Allen Guiberson

Samuel Allen Guiberson III was an active Live Steamer from Dallas, Texas. He was one of the founders, and the first president, of the Southwestern Live Steamers. Allen had a track around his home at 3711 Beverly Drive in Dallas.

Investor

Allen produced the first radial diesel engine, which is now on display in the Smithsonian.

View of Guiberson T-1400 tank engine on stand, Dallas, Texas, 1941. Fred A. Thaheld (left) and Samuel Allen Guiberson, III (right) are posed along side.

From Time magazine, February 3, 1941

Into full production last week went one of the first new plants built especially for defense. It is long, low, windowless, air-conditioned, fireproof and allegedly bombproof, cost $1,000,000. Its site: Harvey, Ill. Its builder: the 60-year-old Buda Company (pronounced bewda), a Diesel-building pioneer. Its product: a Diesel for U. S. Army tanks. The reason this plant reached full production last week was that an oil wildcatter was willing to take a chance.

Samuel Allen Guiberson, 67, is a ham-handed Texan who struck it rich in his early 20's, built an oil business and a drillers’ equipment company in Dallas. In 1929, a bright young Austrian named F. A. Thaheld (now Guiberson’s chief design engineer) presented him with a new design for a Diesel airplane engine. Guiberson sank $1,500,000 in it, has been trying to sell it for airplane use ever since. To his bankers, willing to back him in oil, this engine was just a crackpot scheme. Once, when he borrowed $2,500,000 for his oil business, they made him promise not to use any of it on the Diesel.

Last spring S. A. Guiberson got his chance. With big Army & Navy orders in the air, most U. S. businessmen hesitated to expand their plant & equipment. Scores of manufacturers were worried about what the 1940 tax score would be, hung around the Army and Navy grousing. “S. A.,” ingenuously, went to the Treasury instead. He asked the Treasury’s lawyers point-blank if they knew what the new investment write-off tax schedule would be, was told they did not. His ears full of other men’s groans, Guiberson then asked whether that meant he could not bid on Army tank engines. Assured there was no law against his bidding, Guiberson then spoke approximately as follows:

“Hell, that’s good enough for me. All the money I ever made, I made gambling. In the oil business, nobody ever saw his profit in the bank when he started to drill. I’ll take a chance on this one and see if I can get the Army to put my Diesel into tanks. I don’t care’ how the tax bill ends up because it’s a cinch that in six months the Army will want more than 100 tank engines, and I will be in production, with a head start.”

He got a $600,000 order.

Meanwhile Guiberson had made a licensing deal with Buda. For Buda, which has less than $2,000,000 in other defense orders (generator sets and Diesels for the Navy), the Guiberson business soon became the biggest thing on its horizon. Last August they broke ground for the new “bombproof” plant. This month it had $8,000,000 of Guiberson tank engine orders, and 350 men worked three shifts daily to get production up to a promised eight per day.

Big S. A. Guiberson had the head start he wanted. Tank talk was turning to Diesels. The British Army, having gone into production on a 350-h.p. gasoline engine, was already designing a Diesel to replace it. Encouraged by such talk, S. A. Guiberson had Inventor Thaheld at work in Dallas on a bigger Diesel for heavy tanks.

Racing

Allen was heavily involved in automobile racing. He drove in the Indianapolis 500 in 1930.

Page 3 of the program for the 1947 AAA National Championship held at Arlington Downs Raceway, Texas. Note that Allen Guiberson is one of the directors of Racing International of Texas.

From Lone Star Speed Zone:

If you look at page 3 of the 1948 program, you will see that the race was presented by a group called Racing International of Texas. The president, Allen Guiberson, was a well noted Dallas/Chicago business man that developed lots of oil field tooling. He also designed and sold diesel radial engines for Army tanks. In the very early 40's, Guiberson had one of his 1020 radials installed on a Stinson Reliant, and my Grandfather was the pilot for the program. The diesel program was suspended during WWII, and dropped when it became apparent that jet engines were the future. Guiberson was also a sports car enthusiast who entered a few races in the World Sportscar Championships with various drivers that included Phil Hill, Carroll Shelby, Ernie Triplett and Richie Ginther. He also had an interest in Indianapolis racing. My Grandfather's Association with Guiberson set the stone for my families involvement to this day.

This 1954 Ferrari 750 Monza was owned by Allen Guiberson, and was driven by Carroll Shelby and Phil Hill in the 12H Sebring, 13 March 1955.

From Sports Car Digest:

The 1955 Ferrari 750 Monza Spider, chassis 0510 M, boasts an American racing provenance having been successfully campaigned in period by Phil Hill, Carroll Shelby and Jim Hall. Sold new to Allen Guiberson of Dallas, Texas, who owned and campaigned multiple early Ferraris, 0510 M was finished in the distinctive color combination of white with a dark blue triangle stretching from the car’s nose to its windshield. The car retained this color scheme for the 1955 season, where it achieved success at the hands of some of motor racing’s great drivers. Among highlights were a 2nd overall at its debut event, the 12 Hours of Sebring, with Phil Hill and Carroll Shelby behind the wheel, closely followed by a 1st place finish for the Del Monte Trophy at the Pebble Beach road races in April 1955. At the end of the 1955 season, 0510 M was sold to brothers Richard “Dick” Hall and Jim Hall, who continued to campaign the car to strong finishes through 1956, including 1st overall at Pebble Beach with Carroll Shelby at the helm.

Southwestern Live Steamers

Allen was instrumental in the formation of the Southwestern Live Steamers, and served as its first president.

Guiberson-Harpur Locomotive

Drawing of 4-4-0 "Caroline" No. 1 built by Guiberson-Harpur in 1968.

On May 16, 1966, Allen formed Guiberson-Harpur Locomotive Enterprises Inc, housed at 212 Meadows Bldg, Dallas, TX. Allen served as the Texas agent for Harpur Locomotive Works. The company produced Astroworld No. 1 "Caroline", a 25-ton, 36 inch gauge 4-4-0, for Astroworld in Houston, Texas. As of 2019 the locomotive is housed at Pacific Coast Railroad.

External Links

• Allen appears in the 1940 Census, living in Highland Park
• Find a Grave
• "Descendants of Rev. John Warner Guiberson"
• Guiberson-Harpur Locomotive Enterprises Inc
• "Caroline", SteamLocomotive.info
• "Caroline", SteamLocomotive.com