Mr. Fixit for Engine Collectors
January/February 1985
John E. Rowles
Rural Route 2, Fort Dodge, Iowa 50501.
RELATED CONTENT
Written by Walter B. Stevens, editor of The Messenger, Fort
Dodge, Iowa. Reprinted with permission.
It's an unlikely place in which to machine his engine parts
which are shipped to all parts of the nation.
Wally Steding's small manufacturing shop borders the west
edge of the Hillcrest School playground in northwest Fort Dodge.
There's room in the shed built onto the side of his double
garage for little more than a bearing boring machine, two lathes a
small drill press, a grinder and a few other basic tools.
The double garage is crammed with years of collections of
antiques, piled high and in no semblance of order. Somewhere in the
heap are 35 old gas engines the owner purchased at various sales in
the past quarter century.
Wally Steding, 807 Riverside St. N.W., Fort Dodge, Iowa,
50501-it's a familiar address for many a gas engine collector
who needs rods, bearings, magneto gears or shaft, carburetor kits
or a host of other parts. Collectors send their orders for parts,
by mail or by telephone, and Wally turns out the items in his small
shop and forwards them via UPS.
It's another story of a hobby which turned into a
flourishing, full time industry.
'I got into buying and trading for old gas engines when I
worked for Fort Dodge Machine and Supply Company in the early
1970s,'the 59-year-old Fort Dodger said. 'I'd repair or
replace parts in them and other collectors would ask me to make or
supply parts for their engines. Before long, I was spending so much
time in my shop I decided to go into business for myself.'
There's only one other individual in the country in this
type of business, Wally says.
He runs a 3-inch advertisement to the GAS ENGINE MAGAZINE,
published bi-monthly at Lancaster, Pa., and read by 18,000
subscribers in all parts of the country. The ad lets readers know
that Steding can fill orders for John Deere, McCormick and Stover
CT rods and bearings and numerous other items.
Through the advertisement and the word of mouth messages among
collectors, Steding has received orders from every state in the
union except Hawaii and has even made shipments to Anchorage,
Alaska.
'Most of my business has been done in Illinois, Indiana,
Ohio, Minnesota and California,' he said.
The Fort Dodger is a subcontractor for Starbolt Engine Supplies,
Lay-tonsville, Maryland, which turns over many of its
customers' requests to him.
'I've been in this business for more than ten years now
and there's been a steady increase each year,' Wally said.
'There seem to be more gas engine collectors all the time. Some
of the large collectors, those with 100 or more engines, have sold
out and this spreads the engines around.'
His principal customer in this area is retired banker John
Rowles, RFD 2, who sponsor an annual old-fashioned threshing bee
and engine display west of the Fort Dodge Municipal Airport each
fall.