An Exclusive Club:
Four friends, four rare Monitor engines
By Leslie C. McDaniel with submitted photo
You can have one old clunker Monitor, with bad paint, and people are all gathered around. The crowd always likes Monitors."
Four collector buddies, four Monitor engines: It's not such an unusual story ... except that the four Monitors - all identical 1 hp engines - are extremely rare. Just seven of the 1 hp Monitors are known to exist.
"This is a very unusual Monitor," says Bill Keene, a retired maintenance electrician. "Monitors in general are plentiful, but not the little 1 horse. The pump jack is part of the engine on the 1 hp Monitor: It does not bolt on. It's a permanent part of the engine. They had a little pulley available so it could pull something little like a cream separator."
Engines are their common bond. Each is an enthusiastic collector.
"I'm looking for engines all the time," says Robert, who works as a welder. "I don't know when I'm not looking for engines. I enjoy the chase. When I've got the engine, and it's running, sitting there going 'kerfut, kerfut, kerfut', well, there's not much fun to that."
Perry, a retired farmer, was the first to snag a 1 hp Monitor.
"I got my engine (number 6530) at an auction at Boonville, Mo., probably 15 years ago," he says. He didn't get any background on the engine's history, but it was obvious that it had been well cared for.
"It was in good shape when I got it; in running order," he says, "which is unusual."
Produced by Baker Manufacturing in Evansville, Wis., most Monitors went to Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico -anywhere you'd see big ranch operations.