It all started with the Y69 in the 1930’s. Later, the Y91 and finally, theY112. Of course I am talking about the small block Continental industrial engine. During World War II the Continental engine was literally in everything. Even some of the Jeeps had a Continental under the hood.

The Continental certainly did it’s share to help win World War II. It was very popular with generator manufacturing in the 40’s and 50’s. And, of course, I don’t have to mention, forklifts. But, guess what car had a Continental under the hood? The Checker cab had a T-227, 6 cylinder.

When it came to sweeper/scrubbers, the Continental had its lion’s share. Tennant used the Y112 in its Sweeper model 280 from 1976 to 1985, in the scrubber model 525 in 1975 through 1979 and later on in the 527 series in 1980 through 1984. The 527 series (Series II) went with a Ford 1.6L industrial.

Tennant also used a Continental, the F163 in their models 92.95 and the articulating scrubber, model 550. There’s one little known fact regarding what Tennant and Continental did with the Model 260 in 1984-85. They were attempting to have a more efficient engine and save money too. They actually took the Y112, 4 cylinder Continental and cut it in half. It was named the TC56, 2 cylinder Well, missing the mark on both counts, this engine was discontinued after one year in service. But, you know, I still get calls for parts on them and some parts are still available from me to this day.

The Tennant Model 280 exclusively used the Y112 for their gas/LPG units. This was the only model with a design problem. The sweeper overheated, constantly running between 230-240 degrees. If you could get it to run at 220 degrees, you were doing fine. Even the service manual approved the 220 degrees. But, I tell you, that I have never had a crack at those temperatures. The mystery of overheating was never solved. It just went away when the model did. The next generation, 285 Tennant, had a Ford Industrial in them.

Now I’ll shift gears to the American-Lincoln. They used the Y112 in the early Models 1000, 2000 sweepers and 7000 scrubbers. After that, Ford has been their mainstay.

As far as Advance is concerned, they always used Fords, Toyota and Nissan engines and never did install Continental in anything that I am aware of. Write to me if you know of a model of Advance that had a Continental engine.

When Power Boss started their company in 1985, they went straight into Installing the Ford Industrial, Nissan and Toyota.

In the late 1980’s and early 1990’s the TM27 Continental (I call it the "Japanental") was used in the Tennant 95, 97 sweeper and 550 scrubber, however, Ford started making some headway and eventually Continental lost out in the OEM business.

The Y112 flat head Continental is outdated by today’s standards, yet was once one of the most versatile engines available. In my opinion, it is one of the top three engines ever built. A lot of my customers like the Ford engine in these sweeper/scrubbers. But you know, I like my flat head engines.

Michael R. Creamer