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

Keith Kinney kkinney at herculesengines.com
Wed Jan 2 20:43:14 PST 2008 

Larry
I missed the SIAM show for the first time ever this past summer as I 
was at my daughters college graduation so I missed your Power King 
display.  :-(
I hope to have the dozer there and with any luck it will be 
running.  New Years Eve i put the crank in the slot and it was 
stiff.  I put a foot on it and it moved about 1/8 of a turn. :-)  It 
it really did move I will get the head off and clean things up and 
hopefully get it running with a minimal effort.  I've got my fingers crossed.
Keith


At 01:14 PM 1/1/2008, you wrote:
>That would be worthwhile seeing whether running or not, Keith.
>
>Last year at SIAM, a fellow collector from Georgia brought two of his more
>unique Power Kings up for SIAM and between the two of us we had 8 tractors
>at the show.  Most of mine are working tractors, so they weren't necessarily
>very pretty, but we covered better than 30 years of production.  We were
>joined by a couple other PK owners for a total of 11 tractors.  We're
>planning on doing the same thing again this year and we may even be able to
>work in a tour of Mission Manufacturing up in Princeton.  Since they are the
>major supplier of all PK parts, it's a natural attraction -- they're only 20
>miles away from the show grounds.  If I take all of mine to the show, we'll
>cover 48 years of production and the company only lasted for 49 years.
>
>Larry
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Keith Kinney" <kkinney at herculesengines.com>
>To: "Antique tractor email discussion group" <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
>Sent: Tuesday, January 01, 2008 12:54 AM
>Subject: Re: [AT] Spam> Santa was good to me - Clark Airborne Dozer - Long
>
>
> > Larry
> > If I can get it running I would love to take it out to the SIAM
> > show.  I'll bet it will be a hoot to drive around.
> > Keith
> >
> > At 07:59 PM 12/31/2007, you wrote:
> >>Keith, are you bringing any of this out to SIAM this summer?  Even in
> >>"field
> >>fresh" condition, it would make for lots of tire kicking (or tread kicking
> >>as the case may be.)
> >>
> >>
> >>Larry
> >>
> >>----- Original Message -----
> >>From: "Keith Kinney" <kkinney at herculesengines.com>
> >>To: <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
> >>Sent: Monday, December 31, 2007 12:02 AM
> >>Subject: [AT] Spam> Santa was good to me - Clark Airborne Dozer - Long
> >>
> >>
> >> > 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
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > _______________________________________________
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> >> >
> >>
> >>
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> >
> > Keith Kinney
> > Evansville, Indiana  USA
> > www.HerculesEngines.com
> >
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Keith Kinney
Evansville, Indiana  USA
www.HerculesEngines.com

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