Jim Nolan's Blog

Phil Marino's 1966 White Star Camper

Photo credit: Phil Marino

A while back Buffalo Forge expert Phil Marino sent me this picture of his totally awesome camper. He's how Phil describes it:

"I spent a spring restoring it to useable shape when my kids were small. It’s a 66 White Star built in Indiana. I found it on line and drove to Detroit to pick it up. It had been well used so I just wanted to fix it up so it was clean and still vintage looking. By no means a professional or historically accurate restoration.

"Initially I sanded all the paneling down & cupboard doors and stained them, took off all the hardware and painted it. Fixed a soft spot in the floor and put down some vinyl tile over the dried out & busted linoleum. I fixed a bunch of broken windows, undercoated the frame, painted the tongue and bumper, got new LP tanks and a new regulator along with new hefty safety chains.

"The next year I got a small leak and sealed the roof with rubberized RV roof paint. I had to replace the front sill and the curved piece of wood at the kitchen end of the trailer from the water damage.

"I put some nice old Ford hub caps on it that year too.

"The door still needed some attention. The previous owner had put a large sheet of aluminum flashing on the inside, I assumed to cover some bad wood. I let it go the first few years. Two years ago someone held up the gas station near where I was storing the camper and the guy broke the jalousie window on the door of my camper to enter & change clothes. This was in the winter so I just secured the window with some wood.

"That spring I straightened the window frame and found a new crank and gear set up to open the window. My wife had knee surgery last summer so we weren’t able to do any camping.

"Just last week I finally removed the aluminum flashing piece, sealed up the door and put on a piece of birch wood in place of the aluminum.

"It’s definitely not showroom but it’s nice and cute and a fun little camper. Sleeps 6 people if you can believe it. I was looking for an old Shasta from the 50’s with a  beautiful birchwood interior when I bought this one. The Shasta’s we going for 5 to 8 grand. I picked mine up for much much less than that."

Thanks for telling us about the project, Phil! It must really start some conversations on your travels. 

Buffalo Forge Grill blower

Photo credit: Adam Gibson

The blower is what makes a Broil-Air unique, and as the company's former President David Newcomb told me, they are virtually indestructible.

Buffalo Forge Company, as you can guess by the name, made equipment for blacksmiths. The Broil-Air is really just a redesign of a forge they built for blacksmiths. It can get the fire hot enough to melt steel, if you wanted it to. So getting your charcoal cherry red in a hurry is not a problem. This is the blower from Adam Gibson's new find. It looks like it's practically new. The wood handle is in excellent shape, too.

Check out the page from a 1925 BFC catalog to see the Broil-Air's predecessor. Thanks to Phil Marino for sending.

Fan Inlet Table

Photos: Phil Marino

I love this table. It was sent to me by Phil Marino, who works for Howden (which many years ago purchased Buffalo Forge Company). Great way of showing off the product to customers, and I bet they had fun making it. Thanks, Phil!

Willis Carrier's Buffalo Forge Fan Engineering Book, Eighth Edition

Photo: Phil Marino

Buffalo Forge expert Phil Marino sent this along with the following comment: "It stands to reason that the Buffalo product was the most aerodynamic, after all Buffalo Forge literally wrote the industry bible on Fan Engineering."

The original edition, by the way, was edited by Buffalo Forge employee Willis Carrier, founder of Carrier Corporation. From a speech given on May 6, 1952 by Marine Trust Company President Charles H. Diefendorf, posted on the vintagemachiney.org website:

"A young man hired at about the turn of the Century was Willis H. Carrier, who, from 1902 to 1915, was Chief Engineer of the Buffalo Forge Company. About 1910, it was agreed that our engineers knew so much about air handling and conditioning that they could prepare a handbook on the subject, for the benefit of industrial engineers and contractors. Mr. Carrier was assigned to edit this book, which was published in 1914 under the title, Fan Engineering. The book, with six hundred pages of practical information, was an instant success. Thousands of copies sold without solicitation of any kind. Fan Engineering, now in preparation for its sixth edition, is the accepted handbook of the air industry; is used as a reference book in many colleges and is a necessity in the office of every industrial or consulting engineer."

The speech was sponsored by the Newcomen Society of England, a group that specializes in the history of engineering and technology. 

Thanks Phil and thanks vintagemachinery.org for the information. 

Buffalo Forge Grill Ad Photo

A photo scanned and sent to me by Phil Marino, who works for Howden, the company that bought Buffalo Forge. Looks like late '50s/early '60s to me. I have never seen the rotisserie attachment before. I want one. And I want the hat, too. 

Buffalo Forge Grill Ad, 1950

Click on ads to enlarge

These ads were kindly sent to me by Phil Marino, who works for the company that bought Buffalo Forge. Phil writes:

"Hi Jim

"I saw your grill featured on American Restorations last night.

"I work for what used to be the Buffalo Forge Company in Buffalo. Buffalo Forge was a manufacturer of larger heavy duty industrial fans used in the steel, cement, petrochemical and paper industries. We also had a line of ventilating products. In fact, air conditioning was invented by Willis Carrier while he was a Buffalo Forge Employee.

"The grill was a side novelty item for Buffalo Forge, but built like a tank, much like our fans were.

"Buffalo Forge was purchased by Howden Fan (a UK company) in 1993 and sadly the Buffalo plant, which took up a full city block, was closed. About 7 years ago or so the building was demolished. We had a plant in Ontario, Canada that was also closed. We still have a plant in Mexico that was an original Buffalo Forge plant.

"We still operate our Aftermarket Parts and Service Division for Howden out of Buffalo, where we supply parts and service for Buffalo Forge fans along with parts for the 26 other fan companies under the Howden umbrella.

"I included two ads for the Buffalo Forge Grill and also some proofs for an ad for a circa ‘Cuban missile crisis era’ bomb shelter fan that used people power! I have the ads hanging in my office."

Phil, I am so gratetful to you for the info and the ads! I have been trying to find one for some time. And I'm glad to hear that other parts of the company are still going strong. Interesting to learn the blower "cranks in either direction." Rick Dale of Rick's Restorations thought that was the case, but I've always gone clockwise. Phil also reports that his fellow worker Dennis has spotted three BFGs in excellent working condition at the Biltmore Mansion in North Carolina.

Buffalo Forge Grill Tabletop Model

A photo sent to me from Phil Marino. Phil writes:

"I actually found another picture that I had. It’s black and white. I ran across it years back when I was helping clean out Buffalo Forge files that we were storing at the old Bell Aerospace plant (now a warehouse and leased space) after our plant was closed and vacated. The caption on the back reads ‘Two of “Buffalo’s” finest testing our “All Seasons Broil-Air” Frank Boltz and Al Chestnut’

"(Some Buffalo history, the X-1 that Chuck Yeager flew to first break the sound barrier was built in Buffalo at the Bell Aerospace plant, along with many WWII planes P39 for one. It was pretty neat walking around a building where history was made.)"

Thanks, Phil, for the great shot and the Buffalo history. I am told, by the way, that Al Chesnut still lives in Williamsville.