A Real Oddball

By Staff
Published on June 1, 1990
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After.
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Before.
Before.

3012 S. Catherine Street Lansing, Michigan 48911

I first saw this engine at the Allendale, Michigan Show in 1986.
The thought that came to my mind as I looked at it was, ‘There
is a real oddball!’ The next time I saw it was at the Buckley,
Michigan show on a Thursday in 1989. The man who owned it said it
was for sale.

I drove home that night, 160 miles one way, and that engine was
on my mind all night! I got up early the next morning and drove 160
miles back to the show. When I got there the engine was still
there, so I bought it. 

It was not a pretty engine but I had a picture in my mind of
what it was going to look like when I got through with it. The next
morning I got up early and drove to the show at Brigdon, Canada. In
the flea market I saw an old brass garden sprayer. I said to
myself, ‘There is my water tank.’ The next weekend at
Portland, Indiana, in the Trading Post, I bought a piece of brass
pipe for my gas tank. At the flea market I bought a brass pot. I
cut the ends for my gas tank from the pot. The next weekend at the
Domino’s Show at Ann Arbor, Michigan, I found a World War I
ammo box for my battery and coil. The rest of the stuff I had lying
around in my junk. The engine has a cast iron cylinder and a cast
iron head. The flywheels are also cast, the rest is steel. It has a
3 inch bore and a 3? inch stroke. It has a round connecting rod and
a hand forged crankshaft. It has an open crankcase and Model T Ford
timing gears, valves, cam follower, spark plug and coil. The
carburetor was missing so I put on an old Carter with a brass bowl
I had. I made a new cart for it and dressed it up with a lot of
brass. It starts and runs good. Numbers on the back of the muffler
and ‘Ford’ on the timing gears are the only ID on it, so
who made it and when may remain a mystery. I have had fun fixing it
up and hope to have more fun showing it in 1990.

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