Farm Collector June Issue 2023

THE DEPENDABLE MODEL D

ICONIC MODEL LAUNCHED 100 YEARS AGO

Make our barn your barn. My Barn™

Are

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Photo courtesy of Lindsay Dinkla from Iowa

that Could

Landon Hall Group Editor

Leslie C. McManus Senior Editor

Christine Stoner Associate Editor

Terry Price Art Director

Baylie Koch Advertising Coordinator

Web and Digital Content

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Farm Collector (ISSN 1522-3523), June 2023, Vol. 25, Issue 11. Farm Collector is published monthly by Ogden Publications Inc., 1503 SW 42nd St., Topeka, KS 66609-1265. Periodicals Postage Paid at Topeka, KS and additional mailing offices.

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Sometime in December, longtime Farm Collector contributor Jim Lacey of Dell Rapids, South Dakota, read a query in our letters section about a dairy centrifuge. “So,” he wrote in a note he enclosed with an article on centrifuges (see Farm Collector, March 2023) “since it was nice and cold here, I bundled up, walked out to the barns at a temperature of 20 degrees below zero and 30mph winds out of the northwest, then walked back to the shop to get an LP torch to heat the combination locks so as to get into two buildings” to take the photos he would enclose with the article.

For that, Jim wins the prize for going above and beyond. Had it been me in those conditions, well, it wouldn’t have been me in those conditions, because I would not have strayed more than 6 feet from the wood burner!

By the time I rediscovered Jim’s note in the flotsam that blankets my desk, April had arrived in Kansas. Anything can happen here in the spring, but winter’s cold is probably well behind us. Up next: show season!

I am eternally grateful that all I do is go to shows. If I had to get a display ready, I guarantee it would already be behind schedule. And with mowing and gardening looming large on the horizon, the schedule is only going to tighten in the months ahead.

So, to those of you who spend the off-season wrenching, sourcing parts, getting parts built and rebuilt, sandblasting and painting, many thanks! Sure, it’s your hobby, but that doesn’t mean it’s all fun and games. At the end of the day, everyone who’s ever attended a show has done so because people like you are committed to preserving the past, and you routinely go above and beyond to make it happen. We appreciate you!

Last fall, Clell Ballard (another longtime contributor) commissioned his brother Clark to write a story for Farm Collector. That piece (A Cold Milking Experience) appears in this issue. It is both a fun read and a reminder of how siblings’ voices often sound the same. If you didn’t pay attention to the byline of Clark’s article, you’d think you were reading Clell’s work.

Motivated by health issues, Clell –another member of the “above and beyond” club – has stepped away from writing. Near as I can tell, he started writing for Farm Collector in 2010. We’ll miss his inimitable presence in these pages and hope to see him again somewhere down the road.

Memories Of A Former Kid®

Leslie C. McManus LMcManus@ogdenpubs.com

For all you “above and beyonders”

Farm Collector

art!

Graced with full-color

Artist Dave Barnhouse is famous for infusing his pastoral paintings with a touch of nostalgia that warmly conveys the joys of family and tradition in rural America. Now “Allis-Chalmers Delivers” celebrates farm life and the iconic AllisChalmers brand with a 1931 Hawkeye truck, a vehicle that acted as a moving billboard and played a vital role in delivering goods to America’s rural communities. Precisely sculpted to 1:18 scale, it’s graced with inspiring scenes from the artist’s beloved paintings. Offered in a hand-numbered limited edition. Send no money now to reserve “AllisChalmers Delivers” for three payments of $36.66*. Only the first payment will be billed prior to shipment. Our 365-Day Guarantee assures your satisfaction or your money back. Reply today!

Down on the farm with Allis-Chalmers!

This sculpted tribute features three different pieces of Dave Barnhouse’s art, including “Stories of a Lifetime“ on the roof and “America’s Heartland” and “Last Chore of the Day” on the sides of the cargo area.

Unrolling and rerolling check wire

I have fond memories of check row planting corn. My dad had a McCormick two-row horse-drawn planter. I used to help fill the boxes. They were round with a dome lid attached to a spring. You could move the lid over to the side for filling. Our seed came in cloth bags.

I remember unrolling the check wire and rerolling it with the planter wheel as power. I walked behind. I think the horses kept pace with the clicking sound the planter made.

Could it be a Hayes planter?

On Page 3 of the January 2023 issue of Farm Collector, Kelly Cawood, Moore, Oklahoma, asked about a planter in his collection. Does it have a cup to it or is it flat across the face? I only have a wheel a lot like those shown in his photo with round spokes and hub that are very similar and a cupped face. My dad used to say it was off a Hayes corn planter. It is covered up right now in our iron pile with snow over it.

John Ernst, 3242 Utah Ave. NE, Iowa City, IA 52240

Need help solving hay press mystery

Can anyone give me information on this salesman’s sample/scale model hay press? I would like to know the name or company it represented, or anything.

I bought this piece from a neighbor who was a well-known gunsmith. Our farm is on both sides of the road with the barn close to the road. One day he said he had something to show me. A couple days later, I stopped at his gun shop and he showed me this piece he had just bought on his yearly pheasant hunting trip to the Dakotas. I was very excited about this neat little baler. Before I left, I told him if he ever wanted to sell it, to let me know.

Some years later, he stopped at the farm and said he was selling stuff, including the baler. I bought it. He passed away two years later. He had told me the name of the manufacturer, but it didn’t prove to be right. The name on the baler had flaked off until it is no longer legible. I have taken it to some shows and run it with an electric motor with a reduction gear box. It runs very slow and draws a lot of interest.

It may have been built in the 1930s or ’40s. It measures 4 feet long, 16 inches wide, 22 inches tall. Any help would be appreciated.

Paul Kovalik, West Salem, Ohio; phone (330) 416-4962

Later, as I grew up, I cultivated with a Gambles Farmcrest 30 two-row mounted cultivator, lengthwise and crosswise. The front end would get bouncy. I have many very fond memories of growing up on the farm in Yankton County, South Dakota. I really enjoy reading Farm Collector.

Al Barkl, Hazelton, Idaho

Colors for an early Superior grain drill?

I am looking for information on the correct color(s), striping and lettering on a pre-1893 Superior one-row grain drill. It has a wood frame. I would sure appreciate any help I can get.

Dennis Schlichting, 2879 Q Ave., Rosalie, NE 68055

Correct colors for Ford 8N block and Dearborn implements?

I am interested in learning the correct colors to paint my Ford 8N motor block and Ford Dearborn implements. I believe Ford red is too orange and maybe New Holland red is too orange. I have been told the original color is vermillion but I do not know the brand name for it. Any help is appreciated.

James Mitchell, PO Box 100, Slidell, TX 76267; phone: (972) 978-6573

Missing that personal touch

Please let John Heath (Farm Collector, Letters, March 2023) know he isn’t alone. I also long for the old days when a human answered the phone. I also enjoyed the write-up on International Harvester’s 100th anniversary. I really enjoy the whole magazine. Keep up the fine job.

James Fisher, Nappanee, Indiana

Prince Albert article brings back memories of old days on the farm

Regarding Clell Ballard’s article about Prince Albert in a can (Farm Collector, January 2022): Reading this article brought back memories of my youth. My dad, who lived from 1907-1992, raised cattle, hogs and hay, and had an orchard. He also had grass so he could sell seed to the seed company. He did what the article told about: He had two routes, driving a 1948 Ford 3/4-ton truck, and gave up one. He picked up cream and eggs on Monday and took it to the creamery on Tuesday. He then went to the hardware store and got things for customers. He had a permit to buy wholesale (there was no Walmart back then). On Tuesday he came back by the creamery and picked up empty cream cans.

His biggest complaint from the creamery was wild onion taste in the cream. He either got a check for the farmers or the checks were mailed to them. He also got milk cans of discarded milk that he took home and fed to the hogs. He stopped by the feed mill on his way home and got feed the people had ordered. The mill later burned down. Milk was shipped to the creamery in larger cans before dairy farms had to put in milk tanks. When the nearby creamery in Roanoke, Virginia, shut down, it put him out of business.

My uncle smoked Prince Albert in a can. He rolled his own smokes. We got empty cans and used them as storage for fish bait, pennies and small screws and bolts. There was always an empty can at his home until he quit smoking.

When I read the article about shoveling snow, it reminded me that we had no blade for the tractor back then. One year in the 1950s or early ‘60s, it snowed and drifted in too deep for trucks to move and a private company was hired to clear the roads. In April, they came back and repaired fences they had pushed down. The man who smoked Prince Albert (and later quit) was found dead in his home during a snowstorm in 1978. The neighbor, who hadn’t seen any tracks in the snow leading to the mailbox for two or three days, called the sheriff.

Joe Huffman, Buchanan, Virginia

THELMA PRUESS IS OUR FEATURED ARTIST FOR JUNE!

Thelma Pruess, the daughter of Steven and Melinda Pruess, Ashland, Wisconsin, is this month’s featured artist. Thelma will receive a Farm Collector T-shirt: Congratulations,Thelma!

Have a budding artist in your family? Send your kids’ or grandkids’ farmrelated artwork to Farm Collector, and we’ll send a T-shirt to the monthly winner. Send submissions to Farm Collector, 1503 SW 42nd St., Topeka, KS 66609-1265. Please include the artist’s name, age and hometown and a recent photograph. A release form will be sent to the parents of each artist whose work is selected for publication; the release must be signed and returned to Farm Collector before the artist’s photo can be published. For more information, contact us at editor@farmcollector.com.

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GADGETS, GIZMOS & CONTRAPTIONS

The genius of pioneer inventors can confound us. Countless contraptions that revolutionized farming in the 19th and early 20th centuries have become contemporary curiosities, or even mysteries. Here are six sent in by readers. Do you know what they are?

Answers to the June 2023 items will appear in the August 2023 issue.

Answers for new items in this issue must be received by June 7, 2023.

JUNE MYSTERY TOOLS

A. Found in a field. Tool measures 7-1/4 by 11/16 inches wide. Marked with numbers 1-7 and made of brass or bronze.

B. Tool measures 6 inches long. Wheel (which spins freely) measures 1-3/8 inches in diameter. Teeth are 1/4-inch wide. No markings.

C. Tool on left measures about 30 inches tall; tool on right, about 16 inches tall.

D. Tool measures 7-1/4 inches long.

E. Set of 50 1-ft. sections (four shown here).

F. Basket measures 16-1/2 inches across. Legs measure 30 inches tall. No handles.

8 June 2023

To submit photos:

Send prints to Farm Collector, 1503 SW 42nd St., Topeka, KS 66609. Send digital images to editor@farmcollector.com.

Photos should be taken in a well-lit area against a plain background. Include dimensions and any markings on the piece. We cannot guarantee every photo will be published, nor can we respond to inquiries regarding when photos will be published. No photos will be returned.

Digital photos should be sent as .jpgs at a minimum of 300 dpi.

To identify an item: Send answers (with your name and address) to Farm Collector, 1503 SW 42nd St., Topeka, KS 66609. Email responses may be sent to editor@farmcollector.com.

Answers for new items shown in this issue must be received by June 7, 2023.

Farm Collector

D.

C.

APRIL

MYSTERY TOOLS ANSWERS TO

F. Spring Cooler milk can cooler, manufactured in Argus, Ind., probably designed for use on farms without electricity. Cup-like spout designed to fit over the spout of a hand-operated water pump. The bottom side of the circle has a series of holes like a sprinkler. Water from the pump circulated through the circle, showering the milk can with cold water, cooling the can’s contents.

a photocopy of a Juel 1 advertisement, confirming that Item F from December 2022 is a Juel manual handoperated tire bead breaker.

