Scratch-Built One-Off Wonders

He’s also grateful for the help he gets when he takes engines to shows. “Exhibitors at these shows are remarkable,” he says. “They’re like family; they help you and you help them.” Two young men help him each year at the Butterfield (Minn.) Steam & Gas Engine Show. “Three years ago during a terrible rain they helped me load until I was finished,” he says. “We were all totally soaked.”

Labor of love

For Mark, building engines from scratch is more a passion than a hobby. “These old engines are remarkable in how they ran in their era,” he says. “They can be made to run better today because when you build them, you can include some of the things the early ones didn’t have, like the mechanical intake valve, which makes all the difference in the world in its horsepower. You have to do it because it’s a challenge, because you want to learn something and because it’s a labor of love. You can’t do it to compete with modern mass production.”

The most enjoyable part of each project? The moment the engine starts. “I don’t like to make things that don’t function,” Mark says. “It’s a source of real satisfaction to take a pile of iron, cut it, bend it, weld it and machine it until it does something.” FC 

For more information: Mark Goesch, 1105 Eastside Dr., Sioux Center, IA 51250. 

Bill Vossler is a freelance writer and author of several books on antique farm tractors and toys. Contact him at Box 372, 400 Caroline Ln., Rockville, MN 56369; email: bvossler@juno.com. 

Read more about scratch-built gas engines in 3 HP Homemade Hit-and-Miss Gas Engine and watch this video from Homemade Hit-and-Miss Gas Engines.