Purpose of Club

TOPA TOPA FLYWHEELERS; ANTIQUE GAS ENGINE & TRACTOR CLUB

A GROUP OF PEOPLE OF ALL AGES AND PROFESSIONS WHO HAVE JOINED TOGETHER AND HAVE DEDICATED THEIR TIME AND EFFORTS TO THE COLLECTION, RESTORATION AND OPERATION OF MACHINERY AND IMPLEMENTS AS USED IN AGRICULTURE IN BY-GONE DAYS.

Club History:

Several years ago, a display of old iron was put on for the Somis School Carnival. Jon Peterson, Lee Miller, Bill Milligan, Gene Trumble, and the Deboni Corporation participated. It was during this event that forming a club was first discussed. In 1993, the Topa Topa Flywheelers was founded. They joined the Early Days Gas Engine and Tractor Association, E.D.G.E.& T.A., and became Branch 48. Branch 48 came to an end a few years later when the Club broke away and became the Topa Topa Flywheelers Antique Gas Engine And Tractor Club, a stand-alone organization.

Since the Club has many members outside of Ventura County, the name Topa Topa Flywheelers was derived from the Topa Topa mountain range above Ojai and the slang name for an antique stationary engine. The Topa Topa mountains' name was chosen for it's regional centrality and neutrality. On the side(s) of an antique engine and on some tractors, there are flywheels, hence the name Flywheelers.

The primary purpose of the Club is to collect, preserve, restore, display, show, and operate antique farm equipment and machinery. Another is to educate those who may not know not only how this equipment was used in the past, but why and for what purpose.

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WHAT IS A "CLUB"?

DEFINITION: AN ASSOCIATION OF PERSONS FOR THE PROMOTION OF SOME COMMON OBJECT, AS IN LITERATURE, GOOD FELLOWSHIP, ETC... ESPECIALLY ONE JOINTLY SUPPORTED AND MEETING PERIODICALLY.

I belong to a “Club”, an organization of friends and acquaintances to get together and work toward a common goal. In the spirit of our “Club”, this is the preservation, restoration, and display of various items used in agriculture in years past.

Some of us restore and display articles of housekeeping, such as gas-engine-powered washing machines and all of the accessories that were used in quote “the good ol’ days”. Others of us, take engines destined for the junkyard and have them performing what can be described as near miracles due to their age, such as cooling the area, generating electricity, crushing rocks, and many other jobs. Also, there are those who work on and display tractors of various sizes, colors, makes, and models. but all have been used in producing a greater United States of America whose agriculture, if given free rein, can feed a major part of the world without working much harder than we do today. In the future, we should concentrate on working together to make our “Club” a cohesive unit dedicated to not only restoring and displaying the products of our hobbies, but also maintain a spirit of cooperativeness with each other in the “Club”, which is our tool and vehicle to accomplish the aims of the “Club” as we originally stated them. It must be remembered that we are the “Club”, not “I” or “They” or “Them” or any other figure of speech.
“It is US that makes the Club.”
And if we don't enjoy or have fun doing what we do, why do it?

Authored by Red Rover R.I.P.

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