Hickory Tree Associated

By Staff
Published on November 1, 1996
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4260 Lower Saucon Road Hellertown, Pennsylvania 18055

This engine story started about 25 years ago. I saw this engine
sitting alongside a barn, next to a field of corn I was about to
harvest. As all old engine collectors would do, I asked the owner
if it was for sale. ‘NOPE,’ he said, ‘GET!!’ Well
so much for the welcome I got!

This past fall I was passing through and wondered if the engine
was still there. Would you believe, it still sat there covered with
a rotted piece of board? This time I approached the owner with some
general talk and then I asked about the engine. He said it belonged
to his brother, who was now in a nursing home. I asked if it could
be bought. To my surprise he said yes, his brother wasn’t
likely to come back from the nursing home and he sure could use
some extra money. I asked him what he wanted. He told me and I laid
some of those Ben Franklins in his hand and his eyes lit up, but he
said a hickory tree was growing up through it. I was to cut the
tree into fireplace length logs and pile the branches in the fence
row!! Agreed.

A friend of mine, ‘Stumpy,’ and I took along two power
saws, pick axe, shovel, a couple of tools and set out to reclaim
this prized piece. As you can see by the photos, the tree started
to claim the wheel and axle. We dropped the tree, made a vertical
cut between wheel and engine, made a horizontal cut above the wheel
to vertical cut. We removed the flywheels, carb, unbolted the
engine from the trunk and left the trunk fastened to the stump in
the ground. After the engine and pieces were loaded, we pulled the
cotter pin from the axle, squirted the axle with oil and as Stumpy
raised and lowered the front of the trunk I used a bar and got the
trunk free! After digging all the stones away from the stump, we
started to reclaim the wheel. Well, after sharpening the chain at
least a dozen times, we finally got the wheel. I guess when the
barn was built all the small stones were covered with dirt. We must
have cut more stone than roots!

At first, I was going to remove the tree from the engine. The
more I looked at it, the more I liked the tree!! So I decided it
would make a good conversation piece.

The tree claimed the ignitor, push rod, trip assembly, the wheel
and axle.

I took this engine to a few shows and marked the display card
‘Associated 6 HP As Found.’

A lot of people are fascinated with the tree. Most ask if I will
remove the tree in the future. I tell them as I have another 6 HP
Associated I’m leaving this one as is.

A special thanks to Stumpy! For a small guy, he is a big
man!

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