Roxie’s Place #13974

The Story

This retired old Sinclair gas pump is alive and well on this rural Pennsylvania farm, even though Dino has some red rust around the edges mixed with the iconic Sinclair green. In the same way, it goes with the rustic flaking white paint of the shed and the antique price of 30 cents a gallon on the gas pump face, too. Yes, that is point-three-oh a gallon and not a typo.

This was a very interesting find next to a shed along a country two-lane blacktop that went past a farm. To add to the rustic charm, it shares space with a homegrown and nearly as weathered taxidermy sign. Yep, Roxie’s place is right nearby, just down the lane. These two roadside sights aren’t often found side by side in the rural American outback. Therefore, here we have two perfect pieces of Podunk, Pennsylvania, paired together as something unique in rural America.

I stopped at the farmhouse to ask about photographing this relic before going on the property. Interestingly, the friendly farmer said it would still run with the flick of a switch, but there’s no fuel in the underground tank these days. The old farmer was pretty much retired with the same vintage as the pump. In the story he told, years ago, he bought this Sinclair gas pump from a Sinclair gas station being remodeled. It had the white glass globe on top at the time, but it was broken by ice sliding off the shed roof above the first winter it came to live on the farm.

Take a side trip from here to see Octane Alley #10226  an old Atlantic gas pump in red in the winter snow at the actual gas station where it was used. It’s the same vintage situation as shown here, but a different company with a different color. And just as rustic and cool.

It’s very hard to find these vintage gas pumps of any flavor any more. They’ve been gathered up by collectors years ago or simply scrapped. Usually, the only real chance to find one is as happened here: find an old gas pump that was used on a farm and hope it isn’t too far gone. Luckily, this old Sinclair gas pump was still in remarkably good shape after living outside for decades.

The Sinclair Gasoline company is still alive and well at over 100 years old. Most stations are in the midwest and far west with a scattering of them along the east coast around New York City. There’s more information about Big Green here: https://www.sinclairoil.com/about

Location: rural Bedford County, Pennsylvania. Picture and story ©Andrew N Dierks