195? Fageol Crosley General Tire AeroJet Bendix Industrial Marine Engine Motor

Description

This listing is for a tiny 4 cylinder, 4 stroke cycle and probably 44 cubic inch displacement spark ignition engine. It was built sometime in the middle to later 1950's by Fageol that manufactured trucks and busses back then. Fageol promoted these engines mainly for marine applications but evidently some wound up in industrial applications like this generator set. I have to appologize for 2 poor photos and will have many more better photos and dimensions when I leave the home ranch and get back to my shop in a week or so. This engine says FAGEOL in script on the left front corner of the cylinder block where the CROSLEY script was located on the earlier engines.
This engine appears to have a gaseous fuel mixer rather than a carburetor so it was set up to run on propane or natural gas rather than gasoline. Please notice the magneto that was used for ignition rather than the typical distributor. This engine is equipped with a starter and generator which is interesting. Many lighing plants like this used the main generator or alternator as a starter to save the cost of the starter. They often used the the large generting device to charge the starting battery too to eliminate the need for an electric starter to start the engine.
Since these photos were taken, I removed the engine assembly from the generator set framework to make it much lighter and easier to ship to the new owner. The new owner is welcome to the radiator and all of the frame assembly and electrical controls if they want them.
This engine is stuck and does not turn over. I can find no evidence of a frozen radiator, water pump or water jacket anywhere. This engine measures                  " long by                " high and only                     " wide. It weighs                         pounds with no shipping container.
You can read a lot about the fascinating history of this tiny engine at a the site crosleyautoclub.com/EngineTree/Crosley_Eng_Tree-1.html    I have included some of that pertinent information below:
"When Crosley sold to General Tire in 1952, they sold the rights and tooling for the 4-cylinder engine, who was primarily interested in producing engines for government use. The engine was renamed AeroJet and was cast in the block where the Crosley name had formally been. Their marine division produced the "VIP" version of the engine (Vertical Inline Power.) The entire engine assembly was rotated to a vertical position and placed on top of an outboard motor transmission.
Military engines have shown up with manufacturing dates of 1953 and Crosley still on the block. Crosley Corporation existed for awhile after the sale to General Tire, they just owned controlling interest, common stock was still held by investors. So filling orders with existing stock of blocks makes sense.
The best I can tell the AeroJet stop production in 1955 and was sold to Fageol. Bendix Avaition later worked with some of these engins. What Bendix was trying to do with them remains a mystery. Some period photos have Bendix Aviation Corp, Scintilla Division in Sidney NY on the back.  Here is the information gathered from several experts.
The 1955 engine has a 4 cycle Hilborn type  fuel injection.  Fuel lines go into water jacket to preheat the fuel to keep it from icing up. Most airplanes have fuel preheaters. Photos had the code 17108 on the back.
The 1957 engine appear to be a piston port 2 cycle fuel injected. They cut off the top of the head and changed the valving to all exhaust valves, might be a completely new block casting. Piston ported engines do not need  intake valves. The distributor is feeding a T to the plugs so they get the double ignition (2 cycle needs to fires twice as often as 4 cycle) with the same rotational speed of the distributor. Photos had the code 19898 on the back."
I may be able to arrange safe and economical delivery here in the USA or Canada depending on where you live and how soon you might want this item. I might possibly be able to ship it to any country outside of the USA using Priority Mail International from the United Sates Postal Service. This engine should fit within the upper limit of package size (108 inches combine length and girth). I may have to remove the starter, generator and magneto and ship them in a separate package to keep the engine package weight below the 70 pound limit for priority Mail International. I am currently working away from home at the home ranch. I will check the package size and weight when I get back home in a week or so.
eBay makes no provision for shipping something in more than one package. For the time being, I have increased the package size and weight to get an approximate cost for shipping the 2 packages. If you desire, I will build a plywood shipping crate for the engine for .00 to protect it during shipping. I believe I can double or triple box the starter, generator and magneto and ship them safely in heavy cardboard box. Please contact me for an exact shipping quote if you are serious about this engine.
If you are into Crosley automobiles, collect marine engines, like Fageol products or whatever, you might do well to give some very serious thought to adding this cute little gem to your collection. I plan to add some more photos when I get back home in a week or so. Since there have been no engines like this here on eBay that I have found in the last several months, I really have no good idea as to what a fair price for this gem might be so I have listed it as a "Buy It Now" with the best offer option. Thanks a lot, Bob Woodburn in Bozeman Montana USA