To open with a big disclaimer, I didn't grow up on a farm and can barely keep my lawn alive, let alone grow anything worth eating, however... I was at an apple farm this weekend and couldn't help from studying the antique tractor collection littered ... <BR><BR>To read the rest of this blog entry from The Jalopy Journal, click here.
There were several companys making kits to convert early Fords, I had one a while ago. They were even available from Sears and Roebuck. Others converted Fords in their own factorys, for instance the Worthington Company, had one of those in the shed too. Can't find the photos...neat post.
Farmall front grills and other antique tractor parts are very popular with hot rodders and rat rods today. My recent antique tractor restoration project is what started by obsession with old things. Here are some photos
The Minneapolis Moline Model U-Delux always comes to mind as a "Custom" although it was a factory Model/Option.
You should see the HUGE steam tractors ! Now they will get your wheels turning ! Well remember the horse was the birth of the tractor pulls of today ! They still have special horses and big events for horse pulling ! That is something to see if you have never seen them before . Retro Jim
That's a beauty ! That almost looks like a modern day tractor puller ! I quess if you owned one of those , you were one happy farmer and wealthy too ! Retro Jim
Jive-Bomb... you're right.. so many others comming to my mind.. tractors had some fun too and certainly the early ones have much in common with other neccessity driven designs of the time in the automotive world.. SILVER KING Oliver Orchard Model Cockshutt (same as Black Hawk or Co-Op) and I bet you didn't know that 'ol Porche made tractors too!
Jim, the U-DLX was marketed as a tractor you could use through the week, and then drive to the store or Church on the weekend... it has two apolstered seats and one jump seat if memory serves me correct... it also had a road -gear to cruise to towm at highway speeds... pretty neat.. but alas.. also pretty rare!
the big thing in our area at the county fairs is the antique tractor pulls, horse pulls, and oxen pulls. Quite a few of my friends have pulling ponies and oxen.
that minnie mo delux was intended to be used as transport into town along with being a real tractor. had seating for two. it was one of the first tractors to have a "road gear". The tractors with the huge fairings that look like customs are orchard tractors. the fairings keep the produce out from the crushing tires. they are gorgeous, and to see them with straight sheet metal is quite rare.
hugh m, That's what I understood as well. Lots of farmers were dirt poor and Model T's were cheap. These kits were a cheap way to get a useable tractor. You couldn't plow 36" deep but you could plow the ground faster than with a team of mules. American innovation at work again. I've seen pictures of the kit-converted T's, I just don't have any on the computer.
Surprised there's not more replies on the flathead conversions that were so popular. Here's a new guy making a 8N to Flatty kit: http://awesomehenry.com I guess that's like having A-V8 in their world.
Farmers like hotrodders had/have a necessity to produce more horsepower, modify bodies, redesign and reanimate.... This is fun, can't wait until I get to my lap top and off my phone!
That was a real conversion you could do back in the day to the Ford 8N Tractor, if you wanted some more power...now thats true Hot Rodding!
Zombie did some art work of hot rod/tractor cross that was in his magazine a while back. Is not tradition but is along the same thought lines. Here is the only online image I could find.
Tractors like early hotrods, were purpose-built machines, so not too much in the way of unnecessary components on them. As with automobiles, as more manufacturers entered the market, they added unique styling to set the brands apart which made for some interesting designs.
The john deere A.O.S. It was an orchard tractor with a very sought after grill shell. They are impossible to find and very cool looking Charles Freitag a famous painter known for farming paintings did a rendering of this tractor racing on an old board track.
What's up with the weird rear wheels on that Fageol tractor? Does anybody know what that was about? By the way, I have a folder full of images of old tractors I have found online. Tractors from just before and just after WWII are often beautifully styled and many of them have grill shells that would look perfectly at home on a hot rod built from a 1930's vintage automobile. I'll post a few others from my collection that I think might have grills that could look good on a hot rod. (Others here are, of course, free to disagree with my highly questionable taste in this matter.)