Thanks also to Jerald Loebs, Aberdeen, S.D., who agrees with that assessment. As Jerald explains in the numbered photo at left, “1, it is not an autowheel. 2, breaker housing. 3, anvil kit with hammer to seat tool on the rim. 4, screw. 5, bead breaker anvil pushed down by the screw to push the tire away from the rim. 6, locking wedge to lock tool to the rim.”

E. Round sickle-style downspout hook. Identified by Gregg and Jeff Arch, Kewanee, Ill.; Richard Thompson, Montoursville, Pa.; Stan Seevers, Argenta, Ill.; Ron Ratajczak; Ivan Hanson, Palmyra, Pa.; Ted Hargis, Country Club, Mo.; Josh Oman; Harold Kaufman, Porterfield, Wis.; Nick Caldiero; and Jerry Kline, South Bend, Ind. “Early gutter and downspouts were round,” Stan says. “The anchor would be driven into a log cabin or brick mortar joint after a hole was drilled prior to fastening the anchor. The downspouts were 2-1/5 to 4 inches

Bensheimer, Bargersville, Ind.

A Unidentified. Photo submitted by Deanna

D. Gas and burner pliers.

B. Unidentified. Photos submitted by Jim Frank, Springfield, Ill.

C. No positive identification. Photo submitted by Ray and Rita Waldner, Hitchcock, S.D.

Let’s Talk Rusty Iron Sam

the ElsieCow

America’s most famous “spokescow” turns 85 years old

Almost everyone in America knows Elsie the Cow, the bright-eyed, smiling Jersey with a curl between her horns and a chain of daisies around her neck. Yet, few people know the fascinating tale about how the country’s most famous cow became a household name.

Elsie first appeared in 1938 as a cartoon-like cow that advertised products for Borden’s Condensed Milk Co. During the late 1930s, three large milk companies – Sheffield Farms Milk Co., U.S. Dairy Products Co. and Borden’s – sold two-thirds of all the fluid milk consumed in New York City. Without outside competition, the companies cut the price they paid farmers who supplied them with milk. As a result, large numbers of New York farmers organized, declared a strike and began dumping their product rather than accept fixed prices.

These so-called “milk wars” occurred in various parts of the country during the 1930s, which resulted in huge amounts of wasted milk while people went hungry – and many dairy farmers went broke. In addition, violence naturally accompanied the strikes and public opinion was usually against the strikers.

New York farmers, however, joined the Dairy Farmers’ Union of the State of New York, a well-organized group that kept the strikers under control and

violence to a minimum. The union was successful in negotiating higher prices for its members’ milk, while at the same time waging an effective public relations campaign that turned public opinion against the large milk firms.

Elsie is an immediate hit

To give the company a softer, gentler image in the face of public scrutiny, Borden’s introduced Elsie the Cow. Surprisingly, the marketing gimmick succeeded rather well. In 1938, a radio announcer reading a Borden’s ad on the air made a big fuss over Elsie. Soon after, she began to get fan mail. As a result, Borden’s made Elsie its official “spokescow,” and her image began to appear in newspaper and magazine advertisements across the country.

Borden’s also erected a large exhibit at the 1939 World’s Fair in New York, called “Dairy World of Tomorrow.” The exhibit included an ultra-modern “Rotolactor” automatic milking parlor where spectators could witness 150 cows milked twice daily. The exhibit was a hit, but offered nothing to draw the public between milkings.

Exhibit visitors asked questions, which the on-site hostesses recorded, and Borden’s later discovered that six of every 10 people asked, “Which cow is Elsie?” Thereafter, a nice-looking Jersey cow named “You’ll Do Lobelia,” was chosen from the herd and re-christened “Elsie.” The cow was dressed in a daisy chain and an embroidered blanket and appeared in the Rotolactor between milking sessions. Naturally, the public loved the “real” Elsie.

Settling down to family life

By 1940, Elsie was ensconced in what was called a “Barn Colonial” boudoir, where she was milked and fed by pretty

young hostesses. The boudoir included paintings of Elsie’s ancestors on the wood-paneled walls, a four-poster bed with a straw “mattress,” window curtains, lanterns for light and even a giant-sized telephone so Elsie could “call her office.”

Apparently, Elsie was so busy that she needed help. She was assigned a “husband,” a bull named Elmer that carried the load at the fair while Elsie was in Hollywood co-starring with Kay Francis in the movie “Little Men.” Elmer’s boudoir had a table, cards and chips for his nightly poker parties. Soon after Elsie’s movie was finished, the happy couple’s first offspring came along – a “daughter” named Beulah.

The expanded family required an even larger boudoir, with a “calf coop” containing a pink, four-legged sweater, diapers and four little booties.

After the World’s Fair closed in 1940, Elsie and Beulah made appearances across the country, traveling at first on a special train and later in an adapted truck called the “Cowdillac.”

Just when everything seemed well, Elsie’s rising star suddenly fell. On April 16, 1941, Elsie was on her way to an appearance at Shubert Alley Theatre in New York City, when the Cowdillac stopped for a red light in New Jersey and was hit from behind by another truck. Sadly, Elsie was badly injured and was taken back to her home at the WalkerGordon Farm in Plainsboro, New Jersey, where a veterinarian euthanized the famous cow.

Elsie was buried on the farm, and a headstone set to mark the grave. The stone is still there, although it’s been

Moore

moved at least once and can now be seen near a little gazebo at the Plainsboro Museum, among rows and rows of homes in what is now the Walker-Gordon housing development.

Introducing Larabee and Lobelia

Borden’s executives didn’t want the successful marketing ploy to end, so another “Elsie” was quickly recruited and the public never missed You’ll Do Lobelia. During World War II, the new Elsie continued where the first spokescow left off, while Elmer went to work as the “spokesbull” for Borden’s glue products. The family was humanized in Borden’s advertisements from the era and were humorously portrayed doing the same everyday chores as the people who used Borden’s products.

In 1947, a male calf was born to the reigning Elsie, and a contest to name the new “baby” generated a million entries. Beauregard was the name chosen, and the little bull calf became part of the Borden’s family.

By the 1950s, Elsie’s popularity had faded, although she still made public appearances. During its centennial year in 1957, Borden’s mounted a campaign to revive interest in the old cow, and she gave birth to twin calves. A second naming contest garnered more than 3 million entries, and the twins were named Larabee and Lobelia.

No retirement any time soon

As time marched on, Elsie stopped traveling and was seen only as the familiar “Elsie-Daisy” trademark on Borden’s products, although she made

Right:

Below:

one live appearance in 1971 at Disney World in Orlando, Florida.

About this time, Borden’s moved its headquarters to Columbus, Ohio, and Elsie occasionally stayed at the Ohio State University dairy farm between promotional trips. Elsie, along with a series of bull calves representing Beauregard, again toured in the Cowdillac escorted by two OSU agriculture students, who were known as the “Elsie Cowboys.”

Dianne Shoemaker of Salem, Ohio, a dairy specialist with Ohio State University Extension, was an OSU agriculture student at the time and recalls her attempt to get hired as an Elsie escort. In those days before women’s liberation became a household phrase, Borden’s proved it didn’t consider women equal to men.

The company wouldn’t hire Di-

anne because executives refused to let her travel with a man on a cross-county trip. More than that, company officials were sure that two women couldn’t handle the heavy truck ramp. Yet, even after Dianne and another woman proved they could lift the ramp, the company maintained its stance. Eventually, Borden’s allowed Dianne to accompany Elsie to a grocer’s trade show in nearby Kentucky, as well as several appearances close to Columbus. As a result, Dianne still considers herself an “Elsie Cowgirl.”

In 1997, the Dairy Farmers of America, a large dairy cooperative with more than 24,000 members, reached an agreement to use Elsie to advertise some of its products. Elmer was still laboring at the glue factory, and his famous Elmer’s Glue is used across the world for many bonding jobs. As in many of today’s families, the bovine couple’s kids seem to have scattered to the winds and one never hears of Beulah, Beauregard, Larabee or Lobelia these days.

Sam Moore is a longtime Farm Collector columnist. This column originally appeared in the June 2004 issue.

Right: Elsie doing her part during World War II by encouraging Elmer to use roller skates instead of his car in order to save rubber.

Left: Two hostesses care for Elsie in her boudoir at the 1939 New York World’s Fair.

Lounging on her four-poster bed, Elsie takes an important phone call.

A postcard from Borden’s “Dairy Farm of Tomorrow” exhibit at the 1939 New York World’s Fair.

MIKE BROCKWAY ESTATE AUCTION

Located at 6284 26 Mile Road, Homer, Michigan on: Friday & Sat., June 16th & 17th @ 9:30 A.M. each day

A large and impressive auction including Rumley & Huber Steam Tractors, tractor seat collection, tools, farm primitives, buggies, antique trucks, gas & steam engines, sawmill, bronze bell, also “new” JD 6130 tractor, JD 310 SL backhoe, JCB Teleskid, etc.. This list is endless.

Stanton’s Auctioneers & Realtors

144 S. Main, Vermontville, MI 49096 Ph. (517) 726-0181

Website – www.stantons-auctions.com

Email – stantonsauctions@sbcglobal.net

ANDREWS AUCTION

LOCATED: 2820 13th. St., Eau Claire, Wis.

Watch for signs on Clairemont Ave. and Vine St.

TUESDAY, JULY 4

SALE TIME: 9:00 AM

Lucy’s Lunch Wagon & Restrooms

Ralph Maier is selling a large portion of his Vintage Tools and Early American Gadgets and What’s It collection! Plan to join us for an interesting 4th of July Auction! This will be a fast paced auction, with many individual items!

ANTIQUES,

COLLECTIBLES

&

MANY

“What’s It “ ITEMS!

Hundreds of Items! Vintage Farm tools, Logging tools, Mechanic & Carpenter tools and Much More!

SELLING – Crescent wrench collection; Rail road signal lanterns; Specialty Tools of All Kinds; Forge tools; Hoof knockers; Platform / Counter scales; Oak crank wall phone; Forks, Shovels and other vintage hand farm tools; Hand carpenter tools incl. Levels, Draw shaves, Spoke shaves, Hammers and much more; Wooden Oxen yoke; Yard stick adv. Collection; Surveyors wheels; Grain Cradle; Log spike pole; Logging tongs; Hay knives; Cross cut and One man saws; Ice tongs; Wooden hand tools; Broad axes; Wooden barrel type butter churn; Wall hooks; Walking kids horse; Old store cash register; Milk cans; Pot belly stoves; Copper still; Hay Trolley; Sickle grinder; Large emery wheel; Steel Implement wheels; Cleaver collection; Kitchen gadgets; Cast implement seat; Various other collections! More will be found as Shed is cleaned out! This is a very abbreviated list. Hundreds of items!

TERMS: Cash, Checks, Credit Cards accepted. 10% Buyers fee on all purchases

Ralph Maier, Owner, 2820 13th. St., Eau Claire, Wis.

Auction Conducted by Andrews Auction Service, 6610 US Hwy. 53 S., Eau Claire, Wis. 54701. Reg. Wis. Auctioneers, Jerry Andrews, Aaron Andrews, Troy Krueger, Lic.#272, 2943, 2956

Phone: 715-577-0420 Website: www.jerryandrewsauction.com

NOTE: This is a LIVE AUCTION. If unable to attend, bids are accepted via Phone, Text, & Email. Email address: andrewsauction@cvol.net or jerryandrewsauction@gmail.com

The Right Choice for Your Auction!

ORDER THE FARM COLLECTOR

2023 SHOW DIRECTORY TODAY!

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JOHN DEERE MODEL D REMAINS A FARM-COUNTRY FAVORITE 100 YEARS AFTER LAUNCH OF NEW MODEL

By Leslie C. McManus

Kenny Read’s collection of John Deere tractors in eastern Kansas would be considered an outstanding display at any time, but in 2023 – 100 years after the first John Deere Model D tractor was built – it stands out as exceptional. Model D tractors, after all, are at the heart of Kenny’s collection, which includes the oldest Model D known to exist.

