[AT] Getting Allis done (Looooooong) was Finally done.

Sun Oct 31 01:01:35 PDT 2004

That's a really nice story. Congratulations to you and your family.

/Mattias

----- Ursprungligt meddelande ----- 
Från: "Rob Wilson" <rowilson at infinet.com>
Till: "'Antique tractor email discussion group'" <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Skickat: den 31 oktober 2004 06:35
Ämne: [AT] Getting Allis done (Looooooong) was Finally done. 

> Thanks Gene,
>  As some of you may know, Gene was the one that 
> restored my 1944 Allis-Chalmers C for me. My tractor
> was my Grandpa's first tractor that he bought to 
> retire the horses on the farm back around 1949. 
> It was bought originally by the State of Ohio to 
> be used as a mower on the Ohio Turnpike. Since it
> was built during the war farmers couldn't get new
> tractors. The state found a way around this by
> buying tractors using them for a season and sell
> them. My tractor was originally painted white as
> far as we could tell. We know this because when
> Gene stripped it it had white paint under the rust
> er I mean Persian Orange :) I lived on a small 
> farm owned by my father in law and my Grandma sold
> me my tractor since I lived on a farm. Well it sat
> outside behind our garage for quite a few years.
> Every time my parents came to visit my Dad would 
> tell me to get it inside. Problem was I was already
> storing one of his cars in there as well as my show
> car 1987 Buick Grand National. My Dad sells tools
> for a living and stopped at the Rockwell Axle plant
> on a regular basis. He got to know Gene and they 
> talked about tractors and Gene's love of restoring
> them. My Dad and he worked out an agreement to fix
> the old girl up. The day Gene and Dad came to get 
> it we had already moved into our new house and they
> were having a lot of trouble getting in out of the 
> holes in had worked it's way into. The rear wheels
> were loaded and had rusted through on one side and
> the other wasn't far behind. We couldn't get it up
> onto Gene's trailer since it had a belly mounted 
> sickle mower and the tires were flat. We got the 
> assistance of the local tow truck/gas station owner
> to help with his roll off. We already had the front
> wheels on the trailer so he used the roll off to 
> lift the rear and push it on. Well the other rim
> finally let go and out gushed 50 year old calcium
> onto Gene's trailer. Gene shook his head wondering
> what he got himself into and saying that my Dad 
> told him that it was in a lot better shape than it 
> was. As from the pictures I have a link to you can
> see it wasn't exactly in pristine condition when I 
> got it. But Dad remembered it as it was when he 
> used to drive it to the neighbor's house to listen
> to big time wrestling on Saturday nights. Gene took
> it home and started in. Man what a mess. He said
> it was the worst looking parts tractor he'd ever
> seen :) He had it stripped down to the torque tube,
> engine and final drives in no time. He blasted, 
> ground with wire wheels, needler and hot wrenched
> almost all the bolts out. A body man buddy of mine
> took on the sheet metal. He made the old parts 
> look like new. Luckily for us Gene had a parts C 
> at his place and he used a number of parts from it.
> The hood, gas tank and grille were saved and Gene
> located a good set of fenders. He pulled sleeves 
> from the parts tractor and busted his butt getting
> our C looking as good as new. To be honest I was 
> interested in it but not really into tractors. 
> Well that was then and this is now ;)
> My Dad paid for part of the restoration and I paid
> for the rest. It took a long time for me to get 
> the rest of the money I owed to Gene but I got him
> paid. By the way it was no way near what it was 
> worth to have it done. Gene lost money on this deal.
> It also took a lot of talking to convince my wife 
> why I needed this. Now there's no question.
> She's the best and she understands why it was so
> important. When Gene was done I went down and helped
> put the hood on and brought it home to decal it. 
> Before I took it home my Dad came out to see it at
> Gene's place and he started to cry. He was so happy
> to see it done he couldn't believe it was his Daddy's
> same old tractor. My Son Robby was one of the first
> to drive it and was also hooked on tractors right 
> off the bat. I met Duke Stambaugh through a woman 
> that I worked bingo with when I was looking for a 
> headlight lens to finish it. Duke didn't know me 
> from Adam but he loaned me his dually and trailer
> to bring our newly restored tractor home. I soon 
> found out that most tractor guys are just like Duke
> and Gene. They'll help you anyway they can even if
> they don't even know you. I got it home and I put 
> the decals on it, then it was done. Man did she look great! 
> The Plain City Threshers show was featuring A-C's 
> so I loaded it up on Duke's trailer and headed out.
> My first tractor show. Gene was there and he was as
> proud as a new Daddy. Seeing it there was as 
> exciting for him as it was for me. My brother in
> law stopped by to see it when Gene was there and
> made a comment on how good the old pig looked. I
> thought Gene was going to blow a gasket. He told
> my brother in law that this was no pig and those
> were fighting words (or something to that effect).
> My brother in law was very apologetic :) The 
> icing on the cake was when my Grandma finally got
> to come up for a visit to our place. She was so
> happy to see it. She said it looked just like it
> did when they brought it home from the dealership.
> She too had some tears to shed. Memories must have
> come flooding back seeing it new again. My Grandma
> is now 91, my Dad 69, I'm 42 and my Son 15. Gene's
> work truly did touch 4 generations of my family 
> and opened up a deep seated longing for the farm
> life for me. My Son as you saw from his WD45 is
> hooked too. Thanks Gene for all your work. 
> 
> Here's a link of just before I got it from my 
> Grandma around 1985.
> 
> http://my.ohio.voyager.net/~rowilson/UDonald&c2.jpg
> 
> Here's it is done.
> 
> http://my.ohio.voyager.net/~rowilson/acbarn1.jpg
> 
> Rob Wilson 
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com
> [mailto:at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com] On Behalf Of Gene Dotson
> Sent: Thursday, October 28, 2004 7:55 AM
> To: Antique tractor email discussion group
> Subject: Re: [AT] Finally done
> 
> 
>     Rob;
>     Thanks for sharing the results with us. This is a fine example of
> dedication and a lot of hard work. It will be a proud big brother to the
> "C".
>     Knowing the 3 generations of the Wilson family involved with the
> restorations of these 2 tractors gives me a special pride in the
> accomplishments.
>     If you have time to write the story, I would imagine the list would
> be interested in the family history and restoration of the "C".
>     Good luck with your future plans on the farm.
> 
>                         Gene
> 
> 
> 
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