Vintage Gas Pump with Clock — Handmade Metal Model, 1:4
Vintage Gas Pump with Clock — Handmade Metal Model, 1:4
Model details
- Scale
- 1:4
- Construction
- Handcrafted
- Collection
- Automobile Models
- Item no.
- AJ012
A period filling-station pump at 1:4 with a working clock set into the face — an object that does something as well as looking like something.
Handcrafted in iron and hand-painted, with hose, nozzle, globe top and dial detail.
Details
- 1:4 scale, handcrafted iron construction
- Working clock set into the pump face
- Hand-painted with applied livery detail
- Hose, nozzle, globe and dial detail
- Ready to display — shelf, counter, desk or garage
The object
The illuminated globe on top of a pump was branding, not lighting — lit glass carrying the oil company's name, visible from the road at night when signage was scarce and headlights were weak. Original globes are now collected in their own right and change hands for serious money.
Early pumps were hand-cranked with a glass cylinder on top: you pumped a visible quantity up, the customer watched the level, then gravity fed it into the tank. Nobody trusted a meter they couldn't see.