[AT] Spam> Santa was good to me - Clark Airborne Dozer - Long

[Keith Kinney]

One thing I've learned in this hobby is that some times you have to 
wait a long time before you're about to close a deal.  This story 
starts back in 1975 or 76.  I was in high school and had been 
collecting engines and tractors for a few years.  A friend of mine 
told me about his neighbor who had some old engines and tractors 
parked around the farm.  It was about 2 miles from my house and one 
afternoon he took me to the neighbors and we visited with the elderly 
man.  He showed us around his place and he did have a bunch of old 
equipment.  But, didn't want to part with any of it.  I did notice in 
has barn he had several magnetos for gas engines.  After talking with 
him he indicated that he worked for a company that did warranty work 
for the Hercules Gas Engine company after Hercules had stopped 
producing engines.  One thing he showed us was this small bulldozer 
that he told us was used during WWII.  They were parachuted into 
remote areas to build roads and runways for advancing 
troops.   Pretty cool stuff.

Fast forward to 1991.  I had some frequent flier miles I needed to 
use so my dad and I flew out to Oregon and toured to state including 
a trip to the Brooks Oregon show.  While in Oregon we ran across this 
small little dozer that we were told was used by the forestry service 
to reach remote areas.  It was real cute and we thought we'd like to 
find one like it someday.  We'll after returning home we kept our 
eyes out for one.  We found a pair of them (or so we thought)  for 
sale in Spokane, Washington, a long way from Indiana.  Well after 
talking with the seller he was able to arrange some economical 
shipping and we were soon the owners of two  Clark Airborne 
Dozers.  We bought em with the idea of taking two to make one good 
one.  After getting them home we figured out they were not the same 
dozer we had witnessed in Oregon but we liked them better because of 
the war connection and their rarity.  Only 2500 of these were ever 
produced.  We got them home and started restoration on one but, like 
many projects it got pushed to the side and we still don't have it done.

Fast forward again to about 1998.   While talking to a parent of a 
school mate of my daughter I learned that he was the grandson of the 
man who I had visited with back in the mid 70's.  The grandson now 
lived on the farm and yes he still had most of the old stuff his 
grandfather had show us so many years before.  I asked if I could 
come over and look around and he was receptive.  We had a nice visit 
and did purchase a 1.5 HP Fairbanks Morse hit and miss engine, a 
water pump, an Elkhart magneto, several webster magnetos and a 
Standard Twin garden tractor.  He still had the little dozer but he 
didn't want to part with the dozer.

Fast forward to the spring of 1997.  I received a call from the man 
with the dozer.  Keep in mind this is within a couple of miles from 
our house.  He asked if I was still interested in the little 
dozer.  Well you know what my answer was.  He said the barn had 
fallen down and he didn't think he would ever get around to doing 
anything with the dozer.  Dad and I went to take a look and it was 
sad to see this jewel sitting with the exhaust exposed with barn 
debris all over it.  We talked money and we were pretty far 
apart.   After all who needs three of these things. :-)  I happened 
to run into him again a few weeks later while standing in line at the 
bank.  I made him a cash offer but we were still a few hundred dollars apart.

Fast forward to this fall.  I received another call from the dozer 
owner and he offered to split the difference on the price.  He didn't 
want to see the dozer go through another winter out in the open.  I 
agreed on the price and the deal was made.  We finally had an 
opportunity to go pick the dozer up on December 26, 2007.  Pictures 
of the dozer and the story can be seen here:
http://www.herculesengines.com/clarkair/default.htm

The thing that appealed to us on this dozer is that it is very 
complete with all the little bells and whistles that are often 
missing.  Little things like the hooks that were used to secure the 
parachute lines to the dozer.   It also came with an extra set of 
tracks and extra drive cogs.  So at this point in time we are going 
to try to get this dozer running and operable and at a later date do 
a total restoration.  We also plan to sell the other two dozers that we have.

One other interesting thing about this project.  About 10 or so years 
ago I ran across a man who had bought out the remaining stock of 
parts from when production was shut down in the 1940's.  He had two 
semi trailers full of NOS parts.  We were able to purchase new 
hydraulic cylinders for the dozer blade, new set frames and cushions 
still wrapped in their original paper, new steering clutches, new 
tracks and other misc. parts.  Quite a find.

So that's the story for now.  We started by getting 2 tractors that 
were over 2500 miles from home and ended up with a nicer one just 2 
miles from home that we'd first seen some 30 or so years ago.

Keith



Keith Kinney
Evansville, Indiana  USA
www.HerculesEngines.com