An Old Hobby Revisited:MY MENAGERIE

By Staff
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A nice old Briggs picked up at a local flea market.
A nice old Briggs picked up at a local flea market.
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A very nice old Shaw cycle engine, approximately 1907.
A very nice old Shaw cycle engine, approximately 1907.

R #2, Box 371-13, Buckhannon, West Virginia

Back in the middle ’60s, I hung my hat out in Southern Iowa,
in a tiny town called Cincinnati, not to be confused with the one
in Ohio. I worked with a manufacturing concern that made farm
equipment and other things. I also worked at a machine shop. I told
you this so you will understand this: while working at the machine
shop, I got to see a lot of old iron of various kinds. I sure liked
to hear the pop-pop-pft-pft-pft!- some of the sweetest sounds I
ever heard! I had to have one!

I had a bunch of small air cooleds of various kinds. I kept the
neighbor kids well supplied with go-karts and scooters. I enlisted
the help of several of the young’in’s to help find some old
iron. Believe me it worked! I was informed that the local junkyard
had some, about seven or eight. Actually, they had six and I got
’em all. That got me started.

Over a period of three years I acquired about a dozen or so
more. My favorite was a little IH make and break. (If anyone out in
South Iowa runs into a little IH 1? HP that is black with gold pin
striping, it is very likely my PET!)

That was then.

I sold out and moved back to my home state of West Virginia. I
now have half interest in a garage/machine shop. I got working with
old iron again and it opened the gates for all the old memories, so
here I am, collecting the old ones again.

They are not as plentiful and definitely not as cheap as they
were 30 years ago. That’s not to say you can’t get lucky. I
still hit the local scrap yards, enlist the help of friends and
neighbors, and once in awhile run a trade ad in the local swap
sheets and car trader books. I found a very nice old pre-war Briggs
at one of our flea markets.

You may note in the pictures that accompany this, that at this
time, I don’t really have anything pretty or exotic-just some
nice old iron-My Menagerie.’

  • Published on Jan 1, 1995
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