Engine and tractor shows are so numerous and popular the show
season is almost akin to a storm, the season blowing in full gale
and then slowly drifting off. It’s never actually over, of
course, but the brunt of the season has passed by this time of
year, leaving most of us reflecting on the engines we saw (or
didn’t get to see) and the people we met in the course of it
all.
It’s been a stellar year on both counts, a year in which
I’ve had the pleasure of seeing more ‘new’ engines and
meeting more people than I could have hoped for. The engines are
always intriguing, and I never cease to be amazed at the skillful
and creative ways in which collectors rescue and rejuvenate what
most people would consider rusty old junk. Making the mistake of
judging a book by its cover, I ran into one collector with a trio
of engines so beautiful I assumed I was looking at the results of
deep pockets versus hard work. I couldn’t have been more wrong,
as I discovered when I talked to the owner and learned he had
painstakingly restored, by himself, three rare engines to an
equally rare degree of beauty.
That owner’s skill and artistry has been learned and
acquired over the coarse of a lifetime, applied daily in the coarse
of his work and then, when the daily work is done, transferred to
the task of restoring his old iron. We’re lucky to have people
like that in our hobby, not only for what they preserve, but for
what we can learn from them about skill, creativity – and
people.
As ever, I look forward to your comments and questions about
Gas Engine Magazine. Contact me anytime at (785) 274-4383,
1503 SW 42nd St., Topeka, KS 66609-1265, or via email at:
rbackus@ogdenpubs.com.
