My first Felix engine was a high base, Swiss-built model that I purchased in 1975, from a small farm near my home in Melbourne, Australia.  The engine number was 978, it was complete and running.

The thing that intrigued me about these engines was the sheer number which carried different names, such as Electra, Ninrod etc, but on studying them in Australia it became apparent that only two manufactures were actually involved in the business of manufacture - one in England and one in Switzerland. 

 So over the years whenever a Felix engine was for sale I would purchase it.  Before I knew it my collection had grown to a considerable size and I was able to make comparisons between the engines.

So 30 years later, having such a library catalogue of engines means that identifying country of origin is easily done based on a number of key features of the engine.  I have established that single 3-5hp, twin 6-8hp and four-cylinder 10-12 hp engines were built in Switzerland, by the Geneva based company of Megevet, however it appears that in England only single and twin cylinder models were produced. Large engines were manufactured, up to 20hp based on information from Italy.

 Interestingly whenever Megevet, the Swiss manufacturer, made significant design changes to the Felix engine they restarted the engine serial numbers at 1.

What I also now know, since moving in Europe in 2002, is there were many more manufactures that just the English and Swiss. To date I am aware of three separate French manufactures, one in Italy, and at least two in England.

Given the number of Swiss and English engines which reached Australia it is highly likely that these engines were built for the primary purpose of exporting outside of Europe.  We believe that the majority of these engines arrived in Australia is a partially dismantled condition.  We assume this practise was to maximise shipping density.  It is likely that the high bases were manufactured in Australia for the engines. All the parts were stamped with the engine number. As simple as the re-assembly process should have been, amazingly enough there are a number of example which have been fitted with a part of a different engine number.

 I was able to ascertain this after acquiring two Felix engines.  The engines had been with the owners for around 70 years and were over 600kms apart.  The engines had each other carburettor fitted.

 In my experience many of these engines were used in dairy industry and as such often when you find one engine, there are usually a few more close by.  The record find was 12 Felix engines all on one dairy farm, 11 of which had been used as spares to support the last working engine.

Amazingly enough, even after more than 30 years of collecting Felix there is always a surprise in engine collecting, and it was only in September 2007, when in France at an engine rally that I came across what I believe to be the oldest original Swiss Felix engine, number 42.

 I am sure that more information is still to come to light in the future.