What To Think ?

[Economy Bob]

Today, I was told a story about an individual who is allegedly selling american made hit and miss engines and shipping them to a Japenese buyer. Not for junk or melting but for collecting.
My question is, should I be upset? Should I worry about "our" history being exported ? Should I think , "thats the American way"?
What do you think?

[Andrew Mackey]

Can't be any worse than a well known old engine parts supplier selling U.S. engines to people in England, and importing English engines for sale here. There are Japanese old engines, yes?
Andrew

[Tanner Remillard]

Look at all the iron that is going to Europe. Alot of the REAL OLD tractors have been headed over there. Sure I really hate to see american history going over seas, but whoever has the money, gets the iron.

[BobRR]

I would be alot more concerned about all the over seas (chinese, Japanese) stuff coming here! At least they have a lot of american money to buy good old american iron! BobRR

[JBoogie]

i hear that bobbrr. its not just engines going over seas. its a lot of jobs and even our machine tools are going over there. i see the global climate changing drasticly in the next 10-20 yrs. and old engines will be the last thing people are worrying about. but nobody wants to talk about that...

anyone have an old Jap engine? i think i saw an article about a Japanese gas up in Modeltec a long time ago. it seems that they wouldn't need to import any american engines since so many were exported way back. australia has a lot of american engines (steam and gas) that were originally intended for use there, and quite a few of those survive. anyone know what engines were popular in J pan???

[Rob Skinner]

Originally Posted by Economy Bob

My question is, should I be upset? Should I worry about "our" history being exported

Hi Bob.
Why would you be upset? Did the seller steal your engines and send them to Japan? Did the buyer steal your wallet and use the money to buy the engines? If the answer is "no" to both of those questions, it's not really any of your business.

If any one feels strongly against the exportation of engines, they can always put their money where there mouth is and offer seller more money than the Japanese collector is offering.

And if someone really wants to get bold, they can buy a Japanese engine and bring it over HERE! That would show 'em.

Rob

[Jon Rozevink]

My question is, should I be upset?

I guess if you have to ask if you should be upset you probably shouldn't be.

[Nick]

I've swapped some engines with a mate of mine in Oz, a couple of em were rather scarce and desireable. Neither of us did it to make a buck. If anyone wants to spend their $$$$ on an exotic piece for their collection it's their business and not yours.

[Al Wait]

Rob Skinner says it very well. If that is all you have to worry about, grow up and get a life! Al Wait

[Kevin O. Pulver]

Al and Rob,
Your points are well-taken, and technically you are correct. However I don't think Economy Bob is out of line if he happens to be bothered by this. He didn't say he WAS bothered; neither did he indicate he had a RIGHT to be bothered. But I would argue that we could be concerned about lots of things that we know are "none of our business." For example, if an irresponsible man left a Geiser sideshaft outdoors full of water with winter coming on, that would be none of our business. But we might stop to ask him if he minded us draining it. If he was really antagonistic and said he was going to let it freeze up, we might even be bothered. If the Smithsonian museum were sold and moved overseas, we might not like it, but all the while realize we had no legitimate gripe about it. I try to look on the bright side. At least those engines aren't going over there broke up in an iron pile. Have a good week guys. Kevin

[Norm S]

Well, I guess it doesnt bother me if the Japanese in particular are buying engines over here any more than if someone in OZ or Europe. As was stated, I guess if you have the money you get the toy. I wish they wouldnt go overseas, but then I wish they wouldnt all get bought up by people with way too much money that just let their 300 engines and tractors sit in their barn and never show them just because they can. Something to boast to their buddies about I guess.

What does bother me is Al's comment to Bob about not having anything more to worry about and needing to get a life. Why do you feel the need to say something like that in the middle of a conversation about shipping engines to Japan? I think you need to rethink your derogetory comments and if that is the only thing you have to think about then with all due respect, Al, you need to get a life.

Norm

[John Newman, Jr.]

I would like to add that a couple of lines in the original post caught my eye and say a lot:

".....an individual who is allegedly selling american made hit and miss engines and shipping them to a Japenese buyer. Not for junk or melting but for collecting."

The wording almost implies that some kind of crime is being commited here. If they are ending up with collectors who appreciate what they are, then they are no different than any of us - collectors and enthusiasts who happen to enjoy these mechanical artifacts. Just because a person happens to live on the other side of the planet shouldn't have any bearing on their ability to buy an old engine. If you put an engine up for sale, you have no way of controlling where the buyer is going to come from.
If it ends up secluded on some wealthy executive's estate, it would be a shame that other people wouldn't be able to see & hear it run, but it would be the buyer's right if that's what they choose to do. Would you want someone else dictating what you should do with your engines?