“The first Model D was built May 30, 1923,” says Kenny’s son, Justin. “This one (Serial No. 30404) was built on June 3, 1923. It was the fourth one built. Numbers 1 and 2 were taken back by Deere & Co. and destroyed due to main case issues.”

The Spoker D – nicknamed for its spoked flywheel – was shipped to Minot, North Dakota, on June 16, 1923, from Deere’s Minneapolis Branch House. Nothing is known of its subsequent history until collector William “Bill” O. Krumwiede, who lived most of his life near Minot, added the tractor to his collection of John Deere and Rumely tractors. Later, in about 1986, he sold the Model D to Ted Spoelstra, who added it to his vast collection of tractors and engines in Washington.

When Kenny learned that the oldestknown Model D was to be sold at an auction of pre-1930 tractors in 2017, he decided to swap out one rare tractor for another one. “I had a 1938 Minneapolis-

D Dependable for

Moline UDLX with a comfort cab,” he says, “and the auctioneer said I could bring it to sell on the same auction, even though it was not a pre-1930 tractor.”

“It’s a Kansas thing”

Kenny’s collection includes the fourth Spoker D built and the fourth one from the end of the Spoker D line, which was produced December 24, 1925. He also has a 1927 “Corn Borer” Model D, one of 1,240 tractors (444 were John Deere Model Ds with a PTO) built as part of a U.S. Department of Agriculture effort to curb a corn borer worm infestation (see related article, Page 20).

Why Model D tractors? “Because I’m crazy,” he says with a laugh. “Also, it’s a Kansas thing, the Wheatland-style tractor, that is. That style was just so good in Kansas.” Early Wheatland tractors typically had non-adjustable front ends, bigger wheels and no 3-pt. hitch. They were designed to use with pull-type equipment, like a disc or plow.

The 1923 Spoker D was in good shape when Kenny got it. “It didn’t have the wear on it that some of my tractors had

when I got them,” he says. It had been restored previously, just in time for display at the first John Deere EXPO.

Kenny’s restoration took the tractor back to “as from factory” condition, except for the additions of a spark arrester on the exhaust manifold, floor boards, and street lugs on the wheels. “Those lugs just make it so nice to roll,” he says.

He changed out the drawbar, engine block and the front axle pivot bolster. “They claimed that the original pivot bolster had a notch in it that was put there to push or hold a thresher tongue,” Kenny says. He also replaced the front wheels. “The wheels were the hardest part to find,” he says. “The earliest Model D tractors’ front wheels had Waterloo Boy-style rims on Model D hubs.”

He also changed out the block. “The original restorer used one that was newer and it wasn’t correct,” Kenny says. The tractor had the right air cleaner, carburetor and magneto.

Kenny added the curtain on the radiator. “You’d start this tractor on gas, pull the curtain down to get the engine hot, and when it got hot, you’d switch

Above: Kenny Read’s John Deere Model D tractor is the oldest Model D known to exist. The Model D line was launched on May 30, 1923.

to All Fuel. Then you’d inject water from the cooling system to get more horsepower and stop pinging,” he says. “The All Fuel was such poor octane that the tractor would ping if you got into tough plowing.”

Delivering just what the farmer wanted

The John Deere Model D offered power, sturdiness, reliability and simplicity – and the smaller size tractor that farmers wanted. It remained in production for 30 years; roughly 160,000 were built. The earliest Model D tractors had a 465ci, 2-cylinder engine rated at 1527hp at 800rpm; 15hp at the drawbar and 27hp at the belt pulley.

The Model D was the first tractor built in Waterloo, Iowa, to carry the John Deere brand name following acquisition of the Waterloo Gasoline Engine Co. by Deere & Co. in 1918. The Model D replaced the Waterloo Boy Model N.

The Model D went through five years of design and development, as well as two seasons of field tests on farms near Waterloo, before being offered for a price of $1,000 (roughly $16,580 today).

The first 50 Model D tractors built were a group apart. Unique features included thin lettering on the radiator (in marked contrast to later bold, stylish lettering); four slots on each of four spokes on the steering wheel; a handfabricated axle formed from flat pieces of iron, rather than cast; a ladder-style radiator (referring to panels cast in each side of the radiator); and the glass jar air cleaner.

There was at least one design flaw. The first 880 Model D tractors built have a 26-inch spoked flywheel. When the tractor was turned to the far left and the front axle was at its highest point of travel on the left, the left front wheel would hit the flywheel, sometimes causing damage.

Also, the one-piece steering rod mounted on the left side would hit the main bearing housing when the axle was at its highest point of travel on the left, bending the steering rod and impeding steering. Toward the end of the 1924 production run (October 8, 1924), the flywheel size was reduced to 24 inches and a two-piece steering rod was used. On December 26, 1925, the spoked flywheel was discontinued and replaced with a solid flywheel.

John Deere power unit adds a unique touch

More than 30 years ago, Kenny heard a rumor about kids playing on an engine with two spark plugs along the North Branch of the North Platte River near Ogallala, Nebraska. He didn’t expect to find anything, but he spent some time there, snooping around. When he came across a rusty old abandoned engine, he figured it

Above: This AD665 gear reduction unit was designed for use when a slower travel speed was needed when pulling a combine, especially in heavy crops or working on hillsides. “They were developed around 1931 and they probably only made a few,” Kenny says. “This may be the only one left.”

Above: The floor boards are not correct, Kenny says, but they’re built from trees on his farm, which makes them special to him. The four slots on each steering wheel spoke are unique to the first 50 Model D tractors built.

Above: Justin Read and his dad, Kenny, with a 1926 Model D built late in the Spoker D production run.

was worth taking a chance on. “I had an idea what it was,” he allows, “but I sure didn’t know that Deere & Co. had only built 30 of them.”

During his drive back to Kansas, he stopped at a friend’s house. “What’s that in the back of the truck?” his buddy asked when he saw the engine.

“Just something I bought on the North Platte River,” Kenny answered.

“I don’t know what you paid for it,” his buddy responded, “but I’d double your money.”

Years later, Kenny still recalls the stir the engine generated. “Collectors were saying they’d heard of these, but never seen one,” he says. “I got more and more enthusiastic about it all the way home, I really did.”

Dependable power source

The 1926 John Deere Spoker D power unit (Serial No. 235,538) was designed to provide dependable power for irrigation plants, relift pumps, power plants, dynamos, oil pumps, cotton gins, grain elevators, rock crushers, cement mixers and sawmills.

The oldest of the four known to exist, Kenny’s Type W engine is one of just 30 built with a spoke flywheel.

Originally shipped to the Omaha Branch, it had been used on an irrigation well before being moved to the spot where he found it decades later.

The power unit generates 27hp on the belt with a 6-1/2-inch by 7-inch bore and stroke. It runs at 800rpm with engine displacement of 465 cubic inches. At 800rpm, it delivers belt speed of 3,200 feet per minute. The unit starts on gas and could be switched to All Fuel once warm. In restoration, Kenny replaced the block, head, water pipe, manifold, carburetor, fuel tank, radiator and magneto, finishing it in time for EXPO III.

“The spoke flywheel on the engine is completely different from the Spoker D tractors,” Kenny says. “The hub on the flywheel is completely reversed to offset and clear the wooden skids.” Apparently designed primarily for use in irrigation systems, the power units were numbered sequentially with

John Deere Model E engines – also marking their centennial anniversary this year.

For more information: Kenny Read, johndeerekenny@ gmail.com ; Justin Read, onsitetech@mac.com

Leslie C. McManus is senior editor of Farm Collector. Contact her at Lmcmanus@ogdenpubs.com

THE COMPLETE BOOK OF CLASSIC JOHN DEERE TRACTORS EXPERIENCE THE MACHINES THAT MADE JOHN DEERE AN ICON

The Complete Book of Classic John Deere Tractors explores the range of iconic “green tractors” with which Illinois-based John Deere has become one of the world’s most recognizable brands. This fact-packed volume takes you through dozens of John Deere farm models, beginning with the 1892 Waterloo Boy and ending with the game-changing New Generation and Generation II lines. With selected text from The Bigger Book of John Deere, this book details year-to-year model changes within each series and offers comprehensive specs charts compiled by Deere authority John Dietz. Illustrated with incredible color photography and period advertising, The Complete Book of Classic John Deere Tractors is an essential edition for the library of any Deere fanatic. This title is available at Store.FarmCollector.com or by calling 866-624-9388. Mention promo code: MFCPANZ5. Item #10151.

Above: Kenny’s 1926 John Deere Spoker D power unit is one of just four known to exist. Weighing 1,675 lbs., the engine is water-cooled by the thermo-siphon principle, using a tubular radiator.

Above: Here, the tractor unloading truck built by Deere & Co. for use in loading tractors into boxcars in the most space-efficient way possible is shown under the tractor. This photo also shows the tractor’s spoked flywheel.

Above: The gas tank on Kenny’s Spoker D, hand-riveted and soldered, is a unique feature on the oldest Model D known to exist.

Farm Collector

A POWERFUL RESPONSE

IN THE BATTLE AGAINST THE EUROPEAN CORN BORER, FARM TRACTORS LIKE THE JOHN DEERE MODEL D HELPED STRIKE THE DECISIVE BLOW

When the European corn borer threatened to establish a foothold in the U.S. in the mid-1920s, the federal government responded with a massive spending bill designed to stop the borer in its tracks. A portion of that $10 million ($167 million in today’s terms) was used to purchase equipment – including pieces that today are an important part of the John Deere Model D heritage.

By the spring of 1927, the corn borer had become well established in North America. The greatest losses occurred in a 1,200-square mile area in southern Canada, where the 1926 corn crop suffered losses of 50-100 percent.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture launched an aggressive battle. Bids for 1,240 tractors were placed with companies that could make rapid deliveries, the tractors moving to the infested region in trainload lots.

Deere & Co. produced 444 “Corn Borer” Model D tractors for sale to the USDA. Built in March and April 1927, all were equipped with a power shaft. A total of 259 “Corn Borer” Model D tractors were distributed to Toledo, Ohio; Elyria, Ohio (70); Auburn, Indiana (39); Meadville, Pennsylvania (28); Silver Creek, New York (28); and Detroit, Michigan (20).

Among the tractors shipped to Toledo is one that’s now part of Kenny Read’s collection.

Mechanized power rises to the occasion

The most effective control method then known was destruction of over-wintering worms. Low cutting attachments were developed for corn binders to cut corn close to the ground (within 2 inches) so that the majority of the borers would be removed from the field and destroyed in case the infested stalks were shredded or cut for silage.

Other types of machines were developed to cut and husk the corn, and cut the stalks into very small pieces that were discharged onto the ground. When stalks were run through such machines, about 98 percent of all borers were killed.

Practically every successful means of combatting the pest required power for its application: plowing under stalks, cutting or shredding fodder, pulverizing stubble, raking and burning fodder.

Many of the farmers in the states affected by the corn borer had never used a tractor. USDA agents demonstrated how to use the tractors to destroy the corn stubble, preventing the worms from living through the winter. It is thought that the tractors were loaned to farmers.

Horses could not get the job done

The stubble pulverizer was developed to destroy borers in stubble. The pulverizer operated on much the same principle as a hammer mill. The machine consisted of two large cylinders equipped with a large number of hard steel “hammers” pivoted at one end, the entire cylinder rotating at a speed of about 1,500rpm.

The pulverizer did not require much power to move it over the ground, but a 10-20 tractor had a full load in operating one while barely making contact with the soil. International Harvester supplied 800 McCormick-Deering stubble beaters used in the project.

Opposite page: Hart-Parr Co. angled for a share of the action with this ad in the May 1927 issue of Farm Mechanics “Battle the borer with powerful, distillate-burning HartParrs,” the ad read, “the only tractors recommended to burn cheap, low-grade fuels.”

