Hubby collects items from the now-defunct gas station chain, Supertest. It was founded here in London in 1923 and sold to BP in 1971. The name disappeared two years after that. Original items have become quite pricey and rare. We once admired a gravity-fed original Supertest gas pump at a store in Grand Bend. “Twenty grand”, said the owner. “Forget it,” I replied. “We don’t want it if it’s not a pair!”
The same shop owner also had the only Supertest service-room order file that either of us has ever seen. It wasn’t for sale at any price.
So thankfully hubby also likes re-pops, or reconditioned and refinished items, almost as much as he enjoys the real thing. We traveled to Hamilton several years ago to purchase a redone gas pump and just a week ago, were able to move it into the basement where it is now the focal point of a bit of a shrine to the company.
An oil can or other product, when you can find it, is still affordable but getting less so with each passing year. An antiques dealer in Lucan broke our hearts when he told the story of a former Supertest employee who had amassed a garage full of stuff before he died quite suddenly. His family, not knowing the value of the stuff (and not bothering to research why someone would want to hang onto so much Supertest memorabilia) threw out every scrap. They probably had half-a-million to one million dollars worth of collectibles. It’s painful.
When we get enough manpower, our pinball machine will also live down here on the black and white tiled floor, along with my drum kit and other doodads. The Supertest tank is probably the coolest thing in the room. But it’s not very practical for getting the car downstairs for a fill-up…