank had markings on it showing liters/(gallons?).
You would see the amount in tank and then it would gravity feed into your car. No short changing with this old school method!

Remember in my early trips one near San Vicente(??) and another around Hwy3 / Hwy 5 intersection.

N2Baja - 1-27-2009 at 10:55 PM

I remember some cranky gas pump attendants!

Sharksbaja - 1-28-2009 at 01:30 AM

How the hell old are you?:lol:

[Edited on 1-28-2009 by Sharksbaja]

DENNIS - 1-28-2009 at 04:56 AM

I remember that old pump in San Vicente as well. We once, early sixties, crossed from San Felipe to Hwy-1 coming out just below Santo Tomas. It could hardly be called a road through the desert and mountains and the trip took two days. The gas station out there was a farm house with fifty gallon barrels of gas and the farmers wife would cook breakfast for a little bit of nothing.
It was another time.

BajaWarrior - 1-28-2009 at 05:37 AM

The last one I remember was in Colonet at the San Antonio del Mar turnoff. It was there at least until the mid 80's.

Also one in Independencia, halfway from Ensenada to Hwy. 5 leading to San Felipe, and that was in the early 90's.

woody with a view - 1-28-2009 at 06:32 AM

Quote:

The last one I remember was in Colonet at the San Antonio del Mar turnoff. It was there at least until the mid 80's.



:cool:

baitcast - 1-28-2009 at 06:38 AM

MY first encounter with those was in 64 :lol: Puertecitos it was,first run down to Gonzaga,what startled me was the color of the juice that he pumped up out of the tank,dark brown:o had enough problems on that trip already and could just see everything plugged up:lol:
Rob

shari - 1-28-2009 at 08:03 AM

ah yes, seems like it was only yesterday.....uh...actually it was only yesterday we got deisel for a yacht...diesel is still served up here with a hand crank pump....yup...many say we are about 40 years behind the times....thank goodness.

[Edited on 1-28-2009 by shari]

surfer jim - 1-28-2009 at 09:17 AM

Colonet....that is the one I'm probably remembering....they finally took the pump down and closed the station but the building remained for many years (may still be there for all I know).....

I am so old my next question will be ...Do you remember ...when they invented electricity?.....:lol:

KurtG - 1-28-2009 at 09:31 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by surfer jim
These had a big glass tank at the top and the attendent cranked a handle to raise the gas from the storage tank.The glass tank had markings on it showing liters/(gallons?).
You would see the amount in tank and then it would gravity feed into your car. No short changing with this old school method!

Remember in my early trips one near San Vicente(??) and another around Hwy3 / Hwy 5 intersection.


I dispensed gas from one of those at the summer resort I worked at in Minnesota around 1960.

El Rosario gravity pump, 1960

David K - 1-28-2009 at 10:15 AM

Photo from the Howard Gulick collection... Union Oil station The other station was Baja Cactus (today's name)... a Standard Oil station.



The station 1/2 mile north of Colonet was Bradley's Rancho Grande (it was a Chevron station from the pre-Pemex days)... I think I last got gas there was in 1976... driving out from the coast at San Antonio del Mar.

Paulina - 1-28-2009 at 10:20 AM

Wasn't there another gravity pump in El Rosario at the gas station just as you made the turn heading south, on the north side of the road?

P<*)))>{

David K - 1-28-2009 at 10:27 AM

Espinoza had a Pemex station there after the highway was built (now the propane depot)... but Antonio's family station won the competition... and remains the only Pemex in town.

Do you remember...

fdt - 1-28-2009 at 10:49 AM

crank phones in Santa Rosalia?

thebajarunner - 1-28-2009 at 10:57 AM

In the NORRA races we gassed the race truck out of those.
I remember particularly the one at Espinosa and the one in San Ignacio, just at the corner of the town square.
Then you dumped a bunch of octane additive in on top and hoped it all averaged out to sufficient non-ping to keep on trucking.

CaboRon - 1-28-2009 at 01:28 PM

My recollection of these is from South Dakota ...

They were state of the art then :cool:

CaboRon

Baja12valve - 1-28-2009 at 07:02 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by David K
Photo from the Howard Gulick collection... Union Oil station The other station was Baja Cactus (today's name)... a Standard Oil station.



The station 1/2 mile north of Colonet was Bradley's Rancho Grande (it was a Chevron station from the pre-Pemex days)... I think I last got gas there was in 1976... driving out from the coast at San Antonio del Mar.


Two of my best cars are in that picture. I drove a 51 4wd Willys Overland for years in Baja. The one in the picture is a '60 or so. I traded it to my Dad for a '62 4x4 Chevy Suburban, 4sp, that I drove for almost 20 years, never failed me.