Above: Kenny Read’s 1927 Corn Borer Model D tractor. Note the USDA inventory numbers under and on the side of the radiator. The Corn Borer Model D was the first John Deere tractor with a fan painted white for safety.

“The combination of corn picker and fodder cutter is another machine requiring considerable power in its operation,” noted an article in the May 1927 issue of Farm Mechanics magazine, “and one which would be altogether impracticable if horses were depended on for power and a bull wheel for traction to transmit such power.”

Agriculturalist H.M. Railsback tried to look on the bright side. “Almost every method on the program for corn borer control is primarily a good farming method,” he said. “For many years, perhaps forever, the corn borer will be with us. But it isn’t going to ruin the corn belt any more than the boll weevil ruined the cotton belt. It will be tamed by the strongest, most alert guard every instituted by American agriculture.” – Leslie C. McManus

Tales from Wales

Josephine Roberts

REVIVING ISLAND TRADITIONS

ANGLESEY MAN BRINGS CHERISHED FAMILY TRACTOR – AND LOCAL PLOUGHING COMPETITION – BACK TO LIFE

Wil Hughes is a retired farmer, a ploughman and a collector of agricultural relics who lives on the Isle of Anglesey. The island consists of 276 square miles of mostly agricultural land joined to mainland Wales by two bridges that cross the beautiful, fast-flowing Menai Straights. Wil is Anglesey-born and -bred, and he has a fondness for the island’s old tractors, of which there are many, for this is an area rich in farming history.

Above: Wil Hughes was a young schoolboy growing up on the Isle of Anglesey in North Wales when his father bought this Fordson Super Dexta tractor in 1963.

Above: The cost of the Fordson Super Dexta was £605 when new in 1963, but the dealership gave Wil’s father £200 for

his old Ferguson, so he only had to part with £405 to get the shiny new tractor.

Much of North Wales is hilly and is more suited to sheep rearing than corn growing, but Anglesey is flat and fertile, and has long been a popular area for grain growing. Many families, like Wil’s, were dependent on farming for their income, and many people have fond memories of tractors that once belonged to long-passed away relatives and ancestors.

Wil is lucky in that he now owns one of the tractors that his late father owned and farmed with, and it is a very treasured item. He recalls the day that the tractor arrived on the family farm as if it was yesterday.

“I will never forget the day,” Wil says with a laugh. “It was a Friday, which was always a good day in school, but this day it was even better, as I knew that our new tractor would have arrived when I got home.”

Possibly influenced by a neighbor’s tractor

The new tractor Wil refers to was a Fordson Super Dexta, which his father had just bought, and which was due to be delivered that day. The year was 1963 and Abraham Hughes, Wil’s father, had decided to replace his Ferguson tractor with a brand new Fordson Super Dexta.

Wil ponders over why it might have been that his father chose to buy a Fordson tractor rather than a Massey Ferguson, which might have been the obvious choice for someone who had owned a Ferguson. Wil thinks that perhaps his father had noticed that the first of the diesel Massey Ferguson tractors, the ones with the 4-cylinder engine, had already earned a bad reputation.

“My father’s neighbour owned one of the Massey Ferguson 4-cylinder models,” Wil recalls, “and they were always having trouble starting it, so I think that’s why he chose the Fordson.” The Fordson name was indeed well established in Britain. The Fordson Model N had been the tractor that

almost everyone had depended on to feed the country during World War II. The Fordson name probably felt well established to Abraham, as he would have seen many of these tractors ploughing and powering threshing machines throughout the island.

When Abraham bought the Fordson Dexta, he traded in his old Ferguson tractor as part payment, doing the deal through his local Ford dealership, Mona Motors in the nearby town of Llangefni. Wil has the sort of mind that retains certain information, and he can recall to this day that the Fordson Dexta cost £605 (roughly $19,500 in today’s terms), and that the dealership gave his father £200 for the old Ferguson.

Wil never saw the old Ferguson tractor again, and he wonders if it is still in existence somewhere or if it ended up being scrapped. At the time though, the young Wil didn’t give too much thought to the old Ferguson, because the Fordson Dexta was much more exciting – it seemed thoroughly modern and was like the best thing since sliced bread.

Sta-Dri cab offered comfort

The Hughes tractor was the first Fordson Dexta on the island, and what made it seem all the more cutting edge was the fact that Wil’s father bought a Sta-Dri cab for it. Based in Bristol, England, StaDri (Cabs) Ltd. built and supplied cabs that could be fitted to various tractor makes. The Sta-Dri cab was said to offer excellent visibility, safety glass, sliding windows, detachable doors and a fiberglass roof. The company also offered a Tip Top Cab, which was mostly canvas except for a futuristiclooking wrap-around windscreen. These cabs were something of a godsend in a time when most tractors were “open top” and farmers and tractor drivers were forced to spend long hours in the tractor seat in freezing conditions. Anglesey is surrounded by sea

on all sides and at times the wind

Above: When tractors in the U.K. are used on the road, they require a licence plate. Each area had its prefix and the letters EY represent Anglesey. It’s a great thing to own a local tractor, but it’s even better to own a family heirloom.

Above: The Fordson Ploughing Award medal that Wil won as a young boy on the Fordson.

Above: Apart from the front grille and the paint, everything on the tractor is original, down to the holes in the mudguards where a cab had once been fitted. “I hammered out the dents!” Wil says with a laugh.

Above: Wil is fond of all manner of rural relics, including this very old wooden drag rake with iron tines. The piece is known in Welsh as a “crib Delyn,” which translates to “harp comb” or “harp rake,” as the closely positioned tines are in the shape of a harp. Hand-drag rakes like this remained in use until the arrival of the horse-drawn rake. Although they are effective, they are heavy and tiring to use.

there cuts through you like a whetted knife. The winter of ’63 was a particularly cold one, so no doubt Abraham Hughes felt he was in the lap of luxury with his new cabbed tractor. By today’s standards, the Sta-Dri cab would seem primitive, but at the time it was a real step forward for driver comfort.

During the 1970s a law came out, dictating that tractors that were being used for work purposes had to be fitted

with a rollover protection system. Wil removed the old cab and fitted a roll bar onto the tractor instead. All that remains of the cab now are the holes in the mudguards where it was once bolted on.

As original as a working example can be

Throughout Wil’s childhood and teens, the tractor was always busy. It was used for all manner of farm work, including baling hay, and that continued after Wil became the owner of the tractor in 1973. “It certainly paid for itself,” Wil says, leaning on the mudguard and looking fondly at the little blue tractor, “and it worked very hard for both me and my father.”

The tractor did, however, have a rather sad period in its life when it ended up working as what we call here a “scraper,” that is, a tractor used to clean manure out of cattle sheds and yards. Such a fate befell many small tractors; demoted from field work to working in the cattle yard, scraping muck. Small tractors are handy for this, but the corrosive manure takes its toll on a tractor’s tin work.

However, the Dexta eventually got a reprieve from this particular sentence, largely because it began to fail. Wil noticed that the tractor’s engine was becoming harder and harder to start. It was basically worn out, and for a while Wil thought about looking for a replacement engine for the tractor. But then he decided to rebuild the existing engine instead.

When he took the engine apart, Wil began to wish he had never started. Every part that could be worn out was worn out, and the job seemed never-ending. It might have been something Wil regretted starting at the time, but now he is glad that he opted to rebuild rather than replace the engine, because it means that more of the tractor is original. “It has had new parts, of course,” says Wil, “but if a tractor is to remain in use then some parts do need to be replaced from time to time. I like to think it is as original as a working example can be.”

A proud survivor

So, back to that Friday in 1963. When Wil arrived home from school, he ran flat out up the drive to the farm, threw his school bag over the wall into the garden and ran over

Above: Wil’s old horse-drawn rake was made by Blackstone & Co., Stanford, England, a company with roots that go back to 1837.

to the farm buildings where the shiny new tractor awaited. Wil gazed at the tractor. Compared to the old Ferguson, it looked like the height of sophistication and he couldn’t wait to hear it running. “In no time my father started it up and within minutes I was driving it across the field,” he says. “I will never forget that moment!”

Sixty years later, Wil still drives the Fordson Super Dexta. Considering that the tractor has spent six decades in a maritime climate, it has stood the test of time remarkably well. The tractor was the family workhorse for two generations, but it was more than just a tool of the trade. This tractor also introduced Wil to the world of competitive ploughing, a hobby that has been the foundation of some of Wil’s most treasured friendships and a pastime which has kept him busy, or, as his wife would say “out of trouble” for half a century.

Just one week after the tractor arrived on the family farm in ’63, Wil took it to a local ploughing match. To his delight, he won a medal in the Fordson Ploughing class that he still has today. Many more such competitions followed, for every corner of the island held ploughing matches during spring and autumn. Wil drove the tractor to each of the events, all the time honing his skills.

Competition of the ploughmen

Ploughing competitions were traditionally held in every rural part of the U.K. Local ploughmen gathered with their ploughs and horses to compete against each other and see who was the best ploughman. Straight, even furrows not only meant that the ploughman had talent, it also meant that his horses were trained to a high standard, and this was something to be proud of. Ploughing was one of the most skilled jobs on the farm, and everyone who did more menial work was in awe of the ploughmen. Ploughing matches, where skills were showcased, were an important part of the rural calendar.

When tractors took over from horses, ploughing matches remained popular, and travelling by tractor meant that it was easier for a ploughman to get to more competitions. In Wil’s youth, it was nothing to drive several miles to a ploughing match, so by driving a tractor, he could attend more than one match during the season.

Gradually though, ploughing matches became fewer in number, and by the early 1970s only one ploughing competition was still held on the island. Traditions were dying out, and times were changing. People were less aware of where and how their food was produced, possibly because convenience foods distanced people from farming. More and more families had cars, which meant that they could look outside of their own little communities for amusement, and rural events became less popular.

Tradition comes roaring back

In the mid-1970s, Anglesey’s ploughing matches ceased. It looked for a time as though there would never again be a ploughing competition on the island, but in 1998, a group of men (including Wil) decided to try to resurrect the tradition and bring a ploughing competition back to the island.

In 1999 the Anglesey Vintage Ploughing Society arranged a ploughing match in Rhoscolyn, the first to be held on the island in a quarter of a century. Since then, the club has gone from strength to strength. Anglesey’s annual event is now well and truly rooted in the agricultural calendar, attended by people from much further afield than back in the 1960s, when Wil first began competing on the family’s Super Dexta. Today, people come from all over Wales, England and Ireland to compete in this event.

It’s thanks to people like Wil that we still have an annual

ploughing match on the Isle of Anglesey, where the great and the good can be seen tilling the land in a time-honoured way. Wil has preserved his late father’s tractor, ensuring that it remains in the family, and he has also worked tirelessly to preserve the rural traditions of his neighbourhood.

Josephine Roberts lives on an old-fashioned smallholding in Snowdonia, North Wales, and has a passion for all things vintage. Email her at josiewales2021@aol.com

Above: A newspaper clipping tells the story of how Wil (shown at center) and a group of friends managed to resurrect the old tradition of ploughing competitively on the island in 1999.

Above: Another EY Anglesey-registered tractor, this Massey Ferguson 35 belongs to Wil’s son-in-law, but is kept at Wil’s home.

NO. 301 2-ROW

Mounted Picker

The New Idea 2-row mounted corn picker, a particular favorite with many farmers, was an established institution for decades. Efficient and well made, the picker represented a quantum leap forward from the days of hand picking corn.

