Kinkades at the heart of Missouri man’s collection

While researching the history of the Standard Engine Company,
which built the Twin, Mark discovered a connection to American Farm
Machinery Company. “It was like unraveling a thread through time,”
he says. The same men started a family of garden tractor companies.
American Farm Machinery was the first. They also founded Standard
Engine Company, Walsh Tractor Company and Allied Motors Corporation
(makers of the Viking tractors).

Kinkades in Mark’s collection include one of each of the first
two models produced. The yellow unit shown on page 27 is the first
generation Kinkade. “If our interpretation of serial number tags is
correct, the yellow one is number 116,” he says. “I’d estimate
there were about 400 made of that model. I’m aware of five. The red
one (a second generation Kinkade), if our interpretation is
correct, is the 19th of that model made.”

The second generation Kinkade had been restored with he got it,
and both had serial number tags. The first generation model (the
yellow unit), which is not complete, was rusty but not stuck.
“Internally, it was in pretty good shape,” Mark says, although you
would not want to rely on the cooling fan. It had a lot of red
(soft) brass castings, which tells me they did their own casting at
that point.” The red unit was in better shape. “I haven’t touched
it, other than to remove the magneto for repair,” Mark says. Colors
on both units are true to the bottom layer of paint, he says,
“though we’ve also found a first generation Kinkade with a red
wheel.”

Other pieces in Mark’s collection include a Model L Kinkade,
Standard Twin, Standard Monarch, Standard Walsh, B Viking Twin, G
Viking Single and a Beeman (the latter is the company generally
credited with first manufacture of a garden tractor, in 1914).