7 Orange Court Longview, Texas 75604
I started collecting old gas engines in the early ’70s with
the help of my Power Mechanics teacher, Preston Foster. After
restoring two engines and acquiring a third, I lost interest in
engines. Then in 1990, after several years of battling an
undiagnosed collagens disease, I looked up Mr. Foster and he helped
me locate an engine to restore, a 4 HP Leader made by The Field
Force Pump Company. I call restoring engines ‘gas engine
therapy.’ All heavy lifting is done by hoist, neighbors, or #1
Son.
The boy was nine when the Leader was finished. He told me he
wanted a gas engine. We looked for over a year. Several engines
were found at engine shows, but the price was beyond his reach.
This hobby can be very expensive if you get in a hurry, so we kept
looking. In the time spent searching for an engine, he bought five
of the toy engines made by Ertl. He now has a nice collection of
those. We catch a lot of shows in Ohio and Pennsylvania in the
summers, and one or two in Texas where we live. Here in Texas
it’s not uncommon to drive four to ten hours to reach a
show.
One day I received a phone call from a man named Frank, of
Marshall, Texas (30 miles east of our home). He said a friend told
him that I collected old gas engines, so he called to talk engines.
He also said he had two engines that weren’t for sale, but I
was welcome to come and look at what he had if I wanted. Two days
later I dragged my neighbor to Marshall with me, and there was a 6
HP Galloway Masterpiece Six with a Webster Tri-Polar mag sitting
outside, complete, but very rusty with moss covering a portion of
the flywheels and hopper. Then we were taken inside a workshop to
see an Associated l HP Chore Boy. The igniter had been drilled and
tapped for a spark plug, the mag was gone, and it was rigged with a
buzz coil for spark. The trip arm assembly was also missing, and a
few teeth were missing off the small gear. The Galloway came from
the Jefferson Chair Factory in Jefferson, Texas (the fifth oldest
town in Texas). A friend of his owned the Galloway and Associated.
The friend worked at the chair factory from 1911 until closing. The
man passed away and left Frank the engines. The Associated was left
to the chickens to roost on in a chicken house when Frank retrieved
them. I asked if he wanted to sell the engines. A definite
‘no’ was the reply. After a short visit we left for home.
On the way home I told my neighbor the Chore Boy would be a good
engine for my son to learn on.
Nearly a year passed, and every now and then I’d call Frank
to see if he was doing okay, and to see if he had done anything
with the engines.
Then in November of 1992, I decided to call Frank. As I was
about to make the call the phone rang; it was Frank. He told me he
was in need of some cash and for a few bucks more than what I
offered for the Galloway I could have both engines. Within a few
hours the Chore Boy was in my shop and the next day the Galloway
was too.
The boy had his engine at a very reasonable price. I told him I
would help him restore it, but he had to do most of the work and
cut enough grass to help pay for paint and such. He had it
disassembled in a few days. Pulling the flywheel to make the gear
repair took over two months. We searched for about a year for an
igniter and trip assembly. No luck. Preston Foster made the trip
and igniter for us since we couldn’t find them. All parts were
then degreased and sandblasted. #1 Son primed and sanded and primed
and sanded until he was sick of priming and sanding, but after the
first coat of color was applied he saw it was worth it. We found
the proper color red in Centari and I had a quart mixed. It looked
a little orange to me, but maybe it was the poor lighting in my
shop. Wrong! After he painted all the small parts I found it was
definitely orange, but the boy liked it, he liked it a lot! I could
not convince him to let me get the right color. I didn’t want
to discourage him by making him change it, so if you see an orange
and black Associated Chore Boy at Coolspring Power Museum in
Coolspring, Pennsylvania, from June 17-19, you’ll know who owns
it#1 Son, Stephen Hanuscin, age 11. He will probably take his
engine to several other shows in eastern Ohio and western
Pennsylvania also.
If anyone has a spare Associated mag, and idler gear, at a
reasonable price, Stephen would sure like to hear from you.
