Southside
Historical Power Club News
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The next meeting is scheduled
for 7:00 PM, July 18th.
Host or meeting place to be established |
The show season is upon us. Some of our members have enjoyed attending
several shows already this season. The
early event was the Craddock Days right here locally, in Portsmouth. It is a
very small, but still an enjoyable event. It is a neighborhood shaking out the
winter humdrums and getting together to clean out the attics, sell a few crafts
and visit for the day while saying “I am proud of our neighborhood.” They treated us like special guests by
feeding us and visiting our site often to make sure we were ok. I expect we
will support that event next year if they should want us to. We had room for more equipment than we were
able to muster on short notice. This
event has not been a regular or our circuit so the club as a unit was not
prepared to support the event. Because
it is relatively close, it is not impossible to make a couple trips to get all
the gear there.
The next event we attended and with a relatively
large crew, was Chippokes Steam and Gas
Engine Show in Surry, VA. They did a
tremendous job this year of putting on a class act. The hard work and diligent planning was evident throughout the
show. The registering lanes made ‘check
in’ the best I have seen since that show started. The weather was great all
weekend, and everyone was very accommodating. I didn’t look over the
campsite for the exhibitors so I don’t have a report on how that went. Except
for requiring a unit to be ‘fully self contained’, I heard of no complaints in
that particular area. It was a pleasure to be part of that particular show this
year and we wish them well in the future.
The Denton Show is going on this very weekend (July 1-??), and there are
several members down there enjoying that event. Denton is one of the larger shows in this immediate area, and
always a treat to attend. Due to health
reasons, I stayed home this year. Craig Matthews went down, Buck, and possibly
Earl and Rose Kight. Hope they are
having a good time and will give us a report when they return.
Carl Fuller was able to come up with a ‘hit &
miss’ engine finally. He has had feelers out, but not actively engaged in a
search of anything special. The
Chippokes show produced a 1924 Hercules that had some barn dirt on it, some
visible decals and striping, and was seemingly in running condition. With Chuck at the controls(?), it took about
30 minutes to grease it all up, wipe down the dirt some, oil it a bit, and give
it a few pulls. In relatively short
time, it ran like it was supposed to. Any members remembering David Parris, he
was in on the package deal for two engines, his being a Fuller Johnson, a
little larger in size. It was possibly
a 6 horsepower. Wasn’t long, and we had
it running in the back of the truck that brought it to the show. Had that truck hopping.
Rose and Earl Kight had their Spring Crank-up in
their back yard in June. It was a good
day, consisting of a potluck dinner, picnic style, and some engine running,
tractor driving fun. Earl cranked up
several tractors he uses for ‘playing around’ in his huge back yard. He brought
out his ‘big iron’ model airplane, four cycle engine and gave us a treat
running that. He allowed the two younger members, Tyler and Adam to drive
anything that moved basically. Adam and
Tyler also put plenty of miles on their two smaller units, Tyler’s being a
hodgepodge of lawn tractor parts assembled by his uncle, using a International
LA for power, Adams being his older Sears lawn tractor. It was a very enjoyable
day and we look forward to planning the event again in the fall, possibly at
another location.
Member Dave Dewitt has this to “admit” to us. “Turns
out the 2 engines I bought at Chippoke’s was not enough to build one good
engine. Carb was missing as well as the plumbing to the gas tank. Have some
parts left over as both had like new rod and main bearings. Still had all the original
shims in place!! Have been in touch
with Hit & Miss about trading some of my parts for his. Went to Dana, NC last sat. ( 1st ) and
picked up a 3hp FMZ igniter fired engine. TG like my 6hp. Going to mount them
on my iron wheeled trailer so I can have my transport trailer back !! The 3hp
is kind of rare for an FMZ as it was only made from 1916 to1920. Most were
converted to spark plug but mine is still original. Needs gas tank and all the
plumbing but it will run on the gas in the carb. The beat goes on, all
for now.
Check the updated calendar of events. Some of the dates are not in place yet, but will be corrected as I get the information straight.
