Historic Construction Equipment Association Recreates Machine Road Shows

Las week, in our very own backyard of Cleveland, Ohio, the Historical Construction Equipment Association (HCEA) organized an exhibition of restored antique construction equipment at the Piston Power Show, holed up at the I-X Center in Cleveland.

The display included a 1947 Euclid R15 end dump, 1918 Cletrac F crawler tractor, 1942 Bucyrus-Erie 15B shovel and a 1931 Speedcrane crawler crane built by Moore Brothers, the predecessor of today’s Manitowoc Crane Group. All of the machines were owned by HCEA president Larry Kotkowski of Mantua, Ohio, and proved to be a popular attraction at the show.

HCEA national director Harry Young noted that the exhibit recreated on a very small scale the early Road Shows from which today’s CONEXPO-CON/AGG shows are descended. From the late 1920s through the 1930s, the Road Show was held several times in Cleveland, at venues including the Armory and Public Auditorium.   

To learn more about the HCEA, and it’s cool road shows, visit www.hcea.net. It’s a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the history of the construction, dredging and surface mining equipment industries, founded in 1985 and has over 3,800 members in twenty-five countries. In addition to its magazine and hosting an annual working exhibition of restored construction equipment, it operates the National Construction Equipment Museum and archives in Bowling Green, Ohio.