As an academic and researcher, Dr Allen Barlow’s work has taken him around the globe and when he travels, he seeks out every opportunity to indulge his fascination with rare and historic engines. As a result, he’s attended countless engine rallies and events across the UK, Europe and North America.
Allen’s appreciation of the beauty and complexity of engines began in the late 1980s when his father began a search for engines designed and built by Allen’s paternal grandfather, Ernest Raymond Barlow.
“My grandfather made around six motor cars in 1910 and went on to build engines, windmills, pumps, generators, cast iron stoves, underbody automobile hoists and compressors,” says Allen.
“He designed 15 or 16 different styles of engines, predominantly for the dairy industry and for the marine industry. He operated factories in Ballina and later Leichhardt until he went bankrupt due to the Great Depression around 1930.”
Allen and his father were successful in finding an original Barlow engine at an auction in Warialda, about seven hours northwest of Sydney. That incomplete Barlow 3hp two stroke hopper cooled engine, dating from around 1912, was the beginning of Allen’s impressive collection that is now the foundation of the Barlow Museum.
The museum houses around 150 top-quality, world-class engines and Allen has another 10 or so waiting to be brought up to exhibition standard. The machines date from 1871 to the 1920s and come from across the globe.
But taking pride of place in the collection is the Otto & Langen Free Piston Atmospheric Gas Engine (FPAGE) that was built in 1871. Much sought-after by engine aficionados, Allen discovered the Otto & Langen FPAGE advertised by an auction house in Cologne, Germany in 2001.
“At that time, there were but a few collectors who’d even seen this engine, let alone owned one. In many people’s eyes, it is the most prized engine in the world to come in to private hands,” says Allen.
After a highly-anticipated and tense auction, Allen was the successful bidder and the engine, which stands an imposing 2.5m tall and weighs more than 300kg, slowly and steadily made its long journey from Germany to Australia via being exhibited in a private museum in the UK.
Allen’s successful bid means he now owns the oldest engine held in a private collection anywhere in the world. Allen says it the Otto & Langen FPAGE is a piece of ‘engineering brilliance’.
“The Otto design ran from 1867 to 1875 and is an atmospheric non compression engine using hydrogen to ignite the gas/air mixture in the combustion chamber,” explains Allen.
“Every single four stroke engine in the world can trace its lineage back to the Otto & Lagenfour stroke gasoline engine. It is like any other engine and is simply the pinnacle of all antique engine collections owing to its singular significance and its lineage extends to virtually all existing antique engines, as well as those being manufactured today.”
The Barlow Museum also features some other noteworthy pieces including two fully functioning 1886 Karl Benz Motorwagens – regarded as the world’s first motor vehicle. There is also a faithful replica of Henry Ford’s first car which is of 1896 vintage and dates from 12 years before the T Model Ford was introduced.
Allen also has a Wayne Grenning reproduction of Otto & Langen 1867 engine #1 which collectors who visit the museum enjoy seeing run. An 1891 DEUTZ engine also attracts public interest.
“DEUTZ has the distinction of being the longest surviving engineering production company in the world,” says Allen.
“No manufacturer of engines can come close to DEUTZ’s magnificent history in innovation, quality, and commitment to the maintenance of their unparalleled historical contribution.”