What Would A New One In The Crate Be Worth?
September/October 2001
Gary D. Hutchinson
4252 Dunstan Court Stone Mountain, Georgia 30083-2448
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The ringing telephone interrupted my work at the lathe. I
flipped the lathe off and hurried to the phone. The caller
introduced himself as being from the next town, and asked if I was
the fellow with flywheel engines out front? I answered yes, and
then he dropped his next question, 'What would a new one in the
crate be worth?' For a moment the world seemed as if it stood
still. As I fought to regain my composure, a fleeting vision of a
rare vertical engine in new factory colors and polished brass
flashed through my mind. Trying hard to banish any excitement from
my voice, I attempted to casually ask what kind of engine he was
selling. He didn't know what kind of engines they were-- good
Lord, there was more than one!-- but he was trying to buy rather
than sell. Aw shucks! Still my curiosity was fully aroused. As we
continued our conversation, I explained that it was impossible to
estimate the value of an engine without knowing the make, model,
condition, etc. Further, just because it was in a crate didn't
necessarily mean it was new, or even operable. The fellow thanked
me for my time, the information, and closed the conversation. As I
walked back to the lathe, that vision of a rare engine flashed by
again and I thought no, that would be too good to be true; more
likely a worn-out modern machine, a compressor perhaps, crated up
tor shipment to a repair facility and lost in transit that had been
mistaken as a flywheel engine. Over the years I had experienced
several exciting calls about old engines that turned out to be old
horizontal compressors upon closer inspection. Oh well, back to
reality and the work at hand.
A couple of weeks later a car drove up to the shop and I
recognized one of the occupants as an ex-county official. The other
fellow introduced himself and his friend, explaining he was the one
who had called about the new engines in the crates. They had
decided to use their lunch hour to learn more about flywheel
engines. That vision of a rare engine flashed back; or maybe these
fellow had stumbled onto something after all! I showed them several
engines, and they were attracted to an early 3 HP Fairbanks-Morse
'Z' open crank engine. They thought the engines they'd
found resembled this engine, but were bigger and slightly
different. I showed them the brass nameplate and explained that if
these engines were new they'd have a maker's plate on them.
With that information and some idea of the condition, were they
frozen and broken, free to turn, etc., we might be able to estimate
a fair price. There was no hint as to where the engines were but a
remark was made that it was awfully dark and there was no lifting
equipment. Apparently there were several engines. While I had no
intention of trying to interfere with their find, my curiosity was
aroused once again.
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