With rocketing fuel prices, a vintage petrol pump advertising fuel at a shilling and sixpence a gallon may attract nostalgic bids at auction next week <April 15>.
The early 20th-centry, hand-cranked fuel pump – from the golden age of motoring – was discovered in a garage in Honington in Warwickshire.
It could make £500 when it goes under the hammer at Holloways’ Banbury saleroom on April 15.
From the first generation of UK petrol pumps – when fuel was dispensed in one-gallon measures – it stands more than 2m tall.
Holloways’ director, Jasper Marsh, said: “The pump dates from the golden age of motoring when driving was a pleasure rather than a chore. The magnificent piece of early engineering is iconic, and so redolent of the 1920s with Bright Young Things bombing around the countryside.”
In those days, motorists had to manually draw fuel from an underground steel sump before directing it into the tank with a copper and brass mounted rubber hose.
Jasper continued: “As unlikely as it might seem this technology was a step up from previous methods of refuelling, which saw motorists fill the tank from a two gallon can using a funnel. These first generation pumps made refuelling much safer.”
Early antipathy to car drivers meant garage forecourts developed slowly in the UK – unlike in the US – with villagers rallying against the pumps’ jarring bright colours.
Britain’s first filling station, opened in 1919 at Aldermaston in Berkshire, was operated by the AA and only available to its members.
Jasper continued: “To prove very little changes, when the AA opened the first filling stations they were designed to promote the use of UK-manufactured Benzole, rather than the more available Russian equivalent, due to anti-Bolshevik sentiment after the Russian Revolution.”
As time went on as the number of car users increased so did the pumps, with 7,000 in use by 1923.
A number of companies sprang up to supply them, including Redline. By the 1930s most pumps were electric, with the first self-service pump electric pump unveiled in 1961.
Jasper said: “We can’t promise a return to cheap fuel prices but we can guarantee an iconic and historic piece of forecourt memorabilia.”
Auction Details
Auction: The Banbury Fine Jewellery, Silver, Fine Art & Antiques Auction
Auction date: 15th April 2026 | 10am
Location: Hansons’ Derbyshire Saleroom
Auction contact: [email protected]
Catalogue/bidding: www.hansonslive.co.uk | www.the-saleroom.com
