Denmark, Iowa 52624
‘That is the biggest and most beautiful trophy I have ever
won,’ or ‘The first place trophy goes to the little Toy
Terrier and the second place trophy goes to the large St.
Bernard.’ You have all heard these remarks made before.
‘Dad, have you met my friends from Des Moines, Iowa? They
have a very nice C. H. & E. engine. They are Don and Nancy
Williams.’ ‘Mom, these are some of my friends from Ohio. We
met them last year at the Portland, Indiana show. They are Bill and
Carol Adams.’
How many times have you heard, ‘They are the best of
friends’, or ‘You couldn’t ask for better
friends.’
This is what Gas Engine Friends are to me. So far in my gas
engine hobby, my friends, their engines, and my engines are my
trophies.
Now, in this very busy world of ours, a persons needs all the
friends he can get. But, if a gas engine show starts giving out
first place trophies for a Little Turk gas engine and John wants a
picture taken of it so he can send his trophy picture into the Gas
Engine Magazine and announce that he has won the first place
trophy, I would not like it when he sets his first place trophy on
the hood of his pickup and in all smiles asks, ‘Would you help
me pick up my engine and put it into my truck, so I can take my
trophy and engine and go home.’
As a hobby for fun and friendship, I think that the gas engine
friends we have made are the best people in the world.
I feel that this friendship can be easily ruined by awarding
first place trophy and second place trophy to the gas engine
exhibitors, because who can say which engine is the most unusual,
restored closest to originality, etc. Who knows the facilities
available to the restorer?
The special thanks and your appreciation that you give to your
friends at the show are the trophies that they will keep
forever.
