ENGEL’S COACH SHOP

Engel’s Coach Shop

105 So Main St.

PO Box 247

Joliet, MT 59041

406-962-3573

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Here are a few projects we’ve worked on

I won’t bore you with oodles of pictures, but maybe give a sampling of the variety of vehicles we have had a privilege to work on over the years. Some of these photos may not be the best quality, but we’ll do our best scanning them in. I’m often chastised for cutting off parts of wheels in my pictures, but hey, don’t all wheels look alike? On some vehicles I will include process pictures where I think they might be of interest, but sometimes they are repetitive, so I won’t do it on them all. (Some of them I don’t have either.)

This is an Ambulance belonging to the Old West Museum in Cheyenne, WY after undergoing the repairs necessary from the runaway that put it over a car and hedge.

(See pictures)

This is a 6 passenger coach we custom built for the Nortman’s here in Montana. This coach was used extensively for terminally ill children’s camps and is now owned by the Hopes in Leavenworth, WA.

(See pictures)

This is an 11 passenger Yellowstone coach, built by Abbot, Downing Co. of Concord, NH that we restored for the Red Lodge Rodeo Association and is now on display at the Carbon County Historical Museum in Red Lodge, MT. (See pictures)

Along with doing long term, tedious restorations, it’s enjoyable to build rustic vehicles also. This is a Red River cart that we built new for Fort Union, North Dakota from original specs. These were used by trappers to carry supplies and furs, often hand pulled, but occasionally drawn by horse, mule or burro. There is no steel in this style cart except, in this case, the steel tires. Some of the earlier versions had wheels wrapped with rawhide, while some of the later ones had steel. The wooden hubs have no boxing, but run directly on the wood axle and are notorious for their loud squeal as they are being pulled. All the joint work is mortise and tendon with dowels and pegs.

This bright eye catcher is a surrey we restored for the Silver Tip Ranch that is located in the Beartooth-Absaroka Wilderness area north of Yellowstone Park. Since this guest ranch is within the perimeters of the wilderness area, in the Slough Creek drainage, all guests are transported by horse drawn vehicles in and out, as well as all camp supplies.

This is one of two fire hose carts we restored for the fire department in Cody, WY. (To give a perspective, these wheels are 60” tall) These are hand drawn reel carts that transported the hose to the fire locations.

And this is the second (pictured in the back in the photo at the right)

This would have been about 1981 as the first of three Yellowstone Tally-ho coaches were headed to the Park. The third coach body was built at this time, but wasn’t completed until about 1983. (I don’t remember why the driver’s boot was not attached to the left coach, but was on the right one, in this picture.) If you would like to see some old photos of old coaches, go to (See pictures).

If you have read through the History page, I mentioned my father driving a team of quarter horses to a Democrat when I was young. This is that Democrat after we restored it shortly after starting in the business.

This was a nice original little Phaeton, restored complete with storm curtains and lamps.

And the ladies need their phaetons also so we built a few of these Ladies Phaetons for awhile.

The sun was shining this day, but it was cold! I’m driving a team of Shires to this sled with the owners riding in the back. The owners and sled were both new at this game, but the shires sure weren’t. We built several of this style bodies that were interchangeable between bobsleds and wagon running gears. They were rear entry with bench seats, similar to wagonettes. For a better view of the body, see pictures.

(If you’re not bored yet, you can go to More Photos to keep looking.)

Dave and Diane Engel
ENGELS COACH SHOP
105 So. Main
PO Box 247
Joliet, MT 59041
406-962-3573

dave@engelscoachshop.com

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