BUCKLEY OLD ENGINE SHOW’S

By Staff
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Buckley's purple steam whistle tower.
Buckley's purple steam whistle tower.
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Richard Cummings, 2287 W. Auburn Rd., Rochester Hills, Michigan 48309 bought this one-of-kind tractor from the Henry Ford Museum in 1982. See inside for a full description.
Richard Cummings, 2287 W. Auburn Rd., Rochester Hills, Michigan 48309 bought this one-of-kind tractor from the Henry Ford Museum in 1982. See inside for a full description.
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1938 English Fordson Row Crop owned by Howard Southwell or Russell Royce.
1938 English Fordson Row Crop owned by Howard Southwell or Russell Royce.
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Gene Hartwig's 1917 model T.
Gene Hartwig's 1917 model T.

5430 Voice Road Kingsley, Michigan 49649-9607

We at the Buckley Old Engine Show enjoyed our 25th annual event,
with fantastic weather and our biggest crowds ever!!

We had close to 100,000 people attend our four day show. We had
400-plus tractors with Fordson and Ford tractors being our featured
tractors. We had a good showing of the featured tractors. Howard
Southwell and Russell Royce had 10 of their Fordsons in
attendance.

Over 600 engines were putt-putting away over the four day show.
Antique cars and trucks always make a good showing with Gene
Hartwig’s 1917 model T being a big hit. The club’s 1918,
40-70 Flour City is a big tractor and it is fun to see people
looking up and marveling at its size.

Our flea market had over 700 venders this year. I don’t
think I made it through half of it.

Sam Zue and his crew kept the sawmill busy. People love to see a
sawmill working. We can run our sawmill with a traction engine, gas
tractor, the club’s Skinner stationary steam engine, or our 77
HP Anderson hothead engine. The Anderson’s muffler makes
perfect smoke rings. Berney Depauw made a lot of apple cider with
the club’s 1906 cider mill. Free cider and it goes pretty
fast.

Our blacksmiths are kept busy stamping veneer from the veneer
mill and shingles from the shingle mill. The foundry is in the same
building as the blacksmith’s, where he makes cast dinner
bells.

1993 we will have our oil well pumping engine and big wheel
going. The big wheel pumped eight oil wells at the same time with
some of the wells being one mile away. We also have a wooden bowl
mill, a flooring mill and a nice wood working display. We had a
good showing of arts and crafts again this year.

Jim Shillington and the threshing crew had the threshing and
baling display running at 10:30 and 1:30 daily, with steam, gas and
horses providing the power. Amos Rixmann and Greg Lues put on the
horse power testing exhibit, with a prony brake and draw bar
testing.

Food at Buckley is always a treat. We have homemade Amish ice
cream made with power provided by a 3 HP John Deere engine.

We would like to thank Frank Hansen and his wife for bringing
his old #79 John Deere all wheel drive tractor. It is reputed to be
the oldest John Deere tractor in existence. Our steam building is a
great exhibit with the 350 HP Corliss being the centerpiece.

I can’t forget the purple steam whistle tower (yes, purple)
morning whistle, noon whistle, and dinner whistle. If you slept
through the 6:00 a.m. whistle we had a 6:15 snooze whistle.

Another highlight is Leonard Clous’s Peerless portable steam
engine. Leonard bought the engine from the Henry Ford Museum. Henry
Ford and President Harding were walking through the woods at the
Harding farm, when Ford expressed interest in the engine. The
engine belonged to Harding’s father. Ford had it restored and
put in the museum until Leonard purchased it.

I would like to thank all who helped put on the show. It takes a
lot of people to put on an excellent show!!

In 1993 we will be featuring Minneapolis and Minneapolis-Moline
tractors and Novo gas engines. We would like to have a wide range
of Minneapolis and Minneapolis-Moline on exhibit.

If you would like more info on the M and M-M exhibit contact Jim
Luper, 5430 Voice Road, Kingsley, Michigan 49649.

The Buckley Old Engine Show is always the third weekend in
August. The 1993 show dates are the 19th through the 22nd of
August. Hope to see you all there!

P. S. Full size steam powered railroad coming soon!!

  • Published on Feb 1, 1993
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