Engine and Wheels
A Publication for anyone interested in the growing hobby of designing, building and showing small motorized vehicles.
Above is a sample page from the first issue.
For some time I had seen the need for a national publication addressing the growing hobby of designing and building home built horseless carriages. Inspired by what was done a hundred years ago and with the availability of many surplus items, several people had successfully built their version of one of the early carriages and "brass" cars. Some had built what might best be called "freelance" versions.
These builders worked alone, unaware that others in different areas of the country were doing the same. How much better our hobby could have been if there was a means of communication, whereby ideas could be shared.
This was what I was attempting to do with Engine and Wheels. To do so as a "normal" printed publication would not have been economically feasible at that time. However, I had at my disposal another modern tool that Ford, Olds and others did not have a hundred years ago and that was the computer and Internet communications. With these tools at my disposal I could, with a lot of personal effort and help from others, produce Engine and Wheels and distribute it as a PDF file on the internet . . . . . . .
. . . . . . Indeed this was done. However after 64 issues, my total dream never came true. What was that dream, you may ask. Well, I had a dream of building up a viable editorial package, with many contributing writers, as I had previously done in the other publishing fields.
If this had been achieved, I would have presented a total editorial package to an established publisher such as Ogden Publications (publishers of Gas Engine Magazine and other such publications) with the hopes that this would continue to build the hobby to greater heights.
Unfortunately, this effort never reached first base! A sufficient base of effective writers could not be generated. Yes, a few did exist -- Bob Kapela, Ken Frazier and Lee Thevenet, each unique in their own way, did venture into writing for the group. We needed many more, but they never materialized. For the few that did, I will be forever grateful.
What did materialize was the collection of 64 issues that covered, in depth, a lot of critical areas of horseless carriage replica building. It is this collection of several hundred pages of how-to information, photos and inspiring material that is being offered on one CD disc. Presented in PDF files they can be read, printed out or downloaded to your hard drive. Enjoy and learn.
