[AT] "Doodlebugs"

[Francis Robinson]

The cut offs with two transmissions were a fairly common item here in the 
East when I was  kid (still am a kid, but a lot older now).  One of our 
neighbors had one that he used to work his one acre garden each year and it 
had a lot of pull on a disk and drag.  At that time they were known as 
doodlebugs.

Charllie V iin wny


	The name "Doodlebug" was used on a lot of stuff. Just for fun I went to the Google page and entered "Doodlebug" 
(including the quotes) and then clicked on the "Images" link. Lots of fun stuff but on the bottom of page 8 was a picture of what 
we are talking about. It looks like the units they were still using to mow the campus at BSU in 1961 except they were using 
regular Ford model A's instead of the truck like in the picture. They pulled large gang reel mowers like golf course mowers.
	My mother used to call them "Struggle Buggies". She grew up in Evansville IN with a father of Northeastern US and 
Ohio background and a mother of Southeastern US and early Kentucky background. I looked the term up and found the 
statement: "Struggle buggy is Black-American slang for an old rundown car".
	Years ago before the later fad of making VW's into "dune buggies" and later "sand rails" they used to make units much 
like that and called them "dune buggies". They used large smooth tires because a lugged mud / snow tire would dig in and bury 
itself.
	I have always enjoyed home made tractors. "Homemade tractor" and "Home made tractor" (including quotes) were a 
couple of other fun "image" searches...   :-)
	 



"farmer"


Francis Robinson
Central Indiana USA
robinson at svs.net