Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Malcom shows antique engine collection
PINEVILLE, Mo. — Ed Malcom is a collector of many things — vinyl records, vintage advertisements, Le Roi engines, and above all, stories. His own stories as well as those of the treasures he finds.
Malcom has what is believed to be the world’s largest collection of Le Roi engines and a near-complete biography of each one of the 25.
Le Roi engines were first manufactured in 1913, primarily for farm work and, over time, offered models ranging from 1-cylinder to 12-cylinders, capable of running an air compressor in a residential workshop or powering a 32-inch saw blade, cutting ice blocks from a frozen river.
“They can be used for anything, but mine are mostly for industrial use,” Malcom said.
Malcom grew up around a handful of Le Roi engines his father used around the property. He says by the time he was five years old, he was cleaning parts of the engines and watching, wide-eyed, as his father did the same.
But, it wasn’t until after his retirement Malcom’s interest in tinkering with and collecting Le Roi engines surfaced. He says he passed by a small engine show at the Peel Mansion in Bentonville one weekend and was drawn to stop in.
The event inspired him to revisit his father’s 1924 Le Roi engine traveling, unused, alongside Malcom from Iowa, to Arkansas, then to North Carolina and Tennesee, then finally to Missouri.
Now there’s no end in sight.
Some of Malcom’s mostprized engines have traveled thousands of miles to be shown at a variety of shows — as many as 28 shows per season at one time. Among these favorites is a 1928 Le Roi engine believed to be a one-off because of it’s overlapping of two model types. Malcom says the top is modeled like a 2-C, while the bottom portion isn’t. On top of that, one drive wheel runs full speed off the crankshaft while the other drive wheel runs half-speed.
“It’s been inside a museum its whole life and has never been worked on,” he said.
Malcom’s rarest item is a 1937 Le Roi engine he affectionally calls “The Baby.” He says it took him five years and $750 to own. The engine was originally owned by a Le Roi salesman in California to take to possible buyers.
The casting reads ‘SAMPLE’ and has fittings for a water hose attachment where a radiator should sit. After some coaxing, Malcom was able to purchase the engine from the salesman’s son.
He also takes great pride in his 1938 “Fairy Tale” engine — named so because of it’s flawless function despite working non-stop in a rice field in Southern Arkansas for decades, only being stopped for a refuel or to signal the end of the growing season.
The largest and most eye-catching of his collection is a 1922 Le Roi engine that powered a 1923 Gifford-Wood ice saw. When the ice was at least 10-inches thick on a lake or river, horses with special cleated shoes would pull the saw onto the ice, the saw would float down “like a table saw,” and cut blocks of ice for the kitchen icebox.
“I have a lot of fun working on the engines and a lot of fun helping people with their engines,” he said.
Despite having no online presence, no advertising, and armed with only a cell phone number, Malcom serves as a switchboard for networking with other collectors or tracking down elusive, out of production parts.
Along with collecting, Malcom also fabricates hardto-find parts by hand, such as nylon couplers, metal spacers and magnetos. A gentleman in New Hampshire recently contacted Malcom in search of a magneto for his engine and Malcom was able to send him the piece cast from his custom mold.
“Hardly a week goes by that someone doesn’t get in contact with me for help.”
To date, he’s spoken with and assisted Le Roi owners in Iceland, Australia, New Zealand, England and Germany, as well as many enthusiasts within the United States.