The G.H.Q. was a .517 cuin. (8.48 cc) spark ignition engine from New York City, USA. It was a direct derivative of the pioneering Loutrel model which had been introduced in around 1934 by Louis Loutrel.

The Loutrel engine was a well-made unit which performed at a very acceptable level by the standards of the early 1930's. However, Loutrel was unable to keep up with the consequent demand for his engine. Unfortunately as matters turned out, he resolved his dilemma by selling his design along with all of his production equipment to Bernie Winston of America's Hobby Center (AHC) in mid 1936. Thereafter, the engine was ruthlessly trashed down to a price at the expense of quality.

Although some of the earliest G.H.Q. engines made in 1936 immediately following the AHC takeover ran reasonably well, most of those made thereafter wouldn't run at all without some serious owner intervention. This didn't stop AHC from marketing them in large numbers solely on the basis of low price to offset the abysmal quality. The engine came to epitomise the old adage that you get what you pay for! This led to the G.H.Q. acquiring a not underserved reputation as one of the worst model engines every offered to the American modelling public. Only the infamous Deezil (also marketed by members of the Winston family) can match its sorry reputation!

A full recounting of the G.H.Q. saga, together with a test of an operable example, may be found elsewhere on this website.