I'm talking about one-lung "hit and miss" flywheel engines by such legendary names as Fairbanks-Morse, Hercules, John Deere, International Harvester -- even Maytag. I figured there would be events scattered all over Texas devoted to these obsolete workhorses, along with steam tractors and such.
The larger ones were used to power pump-jacks, of course, but the smaller ones were used for irrigation, to run saws, to power shop tools run by leather belts and so on. The little Maytags powered Maytag washing machines on the back porch in the days before rural electrification had been completed.
I see 11 branches of the Early Day Gas Engine and Tractor Association scattered around the state, but am having no luck finding any swap meets or other events, and the flea markets I have poked around in west central have been devoid of old iron.

there was a guy that had a cpl at Pate swap meet at TEXAS motor speedway in april.

doesnt do you a lot of good, but they are out there

I figure the Chevy 350 replaced all those, and everyone moved on.

They're around, you gotta know where to look.

There's usually a guy that has several old Hit N Miss engines running at the HotRods of Texas SwapMeet here in Conroe.

My dad loved those things, although he never had one. We did have a Marathon truck engine sitting behind the fence for my entire childhood. He had tons of "unfinished projects".

There's an antique tractor show north of Lindsay that has lots of old stationary engines. Usually in August and it is always hot

Check out the Texas Early Tractor and Engine Association.

I have a friend that him and his wife moved into her Father’s house after he went to an Alzheimer’s center . Her Dad had. Locked up barn that she said no one had been for at least 15 years. My Son and I went in with our friend and there were all kinds of old stuff. There were 2 John Deere 1 cyl. Motors in there still in the boxes. One was marked 1932 and the other was marked 1938. They went for over 10K apiece at auction. There is still a 1930’s McCormick Deering steel wheel tractor in the barn.

This. All manner of operational early equipment is at that show. Small town, big event. It's later in the year than August. Here's an image of their Facebook page (Cooke County Antique Tractor and Farm Machinery Club).

Temple use to have an antique tractor show in the fall, not sure if they still do or not.

Thanks fellas!

Used to be an annual event across the red river in the southern Oklahoma (Kemp) area that featured old tractors and harvesting/plowing exhibit's. Can’t remember the farmers name that hosted it or
If it still happens.

its on ebay - everypart needed to fix or rebuild plus a few engines

Small motors. Song by Fred Eaglesmith.

There's a bunch of the old oil field one lungers around Luling. Some will run, some are being stored for the future.

first thing i thought of twas this.



1860 colt

Early JD’s were called Poppin Johnnies

Only the twin cylinder models.

My Papa had a '48 model and his name was Johnny too...

How about AJAX? We still work on them, 13" power cylinders. When they fire off with a back fire you know its a good day.

There's at least one still in use on a pump jack up in Pawhuska. That same hit and miss engine has lulled me to sleep on camping trips since I was a kid. The pump jack is far enough away that you can only hear it on calm nights. It's sound and cadence is ingrained in my head, and still brings back memories from over 40 years ago. Cool thing is, it's still in use.

BigIron Auctions is the largest agriculture auction in the US and sells antique tractors and such all the time. There are a bunch of farmers that have brand new 2023 gear they use everyday but also have collection's of 100+ year old tractors in the barn. I see it all the time.

There are a number of these on the Upton county ranch.


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