Fred Silvis, president of the Western Michigan Old Engine Club in Scottville, demonstrates how to start a Kahlenberg engine.
Story and photos by Kevin Howell
During the first week in August, a 22-acre field on the south side of Scottville will spring noisily to life with chugging, smoke-ring blowing, bellowing machinery.
They’re the sounds of 50 old engines and tractors on display in the 47th annual Old Engine and Tractor Show, Aug. 5-8, in Scottville Riverside Park, 700 E. Scottville Road. The show is hosted each day from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. by the Western Michigan Old Engine Club.
Following a tip from my editor about a particular old engine from a fishing boat in Manistee, I contacted the club for a visit to their base camp in the southeast corner of the park. If you’ve never been, the Pere Marquette River runs alongside a public access and campground before you reach the club’s grounds.
President Fred Silvis and designated club electrician Leo Majeski were sitting at a table in one of the club’s pavilions and drinking coffee when I arrived. With a cup of coffee offered by Silvis in hand, I listened as he told me a little about the engine in question.
“This is our inventory of stuff here on the grounds,” he said, pulling out some papers. “It’s a Kahlenberg, a three-cylinder. I don’t know the year, but the (previous) owner we got it from was Ron Walters of Walters Fisheries (in Ludington).”
Silvis relayed the story he had heard, that the old engine had originally come from the fishing tug Judy Ann, a 42-foot steel-hulled boat in Manistee.
“I guess when the guys went to get it, they had it all unbolted,” Silvis began, “but when they went to lift it, the engine had so much fish goo around it, the whole boat came out of the water with it.
“They rapped on the boat a couple times, and the boat dropped down into the water.”
The Kahlenberg and the Franklin
The Kahlenberg is the chug-chug-chugging engine, as described by Majeski. When used on the fishing tug, he said the diesel engine delivered 45-54 horsepower and could manage about 10 knots on the water.
“When the Kahlenberg goes, everybody on the grounds can hear it; it’s a noisy engine, got a lot of power,” Majeski noted.
Though they don’t know the specific date the engine was donated to the club, Silvis and Majeski speculated they’ve had it for at least 25 years, about the same time the club received another old engine, the Franklin, the smoke-ring blowing machine stored in the same barn as the Kahlenberg.
The Franklin, another diesel engine, has a big flywheel and is started by injecting ether to get its single cylinder running.
“This was a salt brine engine,” Majeski said. “It takes about three people to start it.”
Silvis interjected, with a laugh, “Ha-ha, try six!” Then he added: “Martin Marietta donated this engine to us from Eastlake, Michigan.”
The two old engines are among dozens stored on the grounds; some run sawmills, planers, shingle makers, grain grinders, oil rigs, washing machines, cider presses and other machinery.
Oh, and there’s also the 1925 La France fire truck from Belden, Michigan, with a hand-cranked siren you could probably hear clear down to Detroit.
“When we take this across (the grounds), I get to ride up front and crank the siren,” Majeski said, with big kid’s grin.
All the old engines are brought out for display and demonstrations during the annual show, as well as for Youth Education Day in September when busloads of fifth and sixth graders descend on the grounds.
For the annual show, club members bring their private collections of tractors and other machines to display. The 35-member Rusted Nuts and Bolts Club will ferry another 25 pieces of equipment from Wisconsin to Ludington on the S.S. Badger.
When all those old engines fire up, it’s bound to be a raucous and entertaining weekend.
Origins of the Old Engine Club
Western Michigan Old Engine Club got its start 47 years ago at a farm south of Ludington owned by Fred Donahue. According to Silvis: “It was a hit-and-miss club, named after old Maytag washing machine engines. They would run for a while, then when they get to a low rpm; they would fire ⸺ that’s the hit ⸺ then they’ll miss, miss, and miss, then BANG, they’ll hit again.”
As the club grew in membership and machines, the group relocated to White Pine Village for several years. When the club outgrew that location, members contacted the City of Scottville. In 1990, the club moved to Riverside Park.
“They sold us this on a land contract; it’s actually a 100-year lease for one dollar a year with the stipulation that if anything happens that the club is dissolved, everything goes back to them,” Silvis said.
The club now has about 230 members comprised of locals and folks from around the country. New members are always welcome, according to Silvis.
In addition to the big annual show in August, the club also puts on antique and garden tractor pulls from spring into fall. The next Antique Tractor Pull is July 17.
Show admission for seniors ages 65 and older on Thursdays is $5, kids under 12 are free, and adults are $6.
For online information and a schedule of events go to: www.oldengineclub.org.
Kevin Howell is a transplanted freelance writer from Indiana residing in Mason County. He loves the Michigan woods, lakes and especially Michigan craft beers, not necessarily in that order. Contact him at kevin@ytci.com.
