International Gas Engine Showcase

By Staff
Published on July 6, 2011
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4 HP Famous with International auto sparker.
4 HP Famous with International auto sparker.
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A trio of running Famous uprights. The engine in the middle is a 4 HP Nonpareil.
A trio of running Famous uprights. The engine in the middle is a 4 HP Nonpareil.
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A line of screen-cooled IHC Famous engines from 4 HP to 20 HP with a 5 HP upright at far right. During the show, all of these engines were running at once.
A line of screen-cooled IHC Famous engines from 4 HP to 20 HP with a 5 HP upright at far right. During the show, all of these engines were running at once.
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IHC Showcase
IHC Showcase
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IHC Showcase
IHC Showcase

The New York Steam Engine Assn. Inc. of Canandaigua, N.Y., marked its 50th anniversary by featuring International Harvester equipment at their 2010 Pageant of Steam.

There are a lot of International collectors in the club, so some of the guys that collect gas engines thought it would be something different to put together as many International gas engines as possible.

With the idea in place, work began to see if there was any interest from International collectors outside of the club to be involved in the lineup. International built a lot of early engines that are quite hard to come by these days, but the hope was that the lineup might get some of the rare engines to the show. A lot of interest was stirred by the effort and 122 International engines showed up for the show, possibly the largest number of IHC engines assembled in the East since the closing of the International engine line. Engines on hand came from New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Maryland, North Carolina, Michigan and Canada.

There were enough engines on hand to fill up one corner of the show grounds with a variety of years and models of the IHC engine line, from early Famous engines to later LAs and LBs.

Some of the rare engines on hand included an early tray-cooled Famous with hot-tube ignition, a 5 HP Famous upright, an air-cooled Nonpareil Famous upright, a Titan sideshaft and 1 HP Titan Jr. There was a line of portable screen-cooled Famous engines from 4 HP to 20 HP, as well as Type M engines from 1-1/2 HP to 10 HP with both igniter and spark plug ignition.

Altogether, it was a great group of engines, and their owners made for a very valuable show. The group has a lot to be proud of for a job well done.

The 51st Pageant of Steam takes place Aug. 10-13 with the featured equipment of Massey-Harris, Ferguson and Massey Ferguson. Visit www.pageantofsteam.org for more information.

Contact Don Rohde at 13450 Camp Rd., Grass Lake, MI 49240-9224 • (734) 475-5901.

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