Udo - 1-28-2009 at 07:35 PM

The last three gravity-fed pumps I remember:
One was at the military stop about 20 miles north of San Felipe. another one was in Santa Rosalia, and the third one was in Bahia Tortugas. I have photos of them but they are [prints]. I am not as talented as David K and know of a simple way to scan them into my computer and spit out a digital image. :?::?: SIGGHH
During my Jeeping days (just as Ken is Jeeping now) I used to carry a chamois to strain the gas before it went into my tank.

David K - 1-28-2009 at 08:57 PM

Udo.... next time you are near here... bring them by and I will scan them and send them to your PC and post on Nomad... no problema!

Udo - 1-28-2009 at 09:04 PM

Muchas gracias, David!!!!
I should be in your neighborhood again on the doce de Febrero, and I'll bring the photos.
It was really an honor to meet you in person a couple of weeks ago.

David K - 1-29-2009 at 02:07 PM

The pleasure was mine! Call me ahaed of your arrival so I can be there for you!

DENNIS - 1-29-2009 at 02:21 PM

Wow....This is really getting gooey.

Barry A. - 1-29-2009 at 02:26 PM

I believe the original "pump" at BOLA run by Antero Diaz right (east) of the "runway" in front of the Diaz Motel was that type------------but my memory is not the best. That was back when the airplanes tied down right in front of the Motel-------in the "fun" days of BOLA. :lol:

Barry

the Pemex in Catavina

BajaVida - 1-31-2009 at 08:59 AM

in 1978 had a modern pump, the metal sides were removed showing a fan belt attached to a pulley with a crank on it, the attendant turned the crank to pump fuel

later on that same trip I remember going to the Pemex in BOLA and the attendant (Patricio?) playing a guitar for us--the back was made out of metal from an airplane gas tank

on the way back, the bridges to the north and south of the BOLA turn off had washed out, no Pemex trucks could get through so there was no gas in BOLA, we filled up with about 5 gallons of av gas at Santa Inez

the good old days

ELINVESTIG8R - 1-31-2009 at 09:01 AM

If that picture was 1967 or close to it I probably operated that very pump for Mama when I lived with her.

pappy - 1-31-2009 at 09:02 AM

hey warrior- i remember that pump as well.used it on a few occassions. they still have them in parts of australia ...:bounce:

David K - 1-31-2009 at 09:14 AM

Good story Vida!!

My avgas story dates to about 1978 when San Felipe ran out of gas Memorial Day Weekend, Monday (O.T.L. championship games, the town was packed)... What to do...

We were in my 4WD Subaru and were camping on Shell Island... Got to town, needed gas... both stations (then) were out...

Thought we would make Crucero Trinidad (30 miles north), but ran out near El Paraiso! A southbound motorist gave us a some to get back to San Felipe.

Long lines at both stations waiting for the fuel truck from Mexicali to arrive...

THEN, I rememberd what my dad did in 1966 on our trip to Cabo by Jeep... Went to the San Lucas airstrip, south of Santa Rosalia and got avgas... worked great... better than Pemex... the Wagoneer wanted to fly!:

I drove the Subaru to the old dirt runway in San Felipe and found out were the avgas was stored... near Augie's Rviera Hotel... Went to the fuel storage lot where an attendent said he would sell us some avgas. I asked if any other motorist were there to get fuel. He said one other, who was wearing a SCORE hat, like mine!

We took off for Calexico,... the station at the Valle Trinidad jcn. was also out... and we passed the fuel trucks heading south, as we smiled heading north! My Subaru was flying on that good aviation fuel!

The border inspectors couldn't figure out were the crowds of Americans heading home were, they had been expecting... I told them in a couple hours, you will be quite busy!

Tomas Tierra - 1-31-2009 at 10:42 AM

Do you remember when there was no crank in Baja???

Skip_Mac - 1-31-2009 at 10:21 PM

Surfer Jim... YEAH... what an experience it was in El Rosario 1974 to pump the gas up to the glass jug with liters markings, then let it gravity drain down to the tank. It was decades before I saw another, and that was in someone's collection in a warehouse. Excellent, off-grid, simple and nearly foolproof "technology". We can use a bit of that inspiration these days.

Of course, by the time I got back there in the 1990's things were totally different. No more two hole outhouses with one door. Cozy.

surfer jim - 1-31-2009 at 10:48 PM

the guys who used to crank the handles lost their jobs to the "new" attendents who could "rig" the pumps to put 6 gallons in a five gallon container:biggrin:

Bradley's Rancho Grande

juanroberts - 12-26-2009 at 07:44 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by David K
The station 1/2 mile north of Colonet was Bradley's Rancho Grande (it was a Chevron station from the pre-Pemex days)... I think I last got gas there was in 1976... driving out from the coast at San Antonio del Mar.


