My background and experience is more in the realm of the Classic car
(ill-health now directing me to the more easily accesible stationary
engine). I, together with many others have always approached the restoration
of a classic vehicle with the concept that I will enjoy restoring it and
using it once it is restored, and when the money runs out, restoration will
have to stop. On the other hand, along the way I have found various
associated ways of "making a few quid" which has been plowed back into my
restoration projects. However when I have had to sell a car, if I have "made
money" on it I consider it a bonus which will help another restoration. If I
lose money (as I am sure will happen on the next car which I need to sell) I
just have to accept that as a fact of life.
I have taken exactly the same approach to my stationary engines (solving one
of the cash-flow problems by persuading my wife to buy me one as a birthday
present). I bought a little Douglas single cylinder engine some ten years
ago at an autojumble for a fiver. I knew nothing about it and it is only in
the last year or so that I started to pay it any attention. It appears that
it is a VS25 which hardly anyone seems to have heard of, let alone seen. I
have gained so much enjoyment ion the process of researching this engine and
consequently setting up a website for Douglas engine enthusiasts, that I
feel I now owe it to that engine to restore it to its former glory, which I
fully intend to do, although it may take a lot longer than I would like as I
am more akin to the tortoise than the hare nowadays.
Peter Chadbund
Douglas VS25 &SV??
formatting link
Reading the post on another group about magneto rewinds prompted some
thoughts. While I cannot add a great deal to the magneto discussion, I
do find the question of engine value v rebuild cost interesting.
Should we be prepared to spend a considerable proportion of an
engine's current value on rebuilding it? As one poster put it,
"keeping a £100 pound machine going by spending £100". Are we trully
commited to preserving our engineering heritage? How much influence
does money have on our decisions? Should we preserve our engines
without reference to their market value or scrap them when the cost of
repairs exceeds what we could sell them for?
I realise the answer isn't an easy one as part of the decision to
scrap is to actually dismantle an engine for parts to keep others
working. However, the world is then short of one engine.
John