is this the same guy who was on American Pickers not very long ago? the sheds/tractor arrangement looks very similar. Its not everyday you see a lineup like that under one roof. i'd kill just to see the place.
no different than cars. The many cars/trucks hot rodders use today were built to....work. To get the american man or woman to work or to help aid in their everyday work. They were meant to travel, to go to work, to pick up groceries, go to the doctors, etc. they were a means of transportation to get from one place to another; not to drive around leisurely to go to car shows and to sit in the driveway for the owner to wax, polish, and wash everyday. No different than tractors; designers knew if they built a better more appealing product; it would sell to buyers who liked the look and the ammeneties of the product. Like cars and their owners; farmers took great pride in their machinery and learned to rely on them to do their day to day activities.
I don't think tractors are that O.T. as people care to think. Antique tractors, the people who restore them, and the people who love them are their own breed. If you have ever restored or worked on one you would quickly learn that they are very similar to working on an antique car in many ways. Most people would look at an antique tractor and think its neat; nothing too amazing; but its not until you actually do a complete head to toe restoration on one before you start to understand the true beauty of old tractors. The lines, the sheet metal, all the hidden little casting numbers under all that grime, sludge, and years upon years of paint...and all along you can't help but think what the original owner would think if he got to see how his old tractor ended up so many years ago. Many of America's families during the time of these tractors were small farmers growing crops and raising livestock to survive and feed their families; as well as the small communities around them. I think the design of tractors influenced cars and vis versa. Farmers frequently re-did tractors and converted them to doodlebugs. Here in CT you will frequently find old cars/tractors merged into one to create one really neat looking vehicle. very, very hot rod. Many of them have been pulled from the barns and restored to be put on display at the local fairs. Many fairs in our state still have doodlebug pull competitions.
Of course, tractors started the whole "big and littles" thing... We've got a 1953 Allis-Chalmers CA. I mounted a second seat on it so my wife and I can putt around the place, through the field and woods, maybe see some deer and other locals. Just nice and slow...putt-putt-putt-putt. Talk about a "torque-monster"...LOL. I do use it for pulling a small trailor too. Some of the equipment you guy are posting is way older than mine...really cool, interesting stuff. I love the huge steam-powered "Traction Machines". I've seen 'em at Henry Ford Museum not far from me. Man...just imagine...here's a guy riding a small platform hanging off the back of what looks like a big locomotive, (basically, they were!) bombing across a field of dirt, with a huge flywheel spinnin' only inches from his head. I asked my 91 yr old neighbor Lee what they did when one got stuck or tipped over. He said "Oh, we just go and get two or three other ones, and pull 'em out." Anyway, here's Alice. Neat tractors, guys.
Jive-Bomber Jay - Just a few weeks ago, my family & I made our annual trek to the apple farms near Placerville (aka "Apple Hill") ... and I too was checking out all of the vintage tractors that littered the orchards ... I even took a few snapshots: I've always had a thing for old tractors ... probably because the first vehicle this "city kid" ever drove was one of the John Deere Model B tractors on my grandfather's farm in Minnesota. That (late 1930s) tractor is still in the family ... my aunt had it restored after my grandfather passed ... and it is stored in one of the sheds on the family farm ... I'll have to search for some pics of it ... in the meantime, here's a really cool '54 MASSEY HARRIS 44 Special:
This tractor was advertised as the tractor you could work in the field all day in and take your sweatheart out on the town in at night. Worth right up there with the 32 Fords.
The old IHC Farmalls were very popular for tractor pullers in the 60's. I installed a 1951 Ford flathead 6 in my dad's 1937 F-30 Farmall. We used it in the fields, was very powerfull! a friend of mine installed a 1958 J-2 Olds in his F-30 for field use and tractor pulls.
Here's a picture of my 1948 Earthmaster. Certainly a product of the post war boom with styling cues from the pre-war era. Not a hot rod by any means but a rare classic built in Burbank CA.
Ya know.. I'm not sure. Wouldn't suprise me cause the guy has a hell of a collection of antiques and signs. Yes, there are over 200 of the rarest of rare tractors there, it is a sight to see! If your ever around Cincinnati send me a massage. I can take you out there.
I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned that a road-going steam engine is what turned the attention of young Henry Ford from watch repair to automobiles. If you consider that hot rodding as we know it would have been impossible without inexpensive, mass-produced automobiles, then the tractor could be the birth of the hot rod. But given that speedsters and tractor kits were simultaneous events, growing from similar era and circumstances, I don't think one can say tractors led to hot rods in the original sense of this post. -Dave
The homemade tractors are my favorite. Like the hot rods, they are all different. I have 5 in the back yard. One has two rear-ends to provide more power...
A few of my old tractors. The first is a 1929 Allis Model E pulling my Case thresher in my hometown parade. The second is my 1935 Allis WC at a show.
That's just insane! I'd like to have! My brother has some old tractors. Including the German LANZ from '39. We always joked, that it looks like the perfect "Hot Rod" Need to make some pics. Also there was a guy in a german tractor magazine, who souped up Massey Ferguson Tractors from the 50's and did ROAD RACING No Joke. Up to 140 km/h. that is about 90 miles! Cool thread. No matter what tractors are. I like them.
funny. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOA2e6Og3Fc Real fast! Massey Ferguson with VW Golf Rabbit GTI Engine. Could use a better one though, but!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9S964Cn6T8&feature=related Makes u laugh and it is fun! Just like rodding. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqtd-lKG9g8&feature=related Tractors are Hillbilly Hot Rods.
BWAHHH HAA HAA HAA tha's funny right there I like old tractors... so do these guys http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RBMCwj8UBs
My hot rod tractor project, '37 Allis WC with an Allis 262 cu.in. 6 cylinder, and spokes on rubber. http://s265.photobucket.com/albums/ii215/garyindaup/Unstyled Allis WC project/?albumview=slideshow
I've always been a tractor fanatic. My father-in-law and myself both have the tractor disease. Some of the old machines are just beautiful.....and then there is my 1942 Cockshutt 80 Standard. Re-defining "barn fresh"
I love old trucks and tractors, here are a few pictures I took while on vacation in Redmond Oregon. That old Fordson Reminds me of the old iron wheeled tractor we use to have on the farm.