A Very Rare Find

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The beauty pictured is a find from the aforementioned house-clearance, which had obviously been languishing in the house for decades, forgotten about after Mac died a few years ago. I spotted the box amongst some stuff in a carrier bag behind the sofa of the largely unused 'best' room downstairs in the front of the house. At first, I thought it might hold some old item of camera gear, as there were a couple of cameras with it in the bag, and as I collect film cameras - as anyone who's read this blog knows - I put the whole bag to one side for later inspection.

I didn't take any notice of the label on the box lid - the thing was obviously at least as old as I am - turns out, older - and so I assumed the contents wouldn't match the illustration on it in the slightest. How wrong can you be? On lifting the lid, I was greeted by a sight that actually took my breath away. A 10CC "60" model engine. Looking at it further, I realized I'd never heard of its marque: Rowell, even though I was an avid 'engine man' back in the days of control line racing in the sixties and thought I knew all the permutations of manufacturer and engine type from the forties on.

It turns out that the chunky little beast was manufactured in Scotland for a short while from 1948 for the purpose of tethered boat and car racing, which were both hugely popular at that time. This example was bought - I assume by Mac himself - in Glasgow in 1949. In the box with the engine - which at most has only been test-fired, it is so clean - were a hand-typed instruction manual, price list and the original guarantee card, which shows the serial number of the engine to be 141, and the original tissue and corrugated cardboard packing.

The purchase cost of the thing was just over £12: at that time the national average weekly wage was £5, so by today's money, we're talking around a grand, not at all cheap! As only around 400 of these engines in all their variations were ever made in the company's short life, I wonder how many have survived, let alone in this condition, with the original box, packing and papers? More research is required methinks...

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