2 Clay Road Bethany, CT 06525
One day, while visiting a friend who had some engines, I asked
him if he knew of any engines around the area that were for sale.
He told me of one that was in a pump house on an old farm. I asked
him what kind it was, but he didn’t knowhe only knew it was an
upright and was missing some parts. So he said ‘Why don’t
you stop and look at it on your way home?’, so I did. When I
arrived at the farm, I could hardly wait to see the engine. I asked
the farmer where the pump house was and he said, ‘Go over the
hill and you will see it down at the bottom.’ So I practically
ran to the pump house. There stood a large upright of the likes I
had never seen before.
It was free, but some parts were missing. I didn’t know what
it was, so I asked the farmer, but he didn’t know, as he only
rented the farm. All he knew was that the owner wanted him to tear
down the building. So a deal was struck for the engine and, with
the help of a John Deere 350 crawler loader, we were on our way
home.
I still wondered what make it was. So I began searching in all
my files, looking through Alan King’s books, and calling
friends but to no availI still didn’t know. So there it sat for
about three years, with me still wondering about the make.
Then one day another fellow collector stopped by and I showed it
to him. He said he thought it might be a Nash engine and all I
could think of was the Nash car. I said I never heard of a Nash
engine. So then I called my dear friend, George Clark, to see if he
had any information on a Nash engine, and he did. He also had some
pictures in an old gas engine handbook. Sure enough, it’s a 5
HP Nash engine manufactured by the National Meter Co., New York,
made around 1900.
Well, now that that problem was solved, the next was the missing
parts. The pictures were very vaguehow could I copy parts that I
couldn’t see? Fortunately, a stroke of luck came when the same
collector who told me he thought it was a Nash also told me he knew
someone else who had one. I immediately contacted the person, who
was very helpful and said I could borrow whatever I needed to. Thus
started the long ordeal of borrowing and copying parts needed to
restore the Nash back to original condition.
Without the help of my neighbor who owns a foundry, and the
expert machining ability and patience of George Clark, none of this
would have ever been possible. I’m truly indebted to these fine
people!
Well, after all the parts were made and put on, plumbing,
cooling, arrangement, painting and trailer were done. The old Nash
fired the third time around and hasn’t missed a beat yet.
It’s amazing how smooth this 5 HP engine runs must be those
38′ flywheels.
I hope the readers enjoy this story of one more good engine
saved from destruction. I would like to correspond with anyone else
who owns a Nash engine.