That said, the mounted corn picker did not do the work by itself. It could take a full day (or more) to mount the unit on a tractor, which was then out of commission for any other task. In the off-season, the picker needed to be stored inside. Once off the tractor, it rested on a stand and was about as portable as Mt. Rushmore. During harvest, the picker’s grease Zerks, chains and sprockets required constant care and attention. In use, the machine struggled in less-than-ideal field conditions. Mud was particularly treacherous for low-clearance units.

Still, the mounted picker was a vast improvement over hand picking. Decades in development (early experimental models came out in the early 1900s; 30 years later, most ear corn was picked mechanically), the mounted picker continued in use on many small farms for decades after the arrival of the modern corn combine. FC

If you have materials to share in Iron Age Ads, send a copy to Iron Age Ads, Farm Collector, 1503 S.W. 42nd St., Topeka, KS 66609. High-resolution digital images may be submitted by email: editor@farmcollector.com

Image courtesy of Dale Jenson.

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widths to give Oliver a wide variation of models produced from one basic machine. Although the appearance of the OC-4 was sleek matched the current line of tractors, the sheet metal was not durable enough to stand up to the rigorous use of industrial applications. A heavy grille assembly was designed and incorporated on the next series of the OC-4 crawler. This design also marked introduction of the OC-46, an OC-4 with a mounted loader that became quite popular with small contractors. It was a durable and well-balanced $ 40.00 | Item # 9 311

THE CUSTOM CONNECTION

TRACTORS PRODUCED BY CUSTOM MFG. CO., BADGED AND SOLD BY MONTGOMERY WARD, FIND A HOME IN OHIO MAN’S COLLECTION

By Fred Hendricks

Bob Oakes of Casstown, Ohio, had two objectives when he got involved in restoring Wards and Custom tractors. First, he saw restoration as a way to preserve his family’s farming tradition. And second, it served to capture the heritage of a rare tractor brand.

Bob’s mechanical aptitude evolved through hands-on experience working on farm machinery at home and military equipment during his time in the service. Bob has restored eight antique farm tractors, including two Wards Model HR tractors and a John Deere Model 120 patio lawn tractor.

New tractor delivers a life-long memory

Bob learned to drive on a Wards Twin-Row tractor at age 9. With that handy tractor, he admitted to enjoying farm chores. Bob soon graduated to a Farmall Model F-20 to help prepare ground for planting.

“After a few years driving those two tractors, I had a bit of excitement with the Wards Model HR,” he recalls. “When the tractor arrived at the Montgomery Ward farm store in Springfield, Ohio, Dad had me drive it home. The drive was 25 miles from the store to our family home in Tipp City. As a young guy, driving a new tractor that distance was a great thrill.”

That 1950 Model HR became the Oakes family favorite. To help launch his farming operation in 1954, Bob purchased a few pieces of field equipment from his dad – and the Model HR.

By 1995, the tractor was showing wear from extensive use. Bob restored the tractor from the ground up. Custom Mfg. Corp., and later, Harry A. Lowther Co., Shelbyville, Indiana, builders of Wards tractors, produced very little of the tractors’ mechanical systems. Fortunately, the parts were standard and readily available. Custom and Lowther built the basic tractor, including the framework, front end, drawbar, operator’s platform, seat and sheet metal.

“Most of the metal was in tough shape,” Bob says. “That meant extensive work to locate and shape the metal like new. When the project was started, I was working off the farm fulltime. So, the restoration took 10 years.”

Bob later acquired two more Custom tractors. He completely restored a second 1950 Wards Model HR, and then stumbled

Top: A group of tractors restored by Bob Oakes (from left): 1950 Wards Model HR, 1951 Custom Model EW and 1951 Custom Model HR. Above: Custom tractor grille and nameplate.

onto a 1951 Custom Model EW tractor in Vermont. “When I first saw it, I was determined to buy it,” he says. The tractor was in original condition but mechanical components needed a lot of work. “Thank goodness, the paint was still in good condition.”

Wards enters the market

Cleveland Tractor Co. (Cletrac) of Cleveland, Ohio, produced tractors for Montgomery Ward & Co. from 1940-’42. The General Model GG, the only wheeled tractor built by Cletrac, was also sold by B.F. Avery & Sons and Massey-Harris.

The General was labeled and marketed by Wards as a Wards Twin-Row. The only difference between the General and the Twin-Row was the color. The Twin-Row was red; the General was orange.

B.F. Avery, based in Louisville, Kentucky, produced implements for both the General and the Twin-Row. They were called Tru-Draft in the General line and Tru-Pull in the TwinRow line.

With the onset of World War II, American manufacturing output was redirected to the war effort. In 1942, B.F. Avery acquired the tooling and equipment from Cleveland Tractor to produce the General as its own tractor.

The Wards and Custom connection

In the early 1950s, Montgomery Ward began marketing tractors produced by Custom Mfg. Corp., Shelbyville, Indiana. The marketing agreement stipulated that the tractor carry the Wards name.

When a farmer bought a tractor from Montgomery Ward, it was shipped to the customer’s nearest Ward’s Farm Store. With a limited number of Ward’s Farm Stores, some of the tractors may have been shipped by rail to the buyer’s nearest railroad depot.

Above: Bob Oakes with his 1950 Wards Model HR. After decades of extensive use on the farm, the tractor needed restoration. Bob tackled that project and, later, restoration of a second 1950 Wards Model HR.

Above: Bob found this 1951 Custom Model EW in Vermont. The tractor was in excellent original condition but needed work mechanically.

Above: This picture shows the Wards Model HR’s easily accessed engine. The tractor is powered by a Chrysler flathead, 6-cylinder engine rated at 56hp.

Above: This 1950 Wards Model HR tractor features a Chrysler Gyrol fluid-drive torque converter and a 5-speed transmission.

Above: Custom Mfg. Corp. production facilities in Shelbyville, Ind.

Custom’s early tractor lines included four models marketed by Montgomery Ward & Co. At the factory, the Custom HR, the Wards Twin-Row and the Custom EW tractors were equipped with the Chrysler Gyrol fluid-drive torque converter. Years later, that feature would make these tractors very competitive in pulling events.

With the torque converter, clutching is still required to select gears, but the fluid coupling acts both as a drive train shock absorber and a torque amplifier of sorts. When the tractor is under a load, torque converter slippage helps keep the engine rpm up. The downside to the system is that torque slipping generates heat and wastes fuel.

What’s in a name?

The Custom HR with row-crop configuration was powered by a Chrysler Industrial 6 flathead engine with 235-cubicinch displacement. The Model HW was the standard version of the Model HR. The 6-cylinder engine was rated at 56hp. The Model ER was equipped with a Chrysler Industrial 8 engine (251-cubic-inch displacement) rated at 62hp. The Model EW was the standard version of the Model ER.

Both the Model E and Model H have a belt-driven governor, Vickers hydraulic pump and hydraulic brakes. Engine power is delivered to the Timken rear axle and final drives through a five-speed heavy-duty truck transmission, dry automotive-type clutch and torque converter.

The tractors sold by Montgomery Ward were identical to the Custom tractors, including model identification. However, the iconic Wards name was embossed on the tractors marketed through the company’s catalog.

Custom’s production included two additional models –the 96 and 98 – built from 1952 into 1954. Neither were marketed by Wards. Custom would change ownership several times with final production in Hustisford, Wisconsin. However, with no dealer organization, the company struggled financially. Custom’s assets were eventually sold to a Mexican firm in 1954.

The end of the line

Bob’s hobby has been more than a shop project. “By restoring antique tractors, I’ve learned a lot about each tractor brand’s history,” he says. “I find great enjoyment tinkering on old tractors. Hopefully the tractors will be around for a long time to preserve their history.”

Bob finds shop work to be a wonderful break from everyday activities. When he finishes a project, he appreciates the feeling of accomplishment. But as a self-described “seasoned citizen,” he’s working on his final antique tractor.

“It’s a 1969 John Deere Model 2520 diesel Power Shift. This Model 2520 version is very rare, as only 356 were built,” he says. “When I pass on, the tractors will go to my sons. The future of the tractors will be determined by them.”

For more information: Bob Oakes, (937) 689-0344.

Freelance writer Fred Hendricks of Mansfield, Ohio, covers a vast array of subjects relating to agriculture. Email Fred at fwhendricks@gmail.com

THE FIELD GUIDE TO CLASSIC FARM TRACTORS, EXPANDED EDITION MORE THAN 400 MODELS FROM 1900 TO

1990

All of the nostalgia that classic farm tractors bring about and more is found in the expanded edition of The Field Guide to Classic Farm Tractors. This photofilled collection features landmark models from all the major marques, as well as smaller brands like Advance-Rumely, Cockshutt, Eagle, Fate-Root-Heath, Ferguson, Hart-Parr, Minneapolis-Moline, and Oliver. This is more than just another photo album though, as each model description is accompanied by a specification chart presenting crucial technical details like rpm, horsepower, fuel type, maximum speed, weight, and more. With some 400 tractor models and a color photograph depicting each, this book is a valued addition to any tractor lover’s bookshelf. This title is available at Store.FarmCollector.com or by calling 866-624-9388. Mention promo code: MFCPANZ5. Item #10353.

Above: This 1941 Wards Twin-Power was the first tractor marketed by Montgomery Ward & Co. The tractor was manufactured by Cleveland Tractor Co. The Twin-Power’s counterpart was the General Model GG, also built by Cleveland Tractor. The two tractors were identical except for color. This tractor is owned by Ron McLaughlin, Hillsboro, Ohio.

Above: This 1/16-scale, high-detail Wards row crop tractor was made using resin by SpecCast.

Above: This Montgomery Ward advertisement features the Wards Power-Grip tires on the Twin-Power tractor: “The Tire with the Giant Round Knobs.”

Casstown

Ohio ✭

A COLD MILKING EXPERIENCE

UNUSUALLY FRIGID TEMPERATURES FREEZE A MOMENT IN TIME

By Clark Ballard

Does it seem reasonable, these days, to send a 12-yearold kid out in the dark on a below-zero morning to milk a cow? Apparently it did seem so to my parents, and actually it didn’t seem all that unreasonable to me, at the time. But since I was that kid, it turned out to be an experience I’ll never forget.

Above: Farm cats the world over always looked forward to milking time. Here one cat gets a squirt of milk while another waits for its turn. Afterward, they have to spend a lot time of time cleaning the milk off their faces.

In the 1940s and ’50s, it wasn’t unusual for families in small towns in America to have at least one cow to provide milk for the family. They could rent pasture and shelter nearby very reasonably and could sell the milk they didn’t need for extra income. Also, each year, the cow would have a calf that was raised through the winter to be about a year old before being sold. For those who may not know, milk cows need to be milked at least twice a day, usually in the morning and evening. (My father always said that he didn’t own “old Jersey”: she owned him, since he always had to be there to milk.)

Barn cats and a one-legged stool

I grew up in a small town in Idaho where my dad was the postmaster. As we got older, my brothers and I often went with him to milk, so we were familiar with the cow and the process as a normal part of our family’s routine. Starting at about age 10, my older brother was taught to milk in the evening. By the time I came along, when I was about a sixth grader, he moved to milking in the morning and I started milking in the evening.

Dad was usually around early on as we got started, but soon he just expected that we would get our job done. One fun part of the job was squirting milk in the faces of the barn cat and kittens who seemed to enjoy getting doused with warm milk.

Above: This young cow has a very small udder but most milk cows have large ones. You can see how a kid just learning how to milk would have difficulty reaching the back teats of the average cow. All four teats need to be milked, so being able to do so was an essential skill.

The cow was kept in a pasture with an old barn on the edge of town about four blocks from home. There was fresh water for her from a small creek that ran through some willows near the barn. When it was my turn, I would walk up there at milking time to get the cow into the barn, where she would put her head in the stanchion to eat the oats placed there for her. Then, sitting on a one-legged stool (which provided easy movement in any direction), I would milk, getting a fair size bucket full. After finishing, I’d walk home, carrying the milk bucket.

