Very cool story. My Grandma had a functioning old gas pump on her farm when she passed. One of my uncles(Les) had built a house on the same property and had got my grandma to sign a living trust different from her will right before she died. No one else in the family knew about it. Les had failed to pay off his contractor for his new house so the minute he inherited the property, the lawyers swooped in. I t was a huge mess as another uncle(Bill) owned 30 of the sixty acres of grape vineyards that my grandma and uncle Les had their houses on. In the end Bill's barn/Shed/Huge steel workshop was confiscated as it was on my Grandma's portion of the land. A huge legal battle ensued including law suits from other relatives over who should of got what. Uncle Les up and moved, disappeared for years, the ranch which was a family gathering place was split in half leaving Bill the 30 acres of grapes but no dwelling and the rest of the property was sold in a foreclosure. People do crappy things with other peoples property. My grandma had a few neat old things including the pump which magically disappeared before the foreclosure. One was a vintage 1930 Philco console short wave radio, others were some old tractors, and heirloom household china, and paintings.
Flash forward about 6 years ago I'm in Fresno visiting Uncle Bill before he dies, and my cousin bill junior takes me out to whats left of the old ranch, where Bill built a new steel bard. Inside there is the old Philco radio. It's in ruff shape. My cousin Bill Jr. told me he found it in Oregon at one of my cousind's from a digfferent Aunt's house. They apparantly seized this and took it to Oregon where their kids lost all of the buttons and broke the dial glass. He said it was outside in the rain when he went there to help them move back to california. He couldn't let it rot there so he took it and put it in his dad's barn. I asked if I could have it, because I restore antiques including older radio equipment. Today it works on am mode and the case came out remarkably well with a lot of effort where I was able to keep the original finish and patch a few ares that needed some help. I rewired a new plug, put new buttons on it which were NOS parts online, including a new glass dial(yet to be installed). When I pluggeed it in and let the tubes warm up, for 10 minutes I was shocked to hear radio talk show, and the wonderful rich quality to the music and vocals. This is one of my most cherished items and a constant remembrance of my Grandma.
Anyway thanks for sharing (hope my long story doesn't disrupt this thread, looking forward to seeing any updates you have on the pump or a picture of the 40 parked next to it!