(Words and photos by Greg Rourke) – It’s been said farmers never throw anything away. Some take it a step further and collect stuff, like the late Lloyd Larson.
I don’t need an excuse to head out into farm country, although we don’t have as much here as some others (Scott Liggett, I’m looking in your direction). When I saw an auction bill with a bunch of hit and miss engines I knew my day was planned. When the GPS took me down a road with a sign reading “Pavement Ends” and I still had eight miles to go, I knew my gas money was well spent.
We’ve discussed hit and miss engines on these pages before, so here’s a brief refresher. They are a governor controlled engine with large flywheels. When the speed drops below the set RPM, the engine will fire the spark plug. This gives them a distinctive “POP whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh POP” note. They would often be started on gasoline, then run on almost anything flammable. The often had open crankcases, and an iron trough for cooling water. They were very heavy, often mounted on a wagon. They were made from the 1890s through the early 1940s
Lloyd Larson, of rural Earlville, Illinois loved these engines and amassed a collection of almost 60 of them. Many makes were represented, but local brands seemed heavily represented. Some restored, some not, but all seemed like they could run with a little tinkering.
Also included was a few very non-OSHA approved pieces of shop equipment. A nice Ford F-500 truck was advertised as under 40,000 miles which seem plausible. The auction bill said it was a 1950, which it clearly was not. The slanted A pillars and the Y block under the hood seem to indicate a 1954. Seemed rust free, the doors closed like new. Was on the road in 1996. Ever heard the phrase applied to someone who has caused themselves trouble as having one’s tit caught in a wringer? We had a wringer wash tub here, it looked painful. Lloyd also had a glass case full of drip oilers he had collected. Some guys collect baseball cards, Lloyd collected drip oilers and seemed proud of them, probably displayed in the dining room next to the china cabinet.
Throw in a bunch of the usual farm auction stuff, some very talkative locals, and a freshly serviced Porta Potty and the day was well spent.
