Sparking Interest:
Lowly Automotive Engine Part Becoming Highly Collectible
By Jeff Bartheld
I have always been a collector. In my youth, it was bottle caps, then rocks. From there I progressed to Coca Cola items, and finally to the niche I've occupied since 1972: antique gas engines originally used on the farm.
At an engine show in 1985, a friend introduced me to the hobby of spark plug collecting. I had known Craig Solmenson as a collector of gas engines. But the words he greeted me with on that February day were:
"Got any old spark plugs?"
"Well, I've been collecting them for a while now," he said.
A collection, I thought. What are there, maybe a half a dozen different brands? But I politely said "Really. How many do you have?"
"Quite a few," he said. "In fact, I have a few with me. Would you like to see them?"
He pulled out a new old stock Tungsten spark plug made in Marshalltown, Iowa. It was beautiful, with a cobalt blue insulator and a shiny nickel-plated base.
Craig showed me some other plugs he had, and they could have been the rarest plugs in the world. But the shining Tungsten had caught my eye.
I asked him if he knew where I could get a plug like that. He said it was an extra; if I wanted to buy it, he would sell it for $5. I was sort of taken aback: I mean, $5 for a spark plug ... let's get real here. But I said OK; besides, it was the only old plug that I was more than likely ever going to own.