Case Expo and Case People: Another View
January/February 1989
Kevin M. Small
P. O. Box 92 Portersville, Pennsylvania 16051
RELATED CONTENT
On August 17-20, 1988, the J. I. Case Heritage Foundation held
their 2nd annual J. I. Case Exposition. What a wonderful show this
was! There were all sizes of the Case steam engines including
Willis R. Abel's 1912, 32-110HP Case engine, and George
Hedtke's 1904, 150HP Case boiler. Leroy Walker had his newly
restored 1913 80HP Case there also. Most all other sizes of Case
engines were there including the 75, 65, 50, 45, 40, 36 center
crank, 30, and a 50HP portable and a 10HP portable. All sizes of
gas tractors were there too. Mr. J. I. Case Company (Harry Kline)
brought the factory whistle from the J. I. Case factory and he also
brought a Lunkenheimer whistle which was mounted on the 150HP Case
boiler.
But for me, the best part of the whole show was meeting all of
the wonderful 'Case People'. People like George Hedtke,
Chaddy Atteberry, Emil Svanda, Mark Knox, Carl Tuttle, Don and Gary
Bradley and dozens of others. One person who I did not expect to
meet was Mark Knox. Mark owns a 1912 110 HP Case which he acquired
from Emil Kudlacek. I have two letters from Emil who still has a 65
HP Case and an 80 HP Case. I sure do hope to meet Emil someday
soon. Mark and I sure had a nice talk about Case engines especially
110's. He showed me pictures of the 110 he has which is almost
finished. Another wonderful 'Caseman' I talked with was
Chady Atteberry. Chady and I talked about the 1st Expo and other
engines also. It seems to me that in the past few years everybody
has been cutting down Case engines. I like all engines no matter
what make they are. All engines have good qualities. For example,
if the Frick Company was the largest maker of traction engines,
everybody would be picking on the Frick engine because it would be
more popular than the engine which they own. If I had an engine I
would be proud of it just like anybody else. I don't think
it's right to pick on somebody else's engine. Anyhow, Chady
and I really had a nice talk and I surely do hope we will meet
again soon.