[Sharon & Jamie]

It can be upsetting to watch rare engines, tractors etc. leaving any country.
How many of you Americans have purchased an engine out of Canada? Jamie and I like to play fair, in the last year we have brought two engines, a Reid and a Myrick, out of your Country.

We know a lot of the engine "dealer's" around here. Just don't sell anything to them if you don't want it to leave country.

Sharon

[Andrew Mackey]

As long as they do not go to the scrappers, and a lot of them have, I think, that as long as they are appreciated, and enjoyed, every one should have one. I see a lot of american buyers have a lot of them, like previously stated, locked away in a barn, unseen by anyone. I think a bumper sticker i saw recently makes a statement - "He who dies with the most toys, wins." In the meantime, who gets to enjoy seeing a piece of history, even the lowly lawn mower, that is locked away in a barn, and not seen foe 20 years? I am glad to see at least someone can appreciate history, and technology, even if it is 100 years old. (Hey you never know - maybe they are going to copy them and sell the new ones back to us!) Recently, a friend was going to look into having a running model engine, mass produced in china - I'll have to see how he made out.
Andrew

[Phillip Hutchinson]

G'DAY
We-out-here-in-ozzie-land-have-a-gouvernment-law-that-prohibits-the-export-of-our-heritage.But-what-if-I-have-an-engine-that-there-are-thousands-of;and-one-of-yor-countrymen-has-the-same-in-your-country,then-why-cant-we-exchange-our-engines,that-way-you-have-something-unique-and-so-do-I.Anyway-thats-my-20-cents-worth.In-case-your-wondering-why-the-line-between-the-words?my-keyboard-is-up-the-creek

[Elden DuRand]

Originally Posted by Phillip Hutchinson

G'DAY
In-case-your-wondering-why-the-line-between-the-words?my-keyboard-is-up-the-creek

Phillip:
I-was-wondering-about-that!

Take-care--Elden

[Roo]

Bob if your concerned about that, how about this?

INTERNATIONAL THINKING AT ITS BEST!

Question: What is the truest definition of Globalization?

Answer: Princess Diana's death.

Question: How come?

Answer: An English princess

with an Egyptian boyfriend

crashes in a French tunnel,

driving a German car

with a Dutch engine,

driven by a Belgian who was drunk

on Scottish whisky,

followed closely by Italian Paparazzi,

on Japanese motorcycles;

treated by an American doctor,

using Brazilian medicines.

This is sent to you by an American,

using Bill Gates's technology,

and you're probably reading this on your computer,

that use Taiwanese chips,

and a Korean monitor,

assembled by Bangladeshi workers

in a Singapore plant,

transported by Indian lorry-drivers,

hijacked by Indonesians,

unloaded by Sicilian longshoremen,

and trucked to you by Mexican illegals.....

That, my friends, is Globalization

[Bud Tierney]

Uhhh...does this mean we should return all those paintings and sculptures in our museums to their native countries???...and all those containers of antiques we're bringing over from Europe...maybe we should think about this a little...

[MoRo]

I'm more of a mind to clean off the shelves at Walleye World and ship all of that back to China. That should make up for all the artwork we've got in our museums.

[Inter Bloke]

In OZ we do have rules governing exporting heritage items, but there is less rules covering exporting "scrap" so a lot of engines ,tractors, traction engines locomotives ect leave our shores as scrap but arive as engines. I used to realy hate seeing "OUR" stuff (mostly English and American made) leave, and took delight once telling a machinery exporter where he could insert his very substantial offer to buy one of my tractors (a 1937 K40 HSCS made in Hungary) that he wanted to sell to one of the Clayton Shutleworth people in the UK. I have mellowed since then because I see a large amount of stuff coming "in" from overseas, some of it relatively common in its home country and some real rare even over there, so I believe its not one sided. If you check up I think you will find out there is just as much "Old Iron " going into the States, or Canada, or England or Europe as there is going out, and just remember that ships go both ways! There have been vintage cars over here for years, brought out during the 60s or some such that are now going home where they came , and others that went away back then that are coming back in here now. A friend with a classic Mustang ( sold new here, not brought in later) showed me an article in an American car magazine advising their readers (American) that if they wanted a realy good Mustang at a cheap price to come down here to get it here because the Australian restorers were spending a lot on restoring them and then because of the exchange rate they could be bought cheap and then shipped back to the US

"It aint all one way"

Oh well, thats the best rant I have had in ages
See Ya
Graham