1915 Amanco
Hired Man Restoration
Part 1 - Finding the Engine
This restoration story begins at the 2005 Parham Steam Rally at the end of very successful days rallying. Whilst packing away my engine a fellow enthusiast asked me if I would be interested in buying an Amanco Hired Man engine. Being a typical engine collector, (always on the look out for a new engine), I expressed my interest immediately. Upon further discussion I learnt that it was one of the other exhibiters that was about to put the engine up for sale. I approached the gentleman (we’ll call him Barry) directly and made my enquires. 
I was informed that the engine had been bought from a farm sale as one of a pair of engines, Barry had restored the better engine of the two and it was the donor engine that was for sale. Barry informed me that the engine was in quite a poor state but was still restorable and most of the major parts were still with the engine, typically the low tension magneto, the drip oiler and the ignitor. A price was agreed and the following week helped by my trusty friend Simon we drove to a Tesco ’s car park in Chichester for the transfer of the engine. Fortunately my trailer tailgate lowered to the bumper level of Barry’s car and it was just a case of walking the engine across into the trailer.
Upon seeing the engine in daylight I think Simon must thought me mad to be parting with hard earn’t money for this rusty lump of metal. But I knew deep down that with a fair amount of TLC this engine would turn heads! So with the engine transferred and strapped down, the money was handed over a with a shake of hands we were on our way back to Brighton.
Part 2 - Dating the Engine
When I arrived home it was already dark but I was still keen to try and find the serial number and attempt to date the engine. So with a torch I rummaged around in the trailer and located the brass detail plate which is nicely embossed with a ‘Hired Man’ image. After some rubbing with a cloth the number 126630 could be read! Using various resources both on the internet and through reading the excellent Amanco book written by David Edgington I concluded that the engine was most probably manufactured around 1915 given the serial number, straight striker and skew gear that drives the magneto. Another clue to the date was the magneto. Once this had been cleaned up I noted the date 1915 stamped on it's base.
Whilst fumbling in the dark to find the serial number I noticed what I thought was green paint on the flywheel. 
With great excitement I searched the engine for other remains of paint and again found the same green colour. Under day light I later confirmed that this engine had once been green rather than the normal Amanco red.
Some of the paint remains can be seen in the accompanying images. The colour found under the green was a pink primer and so it would seem that this engine had been painted green from the start! Green Amanco engines are mentioned in the Amanco book by David Edgington but are known to be very unusual and its not clear as to why they were green. It is suggested that the engines may have been supplied as a package with another piece of equipment and would have been painted a colour to match!
Part 3 - Engine Condition
The engine was covered in a build up of mud and dirt. With a wire brush I procceded to clean away the mud in order to begin dismantling the engine. Surprisingly under the coating of mud many of the parts were in a very well preserved state considering the age of the engine. 
It looked as though one half of the engine had been undercover and the other half left exposed to the elements. This might explain why the front end of the engine including the head was in a poor state yet the rear end seemed to have fared much better.
With the engine stripped down to it’s individual components a survey was carried out to evaluate which parts were still serviceable, repairable, broken and missing.
Part 4 - The Restoration Begins
To follow!