Half-frozen and fully terrified

By early winter, it was still dark in the mornings before school and usually very cold, so I was glad I only had to milk in the evenings. But when my brother was 15 and I was 12, he got to go deer hunting with Dad and two of our uncles, so I had to milk both morning and night for a few days. It was late November and the weather had turned unusually cold.

That first morning, it was 8 degrees below zero according to the thermometer outside the kitchen window. As I walked up the road in the dark, I remember thinking that it wasn’t fair that my brother got to go deer hunting and I didn’t, and now I had to practically freeze to death doing his job. There was no electricity in the old barn and the only light I had was an old battery lantern that hung on a nail and gave off a dim pool of light. We had a young bull calf, about five or six months old, and he had become a kind of a pet. I went to close the rickety old door to keep him outside since he would come in and get in the way, snooping around.

As I closed the door, a terrifying scream made my blood run cold. Fumbling for the lantern, which didn’t really help, I finally realized that it was a couple of tomcats up in the dark rafters, preparing to fight. As my racing heart began to slow down, I grabbed a rock laying on the dirt floor and threw it up there to scare them off. I couldn’t help wondering what I was doing there, in the cold and dark and half scared to death.

Saved by the vigor of youth

I finally finished milking and opened the door, leaving it open so the cow and calf could get out of the weather. I briefly stopped to pet the calf and he followed me as I went down to the creek to check on the water hole.

Normally in the evening, I wouldn’t have to do that since it would warm up enough during the day. I was carrying an old axe that was kept just outside the barn door. Sure enough, the water hole was frozen. As I leaned over, chopping the ice to make a decent-size hole, the calf came up behind me and playfully butted me. This caused me to lose my balance and fall in the hole, landing on my feet in about 3 feet of ice-cold water. After scrambling out, I immediately went up to the barn to get the milk and hustle home.

As you might imagine, my soaking-wet Levi’s quickly started to freeze. Even though I was hurrying, by the time I got close to home, I had to basically walk stiff-legged. Thinking back, I must have made quite an unusual sight, walking like a robot down the road in the dark. As soon as I got in the house, Mom took the bucket of milk and helped me get out of my frozen pants and boots.

Fortunately, the freezing clothes hadn’t had time to create frostbite, so a warm towel, dry clothes and a hot breakfast got me ready to walk to school none the worse for wear. But after that morning, I made darned sure the calf was nowhere around when I checked on the water hole!

Celebrating an anniversary

When I first started milking, I was so small that I could only milk the two teats closest to me while holding the

bucket between my feet. Dad would have to finish milking the teats on the back of the udder. Finally, after a couple of weeks, I was able to reach around and milk the back two teats as well. I was so excited to be able to do the whole job that I told Mom all about it.

From then on, it became a running joke to celebrate “my anniversary” every year. Even when I was in the army in Vietnam, she sent me a photo of a pie with the shape of a cow’s head cut into the top crust to remind me of my big accomplishment all those years earlier.

Although I haven’t milked a cow in more than 60 years, I still have a very strong grip and when I close my fist, a small muscle above my wrist pops up. When our kids were small, they thought that was pretty cool, when I told them the story of my milking adventures. FC

Clark Ballard is the older brother of Clell Ballard, who has been a longtime regular contributor to Farm Collector. A documentary film producer, Clark has travelled throughout the U.S. and many foreign countries. According to Clell, Clark is the classic example of “you can take the boy out of the country but you can’t take the country out of the boy.” Email him at clarkball@bellsouth.net.

Above: This photo of the author’s mother was sent to him when he was serving in Vietnam. His mastery of milking as a young man was celebrated in the Ballard family for a long time.

MILK CANS A CELEBRATION OF THEIR HISTORY, USE, AND DESIGN

Milk cans, milk churns, or milk pails have been used for centuries, which is why they are some of the most photographed of all farmyard objects. Here, for the first time, the diversity in size, shape, and design of milk cans is presented in a comprehensive and full-color publication. The iconic shape of the typical milk can has inspired toymakers, artists, playwrights, novelty manufactures, and sports minded people. Milk cans often become family treasures handed down through the generations; insights about these and other social aspects of the milk can are included. In some countries milk tankers have replaced milk cans while bright shiny plastic milk cans appear to be replacing steel cans in others. This entire book is dedicated to the celebration of milk cans and their history, use, and design. This title is available at Store.FarmCollector.com or by calling 866-624-9388. Mention promo code: MFCPANZ5. Item #11110.

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THE FARMALL DYNASTY

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JOHN DEERE’S COMPANY

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AMERICA’S RURAL YESTERDAY: EARLY TRACTORS

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THE OPERATION, CARE, AND REPAIR OF FARM MACHINERY

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FARMALL CUB ENCYCLOPEDIA

comprehensive manual for any

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ub Encyclopedia is a cmpr ehensive manual for any ter, at-home historian, yard farmer. Providing -by-step instruction for enance and repair from o charging system , as well as user tips and a er’s checklist, this book will e you the confidence and w-how to buy, repair, and use ery own Farmall Cub. $40.00 $34.00

THE TRACTOR PLOUGHING MANUAL, 2ND EDITION

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BOTTS BEGINS

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BOTTS BREAKS HOLLYWOOD

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BOTTS ABROAD

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the

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BOTTS AND THE QUEEN OF THE NORTH

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BACKROADS OF ROUTE 66

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TRACTOR WARS: JOHN DEERE, HENRY FORD, INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER, AND THE BIRTH OF MODERN AGRICULTURE

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TIONAL HARVESTER AND DRESSER

INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER HOUGH

AND

DRESSER

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vester, Hough, and Dresser onstruction and Industrial Machines are illustrated ibed in detail along with a history of each y. The machines include crawler and tors and dozers, attachments for IH wlers, tracked and wheeled loaders, scrapers, oad trucks, hydraulic excavators, smaller ial equipment, engines used to power these , and machines from other manufacturers ere powered by IH engines. Tables showing ears built, horsepower, weight, e in appendices.

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THE FIELD GUIDE TO CLASSIC FARM TRACTORS, EXPANDED EDITION

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THE HOME BLACKSMITH

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Twenty-one TRACTORS

TRACTORS TO FARM WITH, TRACTORS TO RESTORE AND TRACTORS TO CUSS: MISSOURI MAN LOOKS BACK AT A LIFE-LONG LOVE AFFAIR WITH TRACTORS

By Alan Easley

Ibought my first tractor in 1963. The best I can remember, I’ve owned 21 work tractors over the years.

My first tractor was a Case DC, purchased at a farm auction for $50. Then came a Massey-Harris 30, a Ford 960, MinneapolisMoline Z, Ford 5000, John Deere G, Ford 6000, Farmall C, Ford 7600, John Deere 620, Case 611B, Ford 8600, Ford 9600, Oliver 1600, Farmall Cub Lo-Boy, MinneapolisMoline M5, MinneapolisMoline 670 Super, another Farmall C, Oliver 1755, Massey Ferguson 1533 with loader, and another Ford 960.

Some of them I used long and hard, some I used mostly as chore tractors and some wouldn’t hardly hold together long enough at a time to use at all. Several were really good tractors, and a few of them should’ve been melted down for scrap the day they came off the assembly line, but they all served their purpose at the time.

The two best tractors I ever owned were the 8600 and 9600 Fords. I sold them at my farm auction in 1994 and they were high-hour tractors then, but 29 years later, in 2023, they are both still being used by the same people who bought them at my auction.

The Case DC looked really awkward but as long as I didn’t get pinned in too small of an area, it actually didn’t handle too badly. A lot of people swore by the two-cylinder John Deere tractors, but to me, those two John Deeres I owned were the most awkward, obnoxious tractors I was ever around. I still don’t know why I bought the second one. The Farmall Cub Lo-Boy was the sorriest piece of equipment I ever owned. It didn’t matter how small the job was, some part of that tractor would break before I was finished.

When it did hold together, it couldn’t accomplish much.

Besides the tractors mentioned above, I’ve also owned (or had an interest in) several pulling tractors; tractors that were bought, tweaked a little and resold; and numerous “parts” and salvage tractors. It was fun at the time, but it finally turned into hard work. The last tractor my son Greg and I salvaged was a Ford 960 that I’ve had for three years and it still isn’t finished. Hopefully I have enough sense not to try another one, but you never know for sure. I guess we’ll see what happens.

I found a few photos, but photos of the tractors I owned early on are pretty scarce. Money was short, film was expensive and tractors were just a tool to work with. It was many years before I finally realized that it was fun to restore and collect tractors. Now I wish I still owned most of the ones on that list. FC

Alan Easley lives in Columbia, Missouri.

Above: Alan Easley (center) with sons Jeff and Greg with a new Ford 7600 in 1976 – the only new tractor he ever bought.

Above: Grandson Stephen on Alan’s second Farmall C before restoration, in 2004. “We pulled this little tractor for several years, then retired it and mounted an electric grass seeder,” he says. “It now comes out of the barn once a year, to over-seed clover on pasture.”

Above: Alan at the wheel of the Minneapolis-Moline 670 Super and a Ford Baler in the late 1990s.

Above: Alan restored the Minneapolis-Moline M5 in 1993. After 30 years in the hay field, it still looks pretty decent.

Above: “This Minneapolis-Moline R is one of the pulling tractors I’ve played with over

Above: Alan with grandson Stephen and a neighbor girl on his Ford 9600 in 1991. The kids all wanted to ride “on the big one, Paw-Paw.”

Above: The Minneapolis-Moline M5 at rest.

Above: Alan with grandson Sam on his

Above: Moving a grain bin with the Ford 8600 in the mid-1980s.

Above: Alan and his grandson Clint with the Ford 8600 in the late 1980s.

THE ENGINE THAT COULD – AND DID

IN RETIREMENT, WORKHORSE 1924 MINNEAPOLIS 24-75 TAKES A TURN AS A ROCK STAR

Article and photos by Christopher Clough Kewaunee County Star-News USA TODAY NETWORK – WISCONSIN

The arguably coolest, definitely most interesting and most historic vehicle on the lot at Algoma Motors last fall wasn’t for sale, but it drew plenty of attention. It had to, because you sure can’t miss it.

Out on the front corner of the Buick-GMC dealership’s lot on State 54/Jefferson Street was a 98-year-old mechanical monstrosity. It’s “Big Jim,” a 24-75 Minneapolis steam engine built in 1924 by Minneapolis Threshing Machine Co. The engine measures 22 feet long and 12 feet tall, and weighs about 32,000 pounds.

The Minneapolis is one of 12 antique steam engines built between 1890 and 1924 owned by 74-year-old Jim Rabas, who co-owns Algoma Motors with his brother, Jeff. Jim inherited the engines from his father, Jim Rabas Sr., who died in 1989. Jeff put the Minneapolis out on the lot, mainly to get the attention of those visiting the dealership or passing by –which it does, Jim says.

“[The reaction is,] ‘What the heck is that?’” he says with a laugh. “People want to see it all the time.”

Rescued and repaired, engine delivered revenue

The Rabas family has owned and operated the dealership for 85 years, since Jim Sr. started it in 1937, but the Minneapolis actually has been part of the family longer – 95 years.

Jim says his father was looking for a steam-powered threshing machine so he could perform work for area farmers when he came across the Minneapolis in 1927, when he was 18 years old. “It had broken through the Devils River bridge in Maribel,” Jim says. “It was sitting in the river with the threshing machine still attached.”

The owner apparently didn’t want to deal with trying to get the 16-ton engine and thresher out of the river, so Jim Sr. paid $2,200 (about $35,000 in today’s terms) to buy it. After dragging it out and repairing it, Jim Sr. and the engine hired themselves out to thresh on farms around Stangeville for $1 a day for the next 21 years.

