"G'Day!", I'm Brad Soward an Australian engine enthusiast, collector and restorer who lives in Nimbin in northern New South Wales.

I would like to show you three of my engines : a 'Ohlssen and Rice' two stroke, a Alfa Laval and an Australian made open crank Buzzacott gas engine.

I have just acquired this very cute little engine and the person who sold me this engine said it was his grandfathers, who used it to pump water from a creek when he was panning for gold

It is a 1hp two stroke engine fitted with a close coupled centrifugal pump, which appears to be factory original, and carries on the cowling the makers name details as follows:- O and R Engines Inc., 3340 Emery, Los Angeles, California, 90023.

"O and R" stands for 'Ohlssen and Rice', who made engines for model aircraft and I believe that it was manufactured in the 1960-1970s.The only numbers I found on it were stamped on the crankcase and are:- 13A235 (a type no. I suspect) and 1072316 (possibly a serial no.). As you can see, the cowling is red and the pump is yellow.

This 'mighty midget' only measures 6" x 9" including the pump and is only 8" high to the top of the spark plug!

It is mounted on a small aluminum base plate with rubber feet on each corner and I can easily grab it and pick it up with one hand!

To give you some idea of the size of the engine, you can see a Honda G300 piston sitting along side it on my bench. Even more amazing is th4e carburetor which is sitting on a Victa lawn mower wheel for comparison!

This is my Alfa Laval engine.

And this is my Australian made 'Buzzacott 2A' (Sydney, NSW).

Information & photographs provided by Brad Soward.
Page created by M. H. Kennedy