P.O. Box 184 DeKalb Junction, NY 13630
It all started when I was a young boy listening to my father
tell about the hit & miss gas engines he had used to pump water
and milk with on a farm the family had once worked. Being a boy of
the modern world, I found it hard to understand how such an engine
could have worked. Well, a number of years passed by and I got my
chance to see one of these engines.
I was hooked immediately. The next step was to go to an engine
show to see how they ran. My wife Cheryl and I had a great time at
the show and we both knew we had the rusty iron fever. The search
was on for our first engine.
Only a few weeks passed before we found it-a 5 HP Hercules
engine that had been sitting in a farmer’s field for close to
forty years. Much of the engine was rusted tight, but with luck the
piston was removed for repairs and never replaced. That was a big
plus for us. We bought the poor old engine and with the help of my
father and nephew we got it home. This is when the fun, years of
hard work and headaches began. We sure had our work cut out for
us.
The restoration has been slow and costly, but with the help of
my friend Mr. Eli Tracy of Hermon, NY, the engine has begun to take
shape. Mr. Tracy was able to make some of the needed parts in his
garage work shop. Without his help and engine expertise I would
never have made it as far as I have. After almost 2? years, the
Hercules is about finished. All good things come with time.
I own two other engines, which my wife and I restored while
waiting for parts for the Hercules. One is a Sandwich Cub and the
other is a Mc-Cormick-Deering IHC 1?-2? HP LA engine. We took these
two engines to just about every engine show in northern New York
and a few shows in Canada. We sure made a lot of new friends and
met some of the finest people in the world. This is a great
hobby-and a great family hobby.
I’d like to thank my father, Ray Flight for getting me
started, Eli for his expertise and advice, Herschel and Alice and
Jonesy for their friendship, advice and great sense of humor.