Along the way, in 1939, the engine was modified for an unusual reason: It wasn’t running on as many dirt roads as before, and its original steel wheels were damaging newly paved roads.

“In 1939, blacktopping country roads had become more prevalent,” Jim says. “So [my father] had to have three men run down the road in front of him to lay down planks on the road, so the steel wouldn’t tear up the blacktop.”

Eventually, instead of having men on plank duty, the elder Rabas placed the engine into a Sterling fire truck chassis, also dating to 1924, that used rubber tires.

Jim says that while the engine is in a different chassis, both remain true to their original 1924 specifications, right down to the green paint on the engine and the red of the chassis. The only notable change is the “Big Jim” painted on the front, where it previously said “Minneapolis.” Jim says it’s named after his father, who was known as Big Jim throughout Kewaunee County.

A star on the steam rodeo circuit

Jim says his father began building his collection of steam engines in the aftermath of World War II. He noted the engines weren’t easy to find at the time, because it was considered a patriotic duty during the war to turn them over to the government so they could be scrapped and the metal recycled to make battleships and other war equipment.

Still, Jim Sr. was able to come across steam engines that would have gone to the scrapyard had he not bought them. “He bought them when they were cheap,” Jim says. “He found them behind barns, so he would rescue them.”

The Minneapolis was used for threshing until 1948, but its work was far from done. In the 1940s and ’50s, the Minneapolis was used to help move some 20 barns and 10

Above: “Big Jim,” a 1924 Minneapolis 24-75 steam engine owned by Jim Rabas, has been in the Rabas family since 1927, when Jim’s father, Jim Rabas Sr., rescued it from a river, repaired the engine and put it to work.

houses and also provided power for area cheese factories.

In the ’50s, the Minneapolis was used in steam rodeos, races for steampowered farm equipment that were then a popular attraction at county fairs. Jim says his father took part in the annual rodeos at the Kewaunee County Fair, where Big Jim was often matched in a friendly rivalry against “Big Bertha,” a Case steam engine then owned by Joe Krueger, Ellisville.

Jim Sr. also twice took his engine to compete in rodeos at the Wisconsin State Fair. In 1953, Jim Sr. helped form the Northeastern Wisconsin Steam Club for owners of antique steam engines and served as its president.

As for the power, the figures are found in the model number, 24-75. That’s 24hp measured on the drawbar and 75hp on the belt, the maximum power at the belt pulley with no load on the engine. Jim says Big Jim can hit about 19-1/2mph, attaining mileage of 10gpm (gallons of water per mile) and burning about a third of a full cord to travel 30 miles. It also requires at least two people to operate it, preferably three for the safest and most efficient driving.

Staking a claim to fame

So what’s Big Jim been doing since its threshing and rodeo days came to an end?

“Parades, parades, parades,” Jim says with a chuckle. “No other steam engine I know of has been in more parades than my dad’s. We just go all over the place with it. It’s the most popular steam engine in northeast Wisconsin, if not all of Wisconsin.”

Indeed, there’s a decent chance that people who’ve been to a parade in Kewaunee or Door counties, or to a farm or vintage farm show such as the recent Ag Heritage Days at the Kewaunee County Fairgrounds, have seen the Minneapolis. Jim often brings some of his other steam engines to those events and gives rides, but he says Big Jim is the star.

Unfortunately, it’s unclear if Big Jim will belch steam again. Jim says there’s a problem with the engine’s boiler and it would be rather expensive to fix, so he’s not sure if it’ll run again.

The engine did appear at the Shanty Days parade in Algoma in August 2022, but it was towed through. Jim kept the engine on display at the dealership into last fall, but then it headed back to the shed for the winter.

Big Jim has aroused curiosity and stirred memories for many across northeast Wisconsin, as Jim says when he talked about an older man at a show last year. “He was tearing up and I asked him if he was alright,” Jim says. “I didn’t know if he’d gotten a cinder in his eye or something. He said he was sent off to World War II and his father said he’d save his steam engine for him. But his father sold it while he was gone. Hearing the engine fire up just brought back memories for him.” FC

Article reprinted with permission of Kewaunee County Star-News, USA TODAY NETWORK – WISCONSIN.

EARLY FARM TRACTORS

A HISTORY IN ADVERTISING LINE ART

Providing an interesting glimpse into the steam traction engines and internal combustion tractors that revolutionized the world of farming, this collection focuses on American tractors from the late 1850s to the beginning of the Great Depression. With farm journal advertisements, dating from 1909 through 1929, this account considers how something as ordinary and utilitarian as a tractor seems to have inherent standards of good design, correct proportion, and beauty. Intended for tractor enthusiasts, historians, artists, illustrators, students of industrial design, and graphic art lovers, this fascinating book recounts an important piece of history.

This title is available at Store.FarmCollector.com or by calling 866-624-9388. Mention promo code: MFCPANZ5. Item #6914.

Above: “Big Jim,” a 1924 Minneapolis 24-75 steam engine, has been in the Rabas family since Jim Rabas Sr. bought it in 1927. In 1939, facing restrictions that banned steam engines from newly paved roads, Jim Sr. devised an unusual solution: He mounted the engine on a fire truck chassis.

Above: Owner Jim Rabas with “Big Jim,” the 1924 Minneapolis 24-75 steam engine his father rescued from a river in 1927. The 22-foot-long engine weighs 32,000 pounds. Last fall, it was on display at the Rabas family business, Algoma Motors.

Connecticut

Goshen Flywheel & Tractor, Inc. Antique Tractor Show. September 15-17, 2023. Goshen Agricultural Society Fairgrounds, Goshen, CT. Displays and Vendors wanted. Hands on demos, family friendly, cider press, pick your own pumpkins, Saturday tractor pull. Antique construction equipment, heavy duty truck show, slowest truck race, food truck fest. Contact: Dan Belmonte 860-307-3473, bells8127461@gmail.com.

The Connecticut Antique Machinery Association Museum is holding its annual Engine Show Saturday July 22nd from 10 am to 4 pm. The museum is located at 31 Kent Cornwall Road (RTE 7), Kent, CT. Historic hit and miss engines, 2 cycle engines, and steam engines and even modern engines will be on display and operating during this event. Come and see the engines that powered everything from buzz saws to washing machines, and vehicles. There will be a swap meet and a food court as well. New vendors and exhibitors invited. Free admission. For additional information call (860) 927-0050 or check our website camacma@protonmail.com.

Illinois

19th Annual American Farm Heritage Museum Farm Heritage Days. July 28-30 Greenville, IL. Features: Prairie tractors & Oddballs and Orphans, and Sideshaft & Economy engines. Directions: 1395 Museum Ave, zip code 62246; I-70 exit 45, 45 miles east of St. Louis, turn south off interstate and make first left onto Museum Avenue. Contact: Brent Adkins, 217-8364180; email: amheritagemuseum@yahoo.com Steve Loos, 618-667-9140. www.americanheritagemuseum.org Facebook: American Farm Heritage Museum.

July 20-23, 2023: Will County Threshermen's Association 61st Annual Antique Tractor, Steam Engine and Gas Engine show. Feature: Minneapolis-Moline Single Cylinder Stationary Engines. All make and models welcome. 14151 W Joliet Rd, Manhattan, IL 60442. Located at 1/2 mile East of Wilton Center IL on Rt 52. Contact Alan Heatherwick 815-545-4928, a_ heatherwick@yahoo.com, www.steamshow.org. Flea market 815-546-8054 Crafts 708-2834190 Show info 815-545-4928.

Indiana

41st Anniversary Antique Farm Power Steam & Gas Show. August 10-12, 2023. 4-H Fairgrounds at 1030 E 075 N, LaGrange, IN. Antique steam and gas engines, tractors, machinery and tools. Sponsored by the Northeast Indiana Steam & Gas Assn. Featuring: CASE equipment. Everyone Welcome! Feature Exhibitors receive a Collector's Button, Garden Tractors and Gas Engines, Antique trucks, Steam Plowing, Threshing, Sawmills, Tractor Pull, Parade. Ferguson (FENA) Regional Display Area, Buy & Sell Trading Post, Large Flea Market (574-238-0849), Indoor Arts & Crafts Area (260-499-0878), Toy Show and much more. Good food. All camping $10 per day. Motels nearby. Show information 260-5850178. www.visitshipshewana.org, 260-7684008. LaGrangeChamber.org, 260-463-2443.

2024 Show Dates: August 8-10 Featuring AllisChalmers

Maryland

July 6-9, 2023 Tuckahoe Steam and Gas Association 50th Annual Reunion and Show. Featuring: Any equipment that was part of our rst annual show. Showgrounds located 5 miles north of Easton, MD on US Route 50. Contact Pat Harvey, PO Box 636, Easton, MD 21601. 410-822-9868; email: info@ tuckahoesteam.org www.tuckahoesteam.org

Michigan

32nd annual Antique Farm Power Club show. Muskegon Co Fairgrounds, Fruitport, MI. June 8-10, 2023. Featuring all things IH and International Harvester Collectors Club of Michigan Chapter #11. antiquefarmpowerclub.biz.

Minnesota

Special 50th Annual Le Sueur County Pioneer Power Show, August 25-27, 2023, 7 miles east of Le Sueur, MN. Featuring all brands of tractors, gas engines, cars and trucks, steam engines and equipment from all past shows. For Pioneer Power info contact: Bill Thelemann, bthelemann@yahoo.com, 952-994-2743. Website: pioneerpowershow.com.

Minnesota

August 19-20, 2023: Butter eld Steam & Gas Engine Show will be held Saturday & Sunday at Butter eld in Southwest Minnesota, just off Minnesota Hwy 60. Featuring IH tractors and engines this year. Shaded grounds along Butter eld Lake provide ideal setting for campers, steam engines and antique tractors (over 250), threshing and sawing. Hundreds of gas and model engines, antique cars & trucks, wood cutting. Machinery Parade 2:15 pm both days. Pioneer Buildings include log cabin, full-size grist mill and 16 other buildings holding arts, crafts and antiques. Bluegrass music on stage both days. Antique Tractor Pull Friday at 5:30 pm. Kids will love the Train Ride around grounds. For more information: Butter eld Threshermen's Assn., PO Box 277, Butter eld, MN 56120; http://buttereldmn.com/threshing_bee.html Also on Facebook - Butter eld Steam and Gas Engine Show.

Missouri

July 6-8, 2023 Mark Twain Old Threshers Reunion. Paris, MO. Monroe (county), Paris Fairgrounds at 423 E Locust, Paris, MO. Feature: Ford Tractors & Automobiles, Feature Engine: Briggs & Stratton. Contact: Mary Curtright, 106 Hill St., Paris, MO 65275; 573-473-5487; www.marktwainoldthreshers.com, e-mail: marktwainoldthreshers@yahoo.com

FaceBook: Mark Twain Old Threshers

45th Annual Lathrop Antique Car, Tractor and Engine Association Show June 15-18,2023. Featuring: John Deere Tractors, John Deere Engines and Baker Steam Engines. Go 30 miles north of Kansas City (three miles west of I-35), located on the south edge of Lathrop Mo. City limits on 2488 S.E. Hwy 33. Contact: Jim Plowman, Po Box 335, Lathrop, MO 64465 or call 816-896-5546, www. lathropantique.com

Nebraska

Aug. 13th, 2023: Deer Creek Sodbusters 41st Annual Antique Machinery Show. 72927 610 Ave., 4-1/2 miles South of Sterling, NE. Featuring: Oddball & Orphan Tractors and Engine Lines W-X-Y-Z. For more information contact: Bob Wolff, 402-239-2307; 72973 610 Ave. Sterling, NE. 68443. Email, sodbuster@diodecom. net, www.deercreeksodbusters.org

Miami Valley Steam Threshers, 74th Annual Show and Reunion. July 13-16, 2023, Pastime Park, Plain City, OH. Feature: International Harvester, with Chapter 6 state. Horse Pulls Thursday 7pm, Grand Parade Friday 6pm, Lawnmower Races 7pm, Tractor Pulls Sat & Sun, Flea Market, Arts/ Crafts, Children's Pedal Tractor Pull Sunday. Contact: 614-506-7172. www.mvsteam.com

July 6-9, 2023: 24th Annual Greenville Farm Power of the Past Inc. Show. Greenville, OH. Features: John Deere Tractors, Equipment, Lawn and Garden Tractors, Gas Engines. Hosting Ohio Two-Cylinder Club. Darke County Fairgrounds, 800 Sweitzer Street, Greenville, OH 45331. Chet Linebaugh, President 937-459-6424, Email: greenvillefarmpower@outlook.com. Website: www.greenvillefarmpower.org We are also on Facebook.

Shenandoah Valley Steam & Gas Engine

32ND

JUNE

INDIANA’S

FEATURING:

Vendors/Flea

Jesse

COST: Classified ads are $1.35 per word with a 20 word minimum. For photo with your ad, enclose $25 per photo. For classified display ads –those with special borders or type – call Terri Keitel at Farm Collector, 800-678-5779. Classified display ads are $65 per column inch (color). Bold words only $2 per word.

CLASSIFIED COMBO SPECIAL

Place your ad in both farm collectible publications

– Gas Engine Magazine and Farm Collector – for $2.25 per word. Save up to 22 cents per word with double the exposure!

SEND PAYMENT TO: Farm Collector, Attn: Classified Advertising, 1503 S.W. 42nd St., Topeka, KS 66609.

IMPORTANT! Don’t forget to indicate ad classification and mark with “For Sale” or “Wanted.” Classifications appear below. Please write neatly. We reserve the right to edit your ad for consistency and clarity, and may reject any ad.

BEARINGS

JOHN DEERE MAIN BEARINGS FOR ALL 2-CYLINDER ENGINES! 100% Manufactured in the U.S.A. Made like the originals! Center Cam Bearings, Center Main Bearings and Rod Bearings Made-to-order / special I.D. & O.D.s / Installation & machining available. MANITOWOC MOTOR MACHINING COMPANY, LLC www.motormachining.com / toll free 1-800-666-9129

BOOKS

THE FARM WRENCH BOOK-Volume I $80. Volume II $55 Volume III $55 Volume IV $60 Combinations I, II, III & IV $240 Volumes I, II, III $180 Please send check to P. T. Rathbone, 6767 Pershall Road, Marsing, Idaho 83630

TO PLACE AN AD: CALL US TOLL-FREE AT (866) 848-5346, FAX: (785) 274-4316

PAYMENT POLICY: Ads must be prepaid by check in U.S. funds, or charged to MasterCard, VISA, Discover or American Express credit card. Remember to include your name and address, and/or phone number in the word count.

MAIL YOUR AD TO: FARM COLLECTOR MAGAZINE

1503 SW 42ND STREET TOPEKA, KS 66609 classifieds@FarmCollector.com

Ads received after the deadline will be held over for the next issue unless indicated otherwise.

BOOKS

PLEASE NOTE THE DEADLINES BELOW FOR THE NEXT FOUR ISSUES.

ISSUE

July 23

August 23

September 23

October 23

DEADLINE

May 1 2023

June 1 2023

July 5 2023

August 1 2023

Farm Collector may refuse to publish any advertisement at any time, according to our discretion. However, we are dedicated to providing our readers with the broadest range of alternatives possible. We believe our readers are generally intelligent, and trust them to exercise their own good judgment when choosing whether to patronize our advertisers. We cannot verify all claims made by advertisers. Please consider any advertiser’s claims carefully before buying.

– Bill Uhler, Publisher, Farm Collector

BOOKS

Purchase online at Amazon.com or send check for $26 to Linda Laird, 1432 S. San Luis, Green Valley AZ 85614

New Cast Iron Seat Book #6, $40. Shipping $8 for media mail and $14 for priority. Send to John Catchings at 3524 Jefferson Township Parkway, Marietta, GA 30066. 770-587-4004 Also to Join Cast Iron Seat Collectors Assn.$30 yrly dues. Contact Jeanine Kintigh, 929 E. 3rd St. Superior NE. 68978. 402-8791181 or email jrkintigh@gmail.com

BOOKS

CARBURETORS

Carburetor, Water Pump Rebuilding, 6 Month Warranty. Farmers Service Incorporated. 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. EST; 330-482-4180; www.farmersserviceinc.com

DECAL

P.O. Box 373 Ainsworth, NE 69210

(800) 286-2171

www.tractordecal.com

jonsal@threeriverwb.net

ENGINES

Wanted: Looking for old hit-and-miss gas engines to buy. 614-306-0908 or gasenginetom@hotmail.com.

Wanted: Always buying hit-and-miss flywheel gas engines, big or small, one or whole collection. 419-789-1159 or jon@sideshaft.com (OH)

FOR SALE

3 books for sale of collected thoughts and rural humor:

Behind the Muffler $20

Behind the Fence $30

Behind the Motometer $10

Total of 300 pages. All 3 for $50. Mail check to Bob Frey, 104 Snyders Rd., Phillipsburg, NJ 08865

BUILDING PLANS/BLUEPRINTS

HORSELESS CARRIAGE Replica: Use riding lawnmower motor, transmission and differential. 26” wheels, 52” wide, 82” long and 36” wide seat for two. 1” square steel tube frame, centrifugal clutch, 8-10 MPH speed, 5-8 hp engine. Twenty pages computer-drawn detailed plans, parts supply and photos. Plans $20 each model. Check or money order. Jimmy Woods, P.O. Box 216, Coker, AL 35452; 205-339-8138.

FORD

For Sale: Life size Aluminum Elk Statue $2,500, delivery possible.785-488-5150. (KS)

JD Tractor parts for G, D, A, B, H, MT, 50, 60, 70, 70D, 420, power steering units, 420W, 520, 620, 620LP, 720, 720LP, 730, 830, 840, 4010, 4020. L Belly Pans for $135, Darwin Gingerich, 620-3860071.

For Sale, Self-propelled IH 91 combine. Make offer 320-298-3570.

For Sale: Farmall Super A, with WoodsL59 mower deck, plows, cultivator, original manual, dump rake and disks, needs work, new battery, tires good, wheel weights, hydraulics good. $4,500.00 Pennsylvania. 724-255-5302. Steve

For Sale: 1939 F-20, mostly original parts. RUNS. Original drop bar hitch. Narrow front end. Cast Iron hubs. 1 new back tire. Call 785-493-1308. Lowell Fischer, Sylvan Grove, KS

FOR SALE: 1967 IH Cub - Serial #225669 - Woods 60" cut deck - Excellent condition. $3,800.00. Contact: Lester Wolken, 2478 Country Road 1600 East, Thomasboro, IL 61878. Phone 217-369-0967 or 217-643-7751.

GASKETS

RESTORATION/ REPAIR

Covering all things Case and including Lawn & Garden from Colt to Ingersoll

To Join mail payment to: JI Case Collectors’ Assn. Inc. P.O. Box 638, Beecher, IL 60401

Membership $25.00/year includes a subscription to Old Abe’s News quarterly JOIN AND PAY ONLINE AT www.jicasecollector.com

LITERATURE/MANUALS

Tractor Manuals and Literature. Large selection available. Jim Robinett, 5141 Kimball Rd, Ontario, OR; 97914. E-mail: tractrmnul@aol.com. 206-713-3441.

PARTS

Spur, helical and worm gears. Pinion and spline shafts. Made to specs or duplicate original. Elmridge Machine & Gear, 94 Fairview Rd, Lititz PA 17543 717-664-1079

TURBOCHARGER KITS ANTIQUE GAS TRACTORS

FARMALL M, SUPER M 400 450. W9 600-650. FARMALL H, SUPER H, 300-350. INTERNATIONAL 460-806, FARM KIT AND 4 BARREL PULLING KITS. ALLIS CHALMERS WC-WD45. OLIVER 77-881650. Oliver diesel. MASSEY HARRIS 44-444. KEYSTONE TURBO LLC, 2128 DAYTON-SMICKSBURG ROAD,SMICKSBURG PA16256 814-257-8506 duddy1@windstream.com keystoneturbollc.com

RESTORATION/ REPAIR

Next Generation Magneto Repair, 3rd generation, Dave Temple 856 Willow Brook St. N.E. Owatonna MN, 55060; 507-339-1470.

Steering cylinder repair, New replacement parts manufactured by us. Case200,300,400,500 series tractors. Ford700,800,900 series tractors. New pistons, rods, seals and cylinders. Bob Hunter, Pioneer Hydraulics, 5807 E Hayward Rd, Waukomis, Okla.73773. hunter772@gmail.com, 580-603-0063.

Carr's Repair: We got you Covered! Restore those powerhouses back to original! New IH sleeves & piston kits for IH 9, IH 6 and IH Super MD-450 series gas and diesel tractors and JD D and R piston kits. Int'l Falls, MN No Sunday calls. Ph 807 487 2548, www.carrsrepairvintageparts.com.

For Sale: Grade One plow handles, $50 per pair, postpaid. Beverly Egbers, 326 County Road 24, Hooper, NE 68031; 402-567-2588.

Obsolete water pump? Let me rebuild yours. Mark, 623-205-4482; waterpumprebuilder@gmail.com

Paul’s

SERVICES

Antique Radio of Iowa- Vintage radio restoration and speaker service. We service 6 and 12 volt radios. Auto, truck, tractor and all home radios, 8-tracks. 1934-1990. New for 2019 Neon and Clock service. 712-322-2255 dnordboe@aol. com, Find us on Facebook @ Antique Radio of Iowa. 3131 Ave. A Council Bluffs IA, 51501

TRACTOR DISPLAY SIGNS

Personalized, Magnetic, Weatherproof Display Signs Perfect for Antique Tractor Parades and Shows! Visit www.TheBadgeFactory.com or call 410-239-3368 to order. Take 10% Off with Promo Code: COLLECTOR

WANTED

Like to buy any type of old farm equipment, one piece or whole collection, salesman samples, country store, corn shellers, anything farm related, advertising signs, old wood signs. Leave message 574-304-4587

Looking for old hit miss engines, parts, models and/or entire collections. 614-3060908 or gasenginetom@hotmail.com. (OH)

Wanted: "Want to buy Chase Manufacturing Company, Mason City, Iowa made engines and advertising "My registry of Chase Mfg. Co. engines contains engines: 9, 49, 52, 96, 101, 599, and 805 as of July, 2022. Email: rogerwhite57@ gmail.com. WY

LEARN THE FULL STORY OF THE ICONIC FARMALL TRACTORS

Farmall tractors are among the most influential and iconic farm machines in history. From the first model in 1923 to their final model year in 1973, International Harvester revolutionized the tractor world by conceiving the Farmall brand of revolutionary all-purpose tractors designed for small- to medium-sized farms.

Beautiful, contemporary photos and rare historical images accompany indepth analyses of milestone tractors. The engaging text examines engineering developments, their historical context, and key figures. From the first Farmalls to the legendary and best-selling Letter Series unveiled in the 1930s, the entrymarket Cub launched in 1947, the Hundred Series introduced in 1954, and beyond, Leffingwell and Pripps provide a unique, unprecedented perspective on a farming giant. Also included are twenty-first-century offerings from Case IH, New Holland, and Steyr.

By 1947, Farmall had built over 1 million tractors. Amazingly, many are still in use today as collector vehicles as well as working farm tractors; Farmall 100 Years brings the story to life in the ultimate tribute to these enduring machines. Item #11801, $50.00

Item: #9375

Promo code: MFCPANZ2

$59.99

Read the gripping story of the development of the Wheel Horse tractor!