Dave Arnold’s Restored Gade Engine

By Bill Vossler
Published on November 12, 2013
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Dave’s 4 hp Gade engine sits in the back of his 1926 Ford Model T vehicle, giving show-goers an eye-level look at the machine.
Dave’s 4 hp Gade engine sits in the back of his 1926 Ford Model T vehicle, giving show-goers an eye-level look at the machine.
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Dave Arnold with his circa 1910 Gade 4hp gasoline engine.
Dave Arnold with his circa 1910 Gade 4hp gasoline engine.
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Dave made his “best guess” as to the Gade’s horsepower by studying the diameter of the flywheel and the number of fins on the cylinder. He believes it to be a 4 hp engine.
Dave made his “best guess” as to the Gade’s horsepower by studying the diameter of the flywheel and the number of fins on the cylinder. He believes it to be a 4 hp engine.
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The number of fins on the Gade’s cylinder can easily be counted in this close-up. Though they were intended to help dispel the heat created by the engine, the fins probably didn’t help much.
The number of fins on the Gade’s cylinder can easily be counted in this close-up. Though they were intended to help dispel the heat created by the engine, the fins probably didn’t help much.
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A variety of parts were missing from the Gade engine when Dave pulled it out of the mud, including the oiler (shown here) as well as the carburetor, grease cups and flyweight governor springs.
A variety of parts were missing from the Gade engine when Dave pulled it out of the mud, including the oiler (shown here) as well as the carburetor, grease cups and flyweight governor springs.
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When Dave saw the Gade engine on Hazel Magnuson’s farm, nobody knew what it was until he cleaned it up and did some research.
When Dave saw the Gade engine on Hazel Magnuson’s farm, nobody knew what it was until he cleaned it up and did some research.
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Dave’s Gade is a low-base model; the flywheels hang below the beams of its cart.
Dave’s Gade is a low-base model; the flywheels hang below the beams of its cart.
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On earlier versions of Gade gasoline engines, brass tags were attached to a smooth spot on the bottom of the cylinder. On later models, the tags were put on the battery case or wooden cart. As a result, only about a third of all Gade engines known to exist have original tags; Dave’s is not one of them.
On earlier versions of Gade gasoline engines, brass tags were attached to a smooth spot on the bottom of the cylinder. On later models, the tags were put on the battery case or wooden cart. As a result, only about a third of all Gade engines known to exist have original tags; Dave’s is not one of them.
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As part of the Gade’s restoration, Dave had a Lunkenheimer carburetor cast.
As part of the Gade’s restoration, Dave had a Lunkenheimer carburetor cast.
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Gas Review magazine ran this Gade ad in 1908.
Gas Review magazine ran this Gade ad in 1908.
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Dave restored a 1926 Model T truck to use as a base when displaying his Gade gasoline engine.
Dave restored a 1926 Model T truck to use as a base when displaying his Gade gasoline engine.

Dave Arnold was a city boy with a farm gene. “I’ve always been interested in engines and the mechanical life,” he says, “flying, working on airplanes and cars.”

But as a youth, he was told he couldn’t be a farmer. “In the ninth grade, I wrote about becoming a farmer,” he recalls. “My teacher and high school counselor both said I couldn’t because I was going to go to college, and farmers didn’t need college. That’s a snapshot of how education viewed farming in 1955.”

Booking it

In the 1980s, when Dave attended his first threshing show, he marveled at the array of working antique machinery he saw there. Then working as marketing director for Motorbooks Inc., he looked for books on gasoline engines but found publishers had largely overlooked the category. So he opted to learn by doing. “I thought gasoline engines could be a neat hobby,” he says, “so I decided to learn as much as I could about antique stationary farm engines and tractors and steam engines.”

He found a good source in Hazel Magnuson, who continued to operate Yesteryear Farm in the Lindstrom, Minn., area after the death of her husband, Denny. “Dennis was an auctioneer who brought home whatever was left from auctions in the 1950s-1970s,” Dave says. Dave visited the Magnuson farm many times to study equipment and learn about old iron, always traveling by motorcycle to appease Hazel, who worried that he might want to appropriate pieces from the collection.

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