1964 Onan generator survivor, sort of!

[IMJ]

This YouTube clip is of an Onan generator produced when "Studebaker Industries" owned Onan. Studebaker is mentioned and briefly talked about in the clip. Was it cheaper to purchase a Ford six cylinder engine to manufacture the generators, needed necessary engine power, cost to produce a bell housing to adapt to the generator or did the Studebaker board know their engine foundry would soon be idled? Maybe it was an accumulation of reasons. I'm just curious.
Stay safe all!
Jay

https://youtu.be/0FN9vk3qec4

[Buzzard]

I have an Onan, 4 cylinder, Ex US Military, 24 Volt, air cooled diesel 10 KW generator (by Studebaker of course) for a master backup unit. Our main gen is a modern Perkins 3 cylinder liquid cooled 10KW unit which is much quieter and more civilized. I believe the Onan was manufactured in the early 70's under military contracts. They are definitely over built generators.

[Milaca]

Ford had an automobile & truck assembly plant in neighboring St. Paul, which may have influenced Onan's decision to use Ford engines.

[DieselJim]

Got a single cylinder gas generator out of a motor home.

[sweetolbob]

I have an Onan, 4 cylinder, Ex US Military, 24 Volt, air cooled diesel 10 KW generator (by Studebaker of course) for a master backup unit. Our main gen is a modern Perkins 3 cylinder liquid cooled 10KW unit which is much quieter and more civilized. I believe the Onan was manufactured in the early 70's under military contracts. They are definitely over built generators.

Man am I off topic here, Bill, but do you use generator power in your Canadian abode or just have a couple of backup units. The fishing camp we used to go to on Lake Nagagami did, many fond memories.

Bob

[Buzzard]

No worries, Bob.
Sonja and I bailed from the city (Greater Vancouver BC) about ten years ago and built our retirement home on 22 acres of recreational property we had in the central part of British Columbia, called the Okanagan Valley. It is for us called Crown Land due to Canada being part of the British Commonwealth, BLM to you guys. We are 35 minutes from a small town where we shop in "mom & pop" shops and live "off the grid". We supply everything ourselves, power (solar, wind, back up generators), water (mountain spring fresh) and basically do anything we want. It is a little challenging at times but for the most part very satisfying not relying on anyone except ourselves. We never have power outages as we don't have a single wire above ground. We gather the power in the most efficient manner possible and store it in special industrial batteries, then invert it into regular house power. If you visited, you would have no idea we weren't connected to the grid other than there are NO power poles anywhere. It works for us and is why covid had so little effect on us. It was just business(playing) as usual.
Cheers, Bill & Sonja

[sweetolbob]

Good for you folks Bill, I'm pretty close to a hermit so I could do well there but Judy would have issues. Great place in the summer and AZ in the winter although being it's wine country and with average temps from the mid-15's to the mid 80's deg F according to Google so I'd be comfortable all year. Thanks for the feedback.

Bob

[Buzzard]

Yeh, Bob. The wineries are but 40 minutes away so we are never dry. The actual town we are close to is Summerland, BC. No stop lights, no box stores but they are only an extra 15 minutes away if required. I tell everyone: there are only two things which make noise here... if it isn't me it's the critters! Thanks for your interest.
Bill