The Antique Engine, Tractor & Toy Club, Inc.
Box 385, RD#1, Pine Street, Slatington, Pennsylvania 18080
The Kempton Show put on by our club June 3 and 4 was the largest
in numbers of exhibitors and public attendance. There were 135
engines, 75 tractors (both farm and garden) and 6 toy exhibits. New
this year were a children’s pedal pull, slowest running engine
contest, tractor teeter-totter, tractor dynamometer pull and, of
course, the ‘slowest’ tractor race. We had hoped to have a
blind-folded driving contest and an adult pedal pull, but for
various reasons those two events did not take place. This year, an
additional $500 was spent on newspaper advertising, and the results
were evident with the largest number of receipts at the parking
gate. With the increased expenditures for advertising, pedal pull,
fire company standby, etc., the net profit was lower, but with the
relatively sound financial footing we are now on, a break-even
point and enjoyment of our hobby at our own show can now be our
ultimate goals.
The Worthington Club donated the steel plates used as a sled to
park a tractor on to act as ballast for the dynamometer pull. Also
thanks to Irvin and Arlan Seidel for making that pull sled and
teeter-totter and their efforts to bring them to Kempton and load
them back up for the trip home. Also it was discovered that several
of our members have personal tachometers which were used in the
slowest running engine contest, and in addition member Fred
Schleicher donated one to our club.
Member Howard Geisinger paid the cost of rental of the
amplification system as a donation.
Some of the names of winners in a few contests are as follows:
long distance award for tractors was given to Roy Newmann from
Rockfall, Connecticut, 235 miles, one way. John Smith with his
engines from Hazlet, New Jersey, 167 miles, one way. Long distance
award went to Al Diciero, Pottsville, Pennsylvania, for his toy
display. Congratulations to these people for their interest and
registering for these long distance awards.
Franklin Pfeifly won the slow race with his Sears Economy
tractor with a Model A Ford engine as a power unit. This is quite a
rare tractor to have survived, as surely it was not produced in too
great a quantity. It sure moves slowly, and surprisingly uses a
three-speed Model A Ford car transmission. Imagine how really slow
it would travel if there were a four-speed Ford AA truck
transmission in the drive train.
If you want to try tuning your engine for next year’s show,
try these numbers for a reference: up to 1? HP the slow runners
were H. Hockman with a ? HP Aermotor with 154 rpm, and Bill and Bob
Phillips with their 1? HP Foos Jr. with 178 rpm. In the 1? to 2? HP
class, Ron Leid had 198 rpm and Nevin Kemmerling 214 rpm, both with
2 HP New Hollands. In the 3 to 5 HP class, Roger Wen-hold had 118
rpm with his Fairbanks Morse and Dave Waliky had 136 rpm with his 5
HP New Holland. In the 5? to 8 HP class, Bill and Bob Phillips had
156 rpm with their 6 HP Novo. No entries in the 8? to 10 HP class,
but in the over 10 HP class, Paul Schmidt had 128 rpm with his 20
HP Olin. Good tuning, fellows.
On the teeter-totter, the winners were hard to come by, but the
children on pedal tractors and garden tractors did very well. Dave
Semmel’s 9-year-old grandson, Scott Semmel, took Mel
Riehl’s miniature crawler on the teeter-totter and could level
it without going over center on the first crawl up the incline. It
looks easy, but trying to balance a big farm tractor with liquid
ballast sloshing in those rear tires doesn’t help matters
along. Keep trying fellows and better luck next year.
There was really no contest conducted with the pulling sled and
dynamometer, but perhaps next year there can be some results on
this new venture. The pedal tractor pull was a success and it
undoubtedly will become a permanent part of our show. Incidentally,
speaking of the next show, it is not too early to start thinking
about the 1990 show on June 2 and 3 at Kempton, Pennsylvania.
Thanks to everyone who helped to make the 1989 show
successful.
