OUR TREES IN LATE FALL LOOK LIKE A MILLION…A BILLION…MONARCH BUTTERFLIES
alan skeoch
Alan's Oeuvre
OUR TREES IN LATE FALL LOOK LIKE A MILLION…A BILLION…MONARCH BUTTERFLIES
alan skeoch
Begin forwarded message:
From: SKEOCH <alan.skeoch@rogers.com>Subject: Fwd: HAY LOADER AND BILL BROOKS MAY 2018 and Angus McEchernDate: May 30, 2018 at 9:33:59 PM EDTTo: Alan Skeoch <alan.skeoch@rogers.com>
Begin forwarded message:
That is not the end of the story….Back in 2018, Bill Brooks called me up.
“HAY LOADER REBORN AND READY TO GO.”
alan skeochMay 2018“Well, young fellow, you should see what I’ve just rebuilt”“Must be something ancient, Bill.”‘Drop by the shop today if you can.”
Bill Brooks and his wife Leah own a machine shop not far from our farm. Bill loves old machines…more than he
This is Angus McEchern with one of his pet Hereford steers. That story is coming next
if I can get the time.
A piece of software discovered by Dave Higginbottom designed to colourise old monochrome photos has revealed more detail on a profile picture of the Skeoch (see image) and revises our understanding of the tyre and coachwork finishes.
William Kennedy offered to share the proceeds of his 9th June 2019 Orroland Gardens open day earlier this year, giving us a target date for having a rolling chassis to display. Planning this event has galvanised fundraising, procurement and build activity.
Both the engine and gearbox restorations have been completed to the limit of parts available, along with a part 1920s B&B carburettor donated by Keith Dennison. This puts pressure on procuring springs and wheels which, as major cost items, in turn puts pressure on fundraising.
The second tranche of Dalbeattie Rotary’s donation gives us the confidence to order springs from Jones Springs (Engineering) Ltd of Wednesbury, and wheels from Barrie Brown of Windygates, Fife.
Good old-fashioned fabrication skills resolved two of the our ongoing build difficulties – a new hand built starting handle & support bracket is now robust enough for repeated use; and a process of hand beating long louvres into bonnet side panels was developed using a profiled concave die machined by Donald. Coachwork progressed with the fabrication of rear wings and front wings (inner and outer). Work started on the upholstery, rubber flooring and windscreen support frame.
An oil leak appeared during tuning and adjusting engine controls which will probably require engine removal and rebuild to resolve. We are still looking for a better carburettor which is configured so that the fuel supply line doesn’t run too close to the exhaust.
EPISODE 134: ONCE UPON A TIME THERE WAS A MOTOR CAR CALLED THE LITTLE SKEOCH(also called The Skeoch Motorcycle Car)alan skeochNov. 27. 2018
REVISED OCT. 2020 (slightly)
It has now been two years since I touched base with the men rebuilding The Litle Skeoch Motor Car
Maybe we should bring back the LITTLE SKEOCH MOTOR CAR. It was small,, cheap and simple…sort of a 4 wheel bicycle seating two people with a chain drive and small
motorcycle engine. So small that only two very slim people could ride in it since thecar was only 31 inches wide and a little over 8 feet long.Some of you may think this is some kind of joke. Wrong. In 1920, James Skeoch built his first Little Skeoch, then entered it in a Scottish auto show and sold itin ten minutes. All told less than a dozen Little Skeoch’s were built in his small factory. Ten were quickly purchased at that auto show. Price? 180 pounds…which was the cheapest car in the show. None have survived. Sadly in 1921 a fire consumed his little factory and as a result the Burnside Motor Company in Dalbeattie, Scotland, ceased to exist.Pictures of the Skeoch production line were retrieved from Skeoch family albums. Not exactly an automated factory.But the LITTLE SKEOCHS were real mini cars and seemed about to make a big splash in the booming car market of the 1920’suntil fire ended the enterprise. Everything became a blackened pile of scrap iron.James Skeoch moved on. His skills were valued. He had a long successful career and died in 1954.Not many people, by 1954, were even aware that there was such a car as the SKEOCH. Memories are short especially sincenone of the Little Skeochs survived. Gone Gone Gone.Well, not quite.POSSIBLE REBIRTH OF THE LITTLE SKEOCH
HUMPTY DUMPTY SAT ON THE WALL
By Nichola Rutherford
BBC Scotland News