Event started half a century ago by Hank and Mary Ellen Eisner
With an unmistaken hit-miss cadence, antique gas engines from the late 1800s to the early 1990s were a mechanical marvel that did a wide variety of work — from sawing logs, to pumping water and washing clothes, as America moved out of the horse-and-buggy days of back-breaking manual labor, fully into the Industrial Age.
And Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 3-4, will mark the 50th Annual Antique Gas Engine Show in Downtown Cayucos.
Started half a century ago (actually, they skipped 2020-21 due to the pandemic) by Hank and Mary Ellen Eisner, the Antique Gas Engine Show brings a group of local enthusiasts and mechanics together to display the versatile engines, each in perfect working order.
The old-time display is put on through the Central Coast Vintage Machinery Association, an organization of antique gas engine enthusiasts who put on several shows a year.
The Eisners, who also own the Way Station in Cayucos, will also be celebrating their 50th year of owning the historic Way Station building, which started out as a hotel and general store back in Cayucos’ horse-and-buggy days.
The Eisners discovered their love for antique gas engines by accident, as when they purchased the Way Station, which had fallen into disrepair, they discovered an old engine in storage on the property.
“When we bought the property,” Mary Ellen said, “the engine was in the barn. We didn’t know a thing about the engine, but we were so thrilled.”
That sparked an interest in the niche world of collectors of what was an amazingly useful and versatile tool with a myriad of applications.
It’s an interest the Eisners, who are both now in their 90s, dearly love but find they can’t get out and enjoy like they used to. However, their personal engine will be on display at the show.
The Antique Gas Engine Show is set for all day Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 3-4 in Downtown Cayucos at the corner of Ocean Avenue and D Street. Admission is free.
Feature Image: Members of the Central Coast Vintage Machinery Association talk shop next to one of the antique gas engines, this one set up to pump water, that will be on display Aug. 3-4 in Downtown Cayucos.
