Reader Bill M recently bought an hoard of old stuff and there appears to be some interesting old pieces of equipment and random items in here. He wasn’t sure what to do with it all, so he decided he’d send us some information and photos. Pretty much everything in the photos is up for grabs, so if you see something you want be sure to email him here! He also needs a little help identifying what he thinks might be the canopy from a WWII era fighter plane. Here is what he has to say about all this stuff. From Bill – Hey guys, I’ve recently bought a 15,000 square foot hoard of stuff in Maryland, it was a farm, marine & hardware supply company that closed in the late 1960s!
Here are a few pics of what I believe is a WW2 German cockpit window assembly (the color indicates WW2 Germany). I have been attempting to identify what aircraft it was built for. It has a small exhaust vent at the center top, this suggests it was the rear part of the cockpit window assembly, and it appears that the windows in front of it are hinged in the center, like a fighter cockpit. Perhaps one of you might be able to ID it!
Included is a very unusual & rare “car” . . . A Homelite MowerCar. Gotta be a car, says so in it’s name!
![A rather unusual WW2 Homelite generator, designed to operate upside down [crank above cylinder]. I have about a half dozen WW2 Homelite generators.](https://barnfinds.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/IMG_0718.jpg)
Also found in the hoard: 1944 Simplex motorbike, ex-Army Air Force, complete [with extra parts], but needs restoration. Still has original Simplex tires both flat. Five, yes, 5 brand new (still in the crates) 1950s vintage Avco-Lycoming Bernard single cylinder air cooled diesel engines (great as inboard motors for boats). A 1942 Indian Motorcycle engine/gearbox assemblies, war surplus, still in their wooden crates (already sold). 1945 Continental opposed 4 cylinder Diesel engines, the last 2 remaining (out of 10 test motors). Ever seen a flat 4 diesel? The Navy ordered 10 for testing & destroyed 8 before stopping the tests, seems flat 4 diesels tear themselves apart!
And in another building I found dozens of Wisconsin engines, all new, never used. Still have a couple of V4 Powerpack Wisconsins (engine, lever clutch & fuel tank on skids), plus a large Wisconsin parts inventory. Schramm-Ford air compressor, very unusual, utilizing a flathead Ford V8, with special heads, manifolds & camshaft, converting the engine to a V4 gasoline engine & V4 air compressor, all in one block. It too is on a trailer/skids, brand new, never used! (If memory is good, it has about 15 hours on the hour meter.) Also have a full “unpicked” parts inventories for Evinrude outboard motors & Wright Chainsaws too!
Bill has a lot of stuff here and to make it a bit easier to figure out what’s what, I’ve included information about some of the bigger items in the respective items photo.
Bill if I was you you proximity to DC I would contact the guy at the Smithsonian Air and Space museum there resources they could probably get a whole bunch of it identified and might even have people they know of looking for some of it. Additionally I am currently stationed in MD active army drop me an email would love to see the stuff an see if there is anything I can help with
Dave: Took it to Udvar-Hazy facility at Dulles, they had no clue as to what it fits, also didn’t seem interested in researching it further. I also showed pics to the archivist & historian with the Collins Foundation, again, no luck identifying it. You didn’t leave an email address, mine is billmccoskey@aol.com. Due to the privacy concerns for the family, my girlfriend & I are the only people they allow onto the property, as they still have far more than what I bought.
I can send you pics of the canopy if you think you’ll have better luck.
Amazing stuff, this collection is a real time capsule of the 60’s.
Would LOVE to get the Indian engine & parts!
I’m in Delaware, where in MD. is this stuff I would like to see the Continental diesel
They are experimenting with a diesel in a Cessna 172. I don’t know if it is opposed or not.
I have the engines at my farm in Taneytown, MD. In my research, flat 4 engines are inherently unbalanced, and the stresses involved with 18 to 1 compression diesel engines, hitting first one side of the crank then the other, tears them apart. I have yet to see any Diesel flat 4 engines, and mechanical engineers who specialize in engines say they can’t be made to last.
Has bill got any vintage ATVs or amphibious 6×6 / 8×8 ?
I have a couple of rear drive axles I can’t ID, the family thinks they are for ATV’s. Can send pics if you think you can ID.
Also have a brand new 2 cyl 2-stroke 400cc Kohler ATV/snowmobile engine, never started.
Nothing else.
Not to butt in, but this canopy looks to me like something Grumman – Wildcat, Avenger or Hellcat… Curious to hear what Air and Space thinks, if they are consulted…
Concur with Avenger like aircraft.
Parts spares are usually painted a stock color and U.S. Navy gray may be what’s on these.
We still receive parts painted green in the Army where everything deployed in tan for the last 10 years.
Not F4F Wildcat, Not hellcat, but it IS an Avenger front section of the cockpit windows. The attached pic is absolutely the same unit.
THANKS FOR YOUR HELP WHEN THE “EXPERTS” HAD NOT A CLUE!
possible Dornier bomber, as Rotarydave suggests, try the restore folks at the Smithsonian, will pass along info to a friend who does collectable outboards
I would highly suggest the owner contact Antique Archaeology (American Pickers). Sounds right up their alley and he can be on Tee-Vee. I sent a suggestion that they check out an 80 year old Dickson TN hardware store and a year later, there it was in front of me on the show.
http://www.antiquearchaeology.com/got_stuff.php
When the pickers were at Gettysburg a couple of years ago, they talked with my barber [the barbers in small towns know who has the stuff!] who said to go see me. The advance team came to my farm, but I said no, I’ve been on TV for my antique stuff before, and besides, I don’t sell wholesale. They would never have bought anything from me as I sold retail. That’s how I made my living!
interested in the simplex, how can I get in touch with you
Looks like a simplex
Just so you guys know, this Simplex is a WW2 version for the Army Air Force out of Dover AFB. Still wears it’s Air Force blue paint on the fenders. While various parts are not currently on the bike, it’s 100% complete [even the special gas cap], and comes with parts from another Simplex he parted out. Parts go with bike, not sold separately.
While Simplex bikes were built in New Orleans, LA, a few were assembled in Baltimore, as this one was. An instruction tag at the ignition switch says that if the rider runs out of gasoline, he should get off the bike, roll it onto it’s left side for 30 seconds, then pull it back up again. A 1/2 gallon reserve on the right side of the fuel tank will empty into the main tank, allowing up to 50 more miles of riding.
If we could just tilt our cars for more gas, that would be great.
looks like a lot of work/fun. are you think onsite or online auction? great find
I see some items I may be interested in and you state we should E-mail him if interested….I just don’t know how to find his E-mail!
Lionel trains? I’m definitely interested in those, please advise, Thanks, Jeff
Yes i noticed them. But i’m in the UK so a bit far to come to view!!!
Sorry, trains sold very quickly.
Ah, hoarders, I love ’em.
It is certainly some kind of mental disorder for someone to hang on to a massive pile of stuff like this, never sell any, never give any away, never back up the dumpster truck to be rid of it, but even so, people who do this do a strange sort of service for people like us who cherish old cars (and motorcycles, and trucks, and outboard motors, and stationary engines, etc., etc.) Not only because they give us a crack at owning or repairing these old machines, but because they provide a sort of window to the past, enabling us to hold something in our hand and not just read about it in a book or on the Internet. It’s like opening the mummy’s tomb–antiquity is suddenly very real, although it probably sounds wacky to get misty-eyed about a giant pile of Evinrude parts.
Bill, you’re my kind of guy.
There were 3 sons involved, 2 wanted the stuff to be preserved, one had no interest & wanted to junk it all. Before I got involved, he took an 8′ long truckload of vintage paperwork, brochures, flyers, manuals & more, loaded it up & paid to have it shredded & recycled. I explained afterwards that he had destroyed at least $50,000 in paperwork. There were a couple of cases of English language Porsche tractor brochures. An individual Porsche Tractor brochure in English sells for $100. That is, if you can find one. These were 100/box.
In pictures 20 and 24… the green generator. I have one just like this. Mine was used to power a ranger station in a national park in Ohio in the early 1950s. It still works but it weighs a ton.
The wealth of knowledge here just leaves me speakless sometimes………
….thanks to everyone ..
..another informative history lesson….
Well done Bill – great load of stuff and I also enjoyed reading everyone’s comments too. Brilliant !
There are no words…. (Okay, there are–I, too, would be contacting Antique Archeology, if one didn’t want to sell it all themselves, individually. And that Flathead Ford V-8 converted into a V-4 Engine/V-4 Compressor is too cool for words!).
Thanks for posting!
Seems the Clever Technicians at Subaru have managed to make a Horizontally Opposed Diesel that DOESN’T destroy itself, http://www.boxerdiesel.com/engineering/en/01.html
thought I’d share with you!
Mark – Thanks for providing the Subaru link. I did some more looking, and on searching “Subaru diesel problems”, I found that they continue to have some problems with crankshafts shearing/breaking. I give them a lot of guts for creating one, when everyone said it couldn’t be done.