Box 127 Wanamingo, Minnesota 55983
These are a couple of engines we recently finished restoring.
The 3 HP Stickney Jr. that I have is serial #276. It was purchased
from the original owner’s family near Boyd, Minnesota, in the
late 1950’s by Karl P. Marquardt of Minneapolis, Minnesota. It
was pretty much complete but needed total restoration. Art Wegner
of Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, and John Paradise of Rochester,
Minnesota were both very gracious and accommodating in lending
parts off of their own engines so that I could copy them and
complete mine. Karl Marquardt has compiled a serial number list of
these engines known to be in existence. Sixteen engines are known
to exist at this time. The engine runs quite well.
The 10 HP Falk hopper cooled engine is serial #C342. I bought it
from Ervin Erickson from Vasa, Minnesota in the fall of 1988.
Ervin’s father, Edmund, purchased the engine new in
approximately 1912. Edmund set up a complete machine shop and the
Falk powered the machine shop all the way up to 1938 when
electricity became available in rural areas. This engine was
completely disassembled and scattered about in an iron scrap pile
of about 50 tons or more. Dad and I fished through the iron pile
and found quite a few interesting parts for other engines and
tractors. A 6 HP hopper cooled Falk #BB45 also came out of the pile
in pieces and 100% complete plus quite a few extra parts from a
neighbor’s 5 or 6 HP Falk. Kind of neat to still be able to
turn up stuff like this in this day and age only 14 miles from
home!
The Falk engine has few equals when it comes to quality in
workmanship and details. The governor and carburetion systems were
way ahead of their time, especially when considering the use of low
grade fuels. The hopper cooled Falks are quite scarce, I believe.
The tool box in the picture is the original and had the original
tool set with it from Falk. There were 19 broken ignitor springs in
the tool box when I cleaned it out. It was quite a project from
start to finish, restoring an engine like this that has been lying
in an old scrap pile for fifty years or so. Kurt Baxter, from
Silver Creek, Minnesota, was called upon to fine tune the engine
once we got it into running condition. Kurt is tough to beat when
it comes to coaxing these antique engines into a nice sounding,
even beat.
