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Found: Piece of Americana, and Inception of a Dream
Wikipedia defines “Americana†as it usually indicates a concern with the marginal aspects of historic American culture: carnivals, popular amusements such as side-shows, vernacular typography and signage, old horror movies in the 'haunted house' genre, the old West, and the backwoods cultures.
In the mid-1970’s, TJ Bevin’s a self-employed entrepreneur from Wellsville, Kansas got the grand idea to assemble a traveling collections of engines of the “HEY DAY†of the American Industrial Age. His plan was to assemble the collection in an 18-wheeler trailer as a rolling show, and tour the country with his wife. They planned to stop and showcase their collection at county and state fairs, carnivals and conventions. Paying for their travels with the proceeds earned from charge admission to tour the collection and cover their cost of travel and living.
TJ setout and built out a trailer with a living quarters in the front section, and fifteen engines. Thirteen of which were antique “Hit and Missâ€, and two jewels of the collection a Rolls Royce Merlin, and an AJ Foyt “Coyoteâ€.
When TJ would setup the display he had would open up the rear of the trailer, and put the stairs in place. The trailer was setup with a center cabinet that ran nearly the length of the trailer with the “Hit and Miss†engines mounted to it, and the Merlin and Foyt at the front of the display area. Traffic flow would be to walk up the stairs at the rear of the trailer and down one side of the cabinet, and back down the other side to exit at the back. TJ being the “Pitchmenâ€, and his wife working as the “Ducat Grabberâ€. The trailer had the rear most engine in the trailer on a sliding stand, that would be pulled out and would “run†to catch peoples attention and give TJ a chance to make his sales pitch to tour the collection.
TJ and his wife toured for several years before parking the display at their home in Wellsville.
In the mid-1980’s, and their estate was up for auction. The winning bidder of the tractor-trailer, and Display failed to pay and the auctioneer Otto’s Auctions ends up with the Display. It sat on Otto’s farm in Edgerton, Kansas for the past twenty years.
Flash forward to eighteen months ago. My father and I have been plotting, planning, discussing, and dreaming of racing at Bonneville. When looking through the rulebook we started identifying Open, or Out of Date records that look to be easier to attain than others. Somewhere in that time period dad recalls the engine display and the Foyt motor. After a few weeks of running down leads dad tracks the display to Otto’s. Miraculously the Display is completely intact and untouched since the doors were closed sometime around 1979.
After nearly 18 months of back and forth negotiations to acquire the collection, we were able to take possession several weeks ago. We had a mechanic friend from Spring Hill, KS go over and get the old diesel running. Then my brother-in-law and one of his friends from Parker, Kansas each took their tractors, and one low-boy to recover the Display. My brother-in-law hooked up to the trailer that hadn’t been moved in 20 years, while the tractor was loaded onto the low-boy they brought along.
Kelly Kaiser stepped in at this point and extracted the Merlin and Foyt from the front of the trailer at the Kaiser Kompound.
Unfortunately to make this deal happen the Display had to be separated. To cover the cost of everything, we sold the Merlin to a private collector, and the trailer and “Hit and Miss’s†to another collector. Keeping the Foyt motor, and the tractor which I think we have a buyer for at this point.
Pictorial breakdown, and a little about the engines.
The row of “Hit and Miss†engines looking toward the rear of the trailer. Check out that shag carpet on the walls!!!
The row of “Hit and Miss†engines looking toward the front of the trailer.
Stover
1915 Dairy Maid
Single Cycle Maytag
1/2hp Maytag
Twin Cylinder Maytag
Nice little John Deere
Silent Dis-Pro
Ideal
The gems at the front of the trailer.
Merlin
Foyt
The supposed history on the Merlin is it is out of a P-51 that crash landed at Gardner Field in the late ‘40s. I have searched, queried and what not for hours and haven’t come up with fact to back that up. Not saying its not true, just as will anything old like this they always come with “stories†I’d like to know for sure the story on this one.
Now the Foyt has a bit better of a history for it.
900hp turbocharged Ford Dual Overhead Cam “Coyoteâ€
AJ used this motor in ’74 to grab the pole at the Indy 500 with 191.832mph qualifying pass. He had trouble with the motor and it got pulled to be replaced by another motor pre-race. He finished 14th.
We've talked to AJ's head machanic. One of the benefits of being in Houston, and gotten some more details, and help.
The plan is to race this motor. Not sure the plans of what, and when, but we have ideas, a plan, and now a motor. Obviously the place is ON THE SALT!!!!
This thing is incredible, the workmanship on the exhaust, the safety wire on nearly all fasteners.
Exhaust tip!!!!
Filter
Wastegate
They are out there fellas. This was all sitting in a trailer off a major highway for close to 20 years. And the side of the trailer was painted in HUGE letters “LOOKâ€, “Unique Engine Displayâ€, “ANTIQUEâ€, “AJ FOYT INDY 500â€, “P-51 AIRCRAFTâ€
Talk about no one paying attention to the writing on the wall, errrr trailer.
Wikipedia defines “Americana†as it usually indicates a concern with the marginal aspects of historic American culture: carnivals, popular amusements such as side-shows, vernacular typography and signage, old horror movies in the 'haunted house' genre, the old West, and the backwoods cultures.
In the mid-1970’s, TJ Bevin’s a self-employed entrepreneur from Wellsville, Kansas got the grand idea to assemble a traveling collections of engines of the “HEY DAY†of the American Industrial Age. His plan was to assemble the collection in an 18-wheeler trailer as a rolling show, and tour the country with his wife. They planned to stop and showcase their collection at county and state fairs, carnivals and conventions. Paying for their travels with the proceeds earned from charge admission to tour the collection and cover their cost of travel and living.
TJ setout and built out a trailer with a living quarters in the front section, and fifteen engines. Thirteen of which were antique “Hit and Missâ€, and two jewels of the collection a Rolls Royce Merlin, and an AJ Foyt “Coyoteâ€.
When TJ would setup the display he had would open up the rear of the trailer, and put the stairs in place. The trailer was setup with a center cabinet that ran nearly the length of the trailer with the “Hit and Miss†engines mounted to it, and the Merlin and Foyt at the front of the display area. Traffic flow would be to walk up the stairs at the rear of the trailer and down one side of the cabinet, and back down the other side to exit at the back. TJ being the “Pitchmenâ€, and his wife working as the “Ducat Grabberâ€. The trailer had the rear most engine in the trailer on a sliding stand, that would be pulled out and would “run†to catch peoples attention and give TJ a chance to make his sales pitch to tour the collection.
TJ and his wife toured for several years before parking the display at their home in Wellsville.
In the mid-1980’s, and their estate was up for auction. The winning bidder of the tractor-trailer, and Display failed to pay and the auctioneer Otto’s Auctions ends up with the Display. It sat on Otto’s farm in Edgerton, Kansas for the past twenty years.
Flash forward to eighteen months ago. My father and I have been plotting, planning, discussing, and dreaming of racing at Bonneville. When looking through the rulebook we started identifying Open, or Out of Date records that look to be easier to attain than others. Somewhere in that time period dad recalls the engine display and the Foyt motor. After a few weeks of running down leads dad tracks the display to Otto’s. Miraculously the Display is completely intact and untouched since the doors were closed sometime around 1979.
After nearly 18 months of back and forth negotiations to acquire the collection, we were able to take possession several weeks ago. We had a mechanic friend from Spring Hill, KS go over and get the old diesel running. Then my brother-in-law and one of his friends from Parker, Kansas each took their tractors, and one low-boy to recover the Display. My brother-in-law hooked up to the trailer that hadn’t been moved in 20 years, while the tractor was loaded onto the low-boy they brought along.
Kelly Kaiser stepped in at this point and extracted the Merlin and Foyt from the front of the trailer at the Kaiser Kompound.
Unfortunately to make this deal happen the Display had to be separated. To cover the cost of everything, we sold the Merlin to a private collector, and the trailer and “Hit and Miss’s†to another collector. Keeping the Foyt motor, and the tractor which I think we have a buyer for at this point.
Pictorial breakdown, and a little about the engines.
The row of “Hit and Miss†engines looking toward the rear of the trailer. Check out that shag carpet on the walls!!!
The row of “Hit and Miss†engines looking toward the front of the trailer.
Stover
1915 Dairy Maid
Single Cycle Maytag
1/2hp Maytag
Twin Cylinder Maytag
Nice little John Deere
Silent Dis-Pro
Ideal
The gems at the front of the trailer.
Merlin
Foyt
The supposed history on the Merlin is it is out of a P-51 that crash landed at Gardner Field in the late ‘40s. I have searched, queried and what not for hours and haven’t come up with fact to back that up. Not saying its not true, just as will anything old like this they always come with “stories†I’d like to know for sure the story on this one.
Now the Foyt has a bit better of a history for it.
900hp turbocharged Ford Dual Overhead Cam “Coyoteâ€
AJ used this motor in ’74 to grab the pole at the Indy 500 with 191.832mph qualifying pass. He had trouble with the motor and it got pulled to be replaced by another motor pre-race. He finished 14th.
We've talked to AJ's head machanic. One of the benefits of being in Houston, and gotten some more details, and help.
The plan is to race this motor. Not sure the plans of what, and when, but we have ideas, a plan, and now a motor. Obviously the place is ON THE SALT!!!!
This thing is incredible, the workmanship on the exhaust, the safety wire on nearly all fasteners.
Exhaust tip!!!!
Filter
Wastegate
They are out there fellas. This was all sitting in a trailer off a major highway for close to 20 years. And the side of the trailer was painted in HUGE letters “LOOKâ€, “Unique Engine Displayâ€, “ANTIQUEâ€, “AJ FOYT INDY 500â€, “P-51 AIRCRAFTâ€
Talk about no one paying attention to the writing on the wall, errrr trailer.
