[AT] Homemade tractors.

[John Hall]

Never had any dealings with one but we did have one show up at our clubs 
show for the lawnmower pull. Ugly and bare-bones ain't the word for it. The 
frame was packed full of steel plates for weight. I think the old guy had a 
Wