1906 2-1/2 HP Foos

Enlarge Image Image Gallery The Foos on display at the 2008 Oklahoma Steam and Gas Engine Show in Pawnee, Okla. Christian Williams

As any old iron collector knows, persistence pays off. Mike Trotnic, Parsons, Kan., can illustrate that fact by pointing out two gas engines from his collection: one a 1906 2-1/2 HP hopper-cooled Foos, the other a 1900 2-1/2 HP tank-cooled Challenge.

For about 30 years, Mike had his eye on the Foos. “I knew [previous owner] Bill Krueger since I was 10 or 12 years old but didn’t know much about engines then,” says Mike. “I just knew they were back in his garage all covered up.” As Mike recalls, Bill was a retired electrician, who also collected a pension from General Motors. Over the years, Mike kept asking Bill if he could buy the Foos, but the answer was always a polite “no.” Then, at age 97, Bill finally agreed.

In addition to the Foos, Bill was also willing to sell the Challenge – an opportunity that Mike wasn’t about to pass up. Mike asked Bill what he wanted for them and Bill said he’d listen to any offer. “I said, ‘How about $500 a piece?’ And he said sure,” recalls Mike. “I said, ‘No, no – I’m only teasing,’ but he actually did sell them to me for $500 a piece. He’d been offered a lot more for each by other people but he wanted me to have them. Selling them to me for $500 a piece was the same thing as giving them to me.”

Bill bought the Foos in the 1950s from a town about 50 miles east of Cherokee, Kan. Bill couldn’t remember the name of the town and Mike hasn’t been able to find it either, but Bill remembered that the engine was used to run a linotype printing press. The Foos was only used for six or eight months before the town got electricity, then taken off the line and stored in a warehouse. For that reason, the engine was in excellent condition when Bill bought it and remained that way for more than 40 years in his care.