LEWISTON — Small Engine & Power Equipment Repair students at Lewiston Adult Education bring in chainsaws and snowblowers with seasonal regularity. When the weather gets warm again, instructor Richard Hussey will see the return of lawnmowers.
But this fall, he saw a repair job that was a little different.
Patrick Penley, a member of the Kora Temple Shrine and a Kora clown, brought in his multicolored jalopy. It’d had several owners before him and needed new life.
“My goal was to get that running,” Penley said.
The clown car had a three-horsepower engine which was removed during the semester and replaced by a power washer engine.
“We had to modify the engine,” Hussey said. “We had to modify the framework. We had to modify the drive system. And this was done primarily by the student. I just gave the guidance.”
Hussy said that students can bring in gasoline engines at the start of the semester, but are responsible for bringing them in and taking them home at the end of class. Penley brought the clown car in the back of his pickup truck.
“It has to come and go. That’s your size reference,” Hussey said.
In addition to the clown car, Penley worked on a leaf blower and chainsaw in the class.
He hopes to have the car off and running in a 2020 parade.
PHOTO: Patrick Penley with the rpaired clown car that he brought back to life, thanks to the help of a Lewiston Adult Education class. (Submitted photo)
