The Wolf Antique Gas Engine Collection

Enlarge Image Image Gallery A very rare vertical air-cooled Erie engine, one of just two known to exist, in Kenny and Wendy Wolf's gas engine collection. Every part of the engine is original; parts were copied from this one to rebuild the only other Erie known of. Don Voelker

The sheer tonnage of old iron that’s passed through their hands over the years could break a back several times over. “I’ve had some of these engines for 35 to 40 years,” Kenny says. “The old story that ‘Wolf will sell anything’ isn’t always true. This is an odd thing to say, but you never want to look back: Always look ahead. I’ll be honest with you. If I still had every engine that I ever sold, it would cover 50 acres.”

Kenny says he’s always had an interest in mechanical things, but it began to ramp up about 40 years ago when he and Wendy and their children became regulars at the Tri-State Gas Engine & Tractor Assn. show at Portland, Ind. “We’d use our mad money to buy an engine,” Wendy recalls. “A couple of our daughters just grew up knowing about engines. We would buy almost anything; pretty soon we had a barn full of common engines.”

As time passed, the couple’s preference shifted to better engines. They’d trade several common pieces to get one special engine. As word got around that he was an active buyer, Kenny began to get calls from people looking to sell entire collections. He’d keep the one engine he was interested in and spin off the rest.

Kenny’s gas engine collection showcases rare, historic pieces. Perhaps his most unusual engine is an operational 3/4-scale model of the 1867 Otto-Langen hydrogen engine. Built by Wayne Grenning, the model is a copy of an engine originally used to power a jeweler’s lathe or similar small device. “I buy tanks of hydrogen at a welding supply shop to use as fuel,” Kenny says. “Usually we run the engine every year at our show.”