SHALERSVILLE TWP.: It’s a good thing that Larry and Ronnie Kotkowski took over the family sand and gravel operation.
They need the space for their hobby — a collection of 180 pieces of antique construction equipment, from cranes towering 50 feet into the sky to earth-movers that resemble small buildings on wheels.
“We became fond of old machinery and it just snowballed,” older brother Larry said with a matter-of-fact shrug.
The two, along with their late brother, Alan, grew up working at Lakeside Sand and Gravel, founded by their father, Harry, and uncle, Henry.
That’s where they learned to do everything from repairing vehicles to building processing equipment from scratch.
“We were raised around this stuff. We learned at the school of hard knocks,” Larry said.
Today, several buildings on the property are filled with dump trucks and pickup trucks, utility loaders, tractors, steam shovels, road graders and back fillers.
Outside, a couple of dozen bulldozers, cranes, power shovels and drag lines are scattered about. A passing motorist would more likely think the mega machines are part of the gravel pit operations than 60-, 70- and 80-year-old relics.
A deep appreciation for the role the vehicles played in building America makes it easier for Larry and Ronnie to open their wallets when it comes to restoring them.
“You ultimately put in more than it’s worth,” Larry said. “You have to really love doing this or it doesn’t make sense.”
Volunteers help out
Every Wednesday, a small group of like-minded volunteers joins the brothers at their Frost Road business to repair motors, machine new parts, blast rusted shells and repaint exteriors.
“We always have multiple projects going at once,” Larry said.
Lakeside has opened its doors for meetings of groups like the Historical Engine Society, American Truck Historical Society and Historical Construction Equipment Association. The brothers also show off their collection once a year for a meeting of the International Watch Fob Association, an event that usually draws a few curious locals as well.
They entertain their visitors by playing in their sand pile with the big toys. Most of the vehicles are functional, and the Kotkowskis aren’t afraid to use them.
At least half a dozen times a year, the Kotkowskis haul equipment to other shows, including events at the I-X Center in Cleveland and out-of-state exhibits.
“It’s always a major project,” Larry said, adding that it can cost $150 for a wide-load permit just to get to a show and back. “It’s not like hauling a Corvette.”
Latest purchase
Some of the items in the collection were donated by folks who just wanted the rusting scrap off their property. Other pieces they have bought locally and around the country. They are awaiting shipment of a 1950s Harris road grader they purchased in California.
“I also like that most everything we have was made in the U.S.,” Larry said, “and a lot of it was made in Cleveland and around here.”
Among the brothers’ most-prized possessions is their father’s first power shovel, a 1942 Bucyrus Erie. When they restored it, they painted their dad’s nickname, Smiley, on the cab.
They also have their dad’s first front-end loader, a 1952 Hough. Harry Kotkowski sold it in the 1970s, but the brothers kept track of where it went and snatched it back a decade ago.
Most of the vehicles come with their own colorful back story. Here are a few:
• As kids, Larry and Ronnie said they always admired a 1955 Unit power shovel that another local gravel pit used. “We always wanted it, and when we grew up, we got it,” Ronnie said.
• A 1937 Bay City power shovel had been made primarily for the military. An acquaintance asked whether he could help restore it and showed the Kotkowskis pictures of himself operating the same model when he was a Marine in Vietnam. They painted the vehicle olive drab and marked it with the symbol of the 9th Engineer USMC in his honor.
• A 1930 Moore Speedcrane sports a new red cab cover because the old one was unsalvageable. When the Kotkowskis installed it, they used hot rivets in keeping with its original manufacturing. Hot rivets involve heating a rivet and then pounding it into place. The brothers remember watching the Three Stooges do that very same job, so that show “was our training manual,” Ronnie said.
• A 1951 Byers drag line was the same used to unearth a mastodon in nearby Suffield Township in 1953.
• A 1929 Model A Ford Roadster pickup came to the Kotkowskis in pieces from a client who couldn’t pay his gravel bill.
• A Cleveland-built 1958 Euclid utility loader is the only one known to remain from the 42 that were built. The vehicle was at a Bedford scrap yard, being chopped up, when the brothers swooped in to rescue it. “My heart was beating out of my chest,” Larry said. When the scrap yard owner offered it to them for the price of the metal, “I couldn’t get the $180 out of my pocket fast enough.”
• Among their oldest vehicles: a Baker fork lift made in Cleveland, the oldest known to still exist and possibly dating to 1912, and a 1918 White Motor Co. dump truck used by a Marshallville farmer.
Antique engines
Also in the collection are antique engines and smaller manufacturing tools.
Ronnie pointed out a circa 1898 Pierce natural gas engine, used to run a pump at a Kent celery farm. He found the engine in the woods, hidden by foliage but still attached to the cement foundation where it was installed more than 100 years ago.
“It was rusted solid but it’s running now,” Ronnie said.
The Kotkowskis like to look at their antiques and envision them operating in their heyday.
“I’ll look at this stuff and think all the guys who bought these and ran these are dead, and some day we’ll all be dead, too, but hopefully these [machines] will still be around for others to enjoy,” Larry said.
Ronnie’s son, Ben Kotkowski, could be the one to carry on the tradition. He’s among several boys born to Ron, Larry and Alan who have worked at the pit or helped with the restorations.
“I think it’s great seeing this stuff preserved,” Ben said. “It’s an overlooked part of history.”
Paula Schleis can be reached at 330-996-3741 or pschleis@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/paulaschleis.