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Lockwood Ash Motor
Photograph Courtesy of
Nadler's Foundry, Plaquemine, La. |
I think the original Lockwoods were made up in Flint Michigan. When ever they had work to be
done they would send them down to Nadler's because they had a machine shop that could make
parts for them. Like Nadler's was more or less subcontracting from them making parts. Then
Lockwood Ash went out of business on those type engines and started into the outboard motors,
and sold, I think they called it the "Motor Go" to Sears and Roebuck. I think it was in '47 that
Nadler's bought the patent rights and everything and they started mass producing these things for
this area up in here.
I don't know a whole lot about them. I probably rode in it when I was a baby and didn't know it.
My father and grandfather and all those people, when they came out, they all had one. Picture
yourself oaring from Lake Verret to out to Grand Lake took two days and this thing could get
you out there in about 4 or 5 hours. Man that was like a jet plane to people nowadays.
I'm just
starting to get back into this because it is a part of my heritage and things like that I just thrive on.
I really enjoy it. These engines would do so many different things, whether they were totally light
nothing in the boat run at a certain speed. You could load them down to barely float; fully loaded
they would still come in at the same speed. If it took you 45 minutes to go somewhere without a
load in it, and then you load it up, it would take you 45 minutes to come back. So it was a one
speed boat. I got a 4 horse Lockwood Ash engine that I am presently trying to restore. It is on a
boat right now and if the boat is salvageable I'll try to piece it back with all cypress. That is the
way they built them back in those days.
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Lockwood Ash Motors
Photograph Courtesy of
Nadler's Foundry, Plaquemine, La. |
They built skiffs and they did build flatboats, what a lot
of people call "joe boats." They were on an average length of 24 foot with 42 inch bottom with a
lot of flare. The fisherman down here use them to raise their hoop nets and stuff. I have a couple
of uncles, there was four different bulk heads in there boat, petitions, separating and they would
run their nets and fill all those bulk heads up, like 1500 to 2000 lbs of yellow cat, blue cats, all
kinds of fish. When the outboard motor came out in the early 50's those motors became obsolete
and mostly, very few of the old timers saved their engines they just let them drift, left them
parked out at
the bayou, back of the house. Through time, they rotted away, or sunk, got silted up, and not
many people kept them. People right now are kind of in a mad frenzy trying to locate these things
because they're actually worth good money, but I'm not in for the money part of it. I'm in it for
the heritage. You look at someone now with a nice big Skeeter bass boat with a 200 Black Max
on it he thinks he's got top of the line. But if he'd stop and think what top of the line was back
then, where it really originated from. That's the stuff I like, you know. I' m actually looking for an
8 horse also, I'd like to build another boat. I am in the process of trying to find old cypress sinker
logs and build one completely from start to finish and filming this thing, or snapshots, whichever I
can get done. It may take one, two, maybe five years to do it. It's just going to be done as
a hobby, and as money permits also. I have a lot of help in it and Iv'e got a few friends who are in
it and trying to pull together our talents and resources. There are three of us. One guy is a
mechanic, and me and another guy are going to be the log hunters and more or less trying to do
the carpentry work.
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