Builders;
I took the afternoon off so Vern Stevenson and myself could go over and look at the workshop of a highly skilled and respected automotive machinist. I leaned a lot about the mans craftsmanship and reputation from looking at his shop and listening to stories of Vern and John, the latter having been a close friend of the man for decades. I was late to meet the man in person, as he had passed away seven years ago.
.
.
Above, the mailbox outside the man’s home and workshop. The post, probably meaningless to 95% of the people who passed it on the rural dead end street, told many people in the mechanical world they were at the correct location. The man’s widow lived in the home until a year ago. His friends had assisted her in the sale of a small fortune in tooling and engine components. When we visited, our guide, loyal to a trust, was going through the final clean up, although his friend and spouse were now long gone. The promises some people make don’t expire with the passing of the person to whom they were given. This may seem archaic to todays social world, but it is common place enough in ‘Quiet America’ to be assumed as expected conduct of ones life.
.
.
The mans work and expertise centered on high performance Fords. While modern complex engines like the modular series and the 5.0’s have their fans, the mans work was of big FE engines, 390’s, 427’s, 428’s and 429’s. The outer buildings once contained driveline components floor to ceiling. The have been sold over the years, and during our visit just a shadow of what once was remained. The ring and pinion here is from a Ford 9″, the axle so strong and versatile that it popularly appears as an aftermarket installation in all brands of muscle cars. There were a dozen of these on near empty shelves, a small hint of what was once here.
.
.
Above, the primary subject of my visit. Our guide knows of my work with Corvairs, and asked if I would like one of the few remaining pieces of equipment from his friends shop, This Sunnen LBA-650 precision hone. It is 1950s vintage, in need of restoration, but can be set up to hone connecting rods to .0001″ bore size. ( That is the correct amount of zeros, yes, it sizes holes to one ten thousandth of an inch. ) In the everyday world, this might be seen as antiquated stuff that isn’t desirable because its currently dirty, you would have to learn how to use it, and it isn’t two of my least favorite phrases ‘Plug and play’ nor ‘high tech!’.
.
Conversely, I saw this not just a a fine piece of equipment, but much more importantly, our guide, who has been to my hangar, has concluded that I was a worthy recipient of a piece of the shop of his deceased friend. I don’t know how main stream people think, but to me this was a humbling validation of my mechanical work and character………..In 2016 I was awarded the EAA Major Achievement Award for my work with Corvairs. It was presented at The Zenith Homecoming dinner by Charlie Becker. I was not told in advance, and I was both moved and dumbstruck. There as a standing ovation and I stuttered through a thank you to everyone who helped me along the way. …….. Ironically, standing in outside and empty, shuttered home and shop, the breeze blowing the dead leaves around the yard, the only sound, being given a seventy year old machine, made me feel the exact same way. being understood as a fellow craftsman by a full time resident of ‘Quiet America’, was moving to me.
.
.
The man was an accomplished welder, this canister of rods was on the shelf. They are unopened, date coded 1981. You know you are getting older when it takes a moment to sink in, that is 41 years ago.
.
.
This property tag was on an incubator style welding rod heater and dehumidifier. Duval county is the greater Jacksonville area. This is the pre-1970s name for the school board. This is from an era where welding was understood as a viable trade to teach students. I was in high school at the very end of the industrial arts era, where every guidance counselor was getting on board with the idiotic myth that factory jobs would all be sent overseas, but of course computer jobs never, ever could be. Its impossible to explain to such people that the average refinery or power plant has thousands of miles of welds in it, and it has to be built here, it can’t be outsourced.
.
.
A cabinet of ignition parts, the kind you would have found in most neighborhood gas stations, before they made cars so high tech they were essentially granting the dealerships a maintenance monopoly and making sure they were a disposable product after 10 years. I have always loved the artwork of this era.
.
.
This is the data plate on the Sunnen hone. Sunnen is the world wide leader in the modern version of all kinds of industrial hones. It started out of the back of Joe Sunnen’s car 98 years ago.
.
.
We stopped at the little mom and pop diner in Baldwin for a late lunch on the way back. When you write a story about this kind of day and place in America, there is a near instant assumption on the part of people trained by urban focused media, that because I live in the south, I’m getting nostalgic over some red neck era. When you say anything positive about rural, simple life, and add anything blue collar or industrial to the story, there is a conditioned Pavlovian response to label it as bigoted, because that it the only way they know to attack people who’s life they don’t get. This bulletin board was in the diner, notice that just like the patrons, it is people of all backgrounds, who are more likely to see themselves as Americans, rather than some artificially divided subgroup.
.
Direct Connection to your Airplane: If you don’t yet know that the mailbox post in the first picture is a crankshaft supported by a camshaft, that is perfectly OK, I was taught these things by people who cared to share them, and I actually regard it as an ethical duty to share what I was taught with others, lest I be some kind of ingrate. There are plenty of people, maybe even a majority, who don’t care anything about the ideas of understanding the mechanical things they use, simplicity, nor self-reliance. Thats fine, I’m not here to change their world or worry about their choices. However, if you care about these things, and want to spend your days in aviation among a people who do, then the world of Corvairs may be your home in homebuilding.
William
❤️🙂
.
Three related stories:
.
.
.