Pre-Pemex, pre March 18th 1938?

I pulled an old family 8mm film and found the pic below. From the other footage I could tell it was South of Santo Tomas and North of San Pedro Martir, along the Coast 'highway', so this post was great because it confims the location.

Thanks.



DENNIS - 12-26-2009 at 08:21 PM

PALOMAR gas station, Santo Tomas, had them in the early sixties.

monoloco - 12-27-2009 at 07:44 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by surfer jim
the guys who used to crank the handles lost their jobs to the "new" attendents who could "rig" the pumps to put 6 gallons in a five gallon container:biggrin:
I went to the local Pemex a couple of days ago and they managed to put 24.3 liters in my 19 liter container. I said to the attendant," what a miracle, 24 liters in a 19 liter container". He just shrugged and said the owner was "muy bandito".

wessongroup - 12-27-2009 at 07:57 AM

Good one, when I went over to the Pemex in Primo Tapia, I got out of my car, the attendant ... started telling me he would do it... I told him with my hands raised above my head, I was just making it easy for his boss to rob me... he laughed so hard I thought he was going to choke to death... I tipped him three dollars and to this day... he waves at me when I drive by.. with a big smile on his face.. made him happy and me too.... the gas worked just fine in my old ford... not a miss...

ncampion - 12-27-2009 at 09:18 AM

Here's one in Calif. It's near Bass Lake in the Sequoia National Forest. We filled up there on an off-road ride just last fall.

Gas Pump.jpg - 25kB

juanroberts - 12-27-2009 at 10:27 AM

Very cool. Did they use nail polish on the gallon marks? That was how they did it 25 years ago at Three Poles near the millitary checkpoint heading to San Felipe. I remember that place had about 100 hanging lamps, and when they lit them all, it made quite a night sight for the drivers going by. How about the semi truck on the Pacific side that use to get decked out with lights over the Holidays, even seemed to have moving wheels?

Colonet

MrBillM - 12-27-2009 at 10:41 AM

I last bought gas from that Hand-Cranked pump in Colonet in 1982.

The Glass-Topped pumps were in use after that at El Chinero on Highway 5, but they might have been converted to Electric by then. Or not. After they went to more modern pumps, the Glass-Topped were off to one side as a momento. Probably sold to someone for a lot of money.

When I was a kid in the early 50s in South L.A., the Mobil station at the corner of 112th and Main still had the Glass-Topped pumps as did the Richfield station across the street, but an electric-pump was used to replace the hand-crank.

Bajahowodd - 12-27-2009 at 02:38 PM

Maybe some enterprising person can locate a couple of those pumps and apply for the PEMEX franchise in Catavina! I always figured that they closed the station down because no one could make a profit having to burn diesel just to power the pumps.

Keri - 12-27-2009 at 04:35 PM

Dennis that's the one Mike and I remember. Palomar. We called it chocolate gas. That's what it looked like , we were skeptical about putting it in our tank but had no choice. It worked though so we were happy.k:yes:

Enterprising Pumping

MrBillM - 12-28-2009 at 03:35 PM

Having seen what a restored 50s-60s Gas Pump went for on "Pawn Stars", any enterprising person who could come up with the Glass-Tops would be better served selling them.

Perhaps You Are Right

Bajahowodd - 12-28-2009 at 04:54 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by MrBillM
Having seen what a restored 50s-60s Gas Pump went for on "Pawn Stars", any enterprising person who could come up with the Glass-Tops would be better served selling them.

surfer jim - 12-28-2009 at 07:01 PM

Good to see this topic come alive again....still fun to read with the new info....

How much was the restored one valued at?

Dewey - 12-29-2009 at 11:36 PM

Used the one on the north side of the river before Colonet in 1963. We were young and looking for surf. There was no bridge and you had to ford the river. You had to ford a lot of places then. It was still there in the early 80's.

Bob H - 12-30-2009 at 12:17 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Keri
Dennis that's the one Mike and I remember. Palomar. We called it chocolate gas. That's what it looked like , we were skeptical about putting it in our tank but had no choice. It worked though so we were happy.k:yes: [/quote

Chocolate gas! That's great! Good stories here on this thread. I didn't make it down there until 1984, so I missed out on all of that stuff.
Bob H

Baja12valve - 1-2-2010 at 12:45 PM

My girlfriend and I took a trip on a dirt road from La Rumarosa to Ensenada in the 70's in my old '51 Willys Overland. Somewhere along the way in some remote village, I have not the foggiest idea where, we had to pick up some gas. There she was, the old glass top pump, crank it up, let it drain.

bajalera - 1-2-2010 at 04:31 PM

We got gas out of that Espinosa pump en route to La Paz in 1963 and 1972--and didn't I see one like it there, though no longer in service, on a recent trip?

Nostalgia at a Price ?

MrBillM - 1-3-2010 at 10:46 AM

There is a 1920s era Glass-Tank Pump fully restored for sale (on the Net) advertised at $33,000. Perfect conversation piece for your casa.

For those willing to settle for a little less nostalgia, there are also companies that makes replicas of both the Glass-Upper tank (Non-Working unpainted and unassembled $895 less Globe and Decals) and the later register-type pumps with the Lighted-Globes on Top. Under $1000.

http://www.benkinandcompany.com/pumpdetails.htm
http://www.benkinandcompany.com/photos.htm

http://hotrodalleygifts.com/hotrodalley/gaspumpsandmore.asp

http://www.vintagevending.com/wayne-100-swing-arm-gas-pump#m...

Another "Unique" pump which I've never seen. It's interesting (to me) that our local Mobil Gas dealer was still using the Glass-Tank in the 50s before going over to the "register" type. Never had one of these.

http://www.vintagevending.com/wayne-861-clock-meter-gas-pump

NOT a Gas Pump, but a unique vending machine that I never saw growing up in the 50s in Watts (South L.A.)

http://www.vintagevending.com/american-vendor-soda-vending-m...

The original (to me in the late 40s-early 50s) Coca-Cola Vending "machine" at our neighborhood Mobil Station was like this one. The owner had a Can on the counter to place the Nickel (later 7 cents) in.

http://www.vintagevending.com/glasc-ck-junior-coca-cola-cool...

After that, he went to a vending machine I haven't seen since. The bottles hung by the neck in channels and you slid them around into a "Gate" which was opened by dropping a dime in the mechanism.

[Edited on 1-3-2010 by MrBillM]

surfer jim - 1-3-2010 at 06:17 PM

A few of those old pumps....couple of vending machines and a juke box or 2 and you are a .....MILLIONAIRE:spingrin:

Anyone care to guess where these pumps were located?

juanroberts - 8-27-2010 at 04:01 AM



Circa 1960.

surfer jim - 8-27-2010 at 07:36 AM

Colonet ?

And who is in the photo?

David K - 8-27-2010 at 08:09 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by bajalera
We got gas out of that Espinosa pump en route to La Paz in 1963 and 1972--and didn't I see one like it there, though no longer in service, on a recent trip?


Baja Cactus has one of their old gravity pumps on display at the motel... and I believe Espinoza's also has one in their motel parking area. They were the two gasoline distributors before the highway... and before Pemex, too.

Pompano - 8-27-2010 at 08:24 AM

An uncle of mine still uses his on his ranch in North Dakota. Can dispense 20 gallons at a time and sits in his driveway. Pump up the fuel and then gravity takes over. I can remember pumping gas into his Model T pickup many times when I was running amok on his spread.

Norman's place is an antique collector's paradise. At 92, he still forges and creates in his blacksmith shop..charcoal fires, bellows, pulleys, and plowshares everywhere...a place that captured my imagination as a tot. A real peice of history.

Come to think of it, there are still a few scattered around the countryside Up North.

A few have become yuppie aquariums, though. :rolleyes:

Geo_Skip - 8-27-2010 at 08:25 AM

Oh Yeah, First one I ever saw was at Espinosas in 1974. First trip to Baja...nice memory and the beginning of a life long love of Baja. Not so for Espinosa's after many disappointments!

Baja is a wonderful experience even as it modernizes... but some parts fall behind and we must explore other alternatives. That is part of the adventure!

David K - 8-27-2010 at 09:30 AM

Espinoza's restaurant has had a major change about a year ago... remodeled inside, faster service, lower prices, good food. We have only eaten there three times in the past year, but all were good. A big change from the conditions before (slow service, average food, high prices). Try it again.

TMW - 8-27-2010 at 02:00 PM

San Telmo had one in 1987 but I'm not sure if it worked since I didn't use it. San Matias had a working unit in mid to late 90s, that one I did purchase gas from.

David K - 8-27-2010 at 02:15 PM

Last one I recall getting gas from was at Ejido de los Heroes de la Independencia (Hwy.3 between Ojos Negros and Valle de Trinidad).

BAJABAILADOR - 8-27-2010 at 04:11 PM

Valley Trinidad behind a house on the main drag,a few houses west had great food.Hwy 3 was not there.
North of the bridge in Colonet many times.

woody with a view - 8-27-2010 at 04:12 PM

good to see you BAILADOR.....

juanroberts - 8-28-2010 at 11:19 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by surfer jim
And who is in the photo?


Here is a hint:

http://www.losancianos.com/history.html

bajagrouper - 8-28-2010 at 01:26 PM

I remember the one in Puertecitos in 1971, meeting and eating turtle with Papa Fernandez fish camp, turned back at Loreto that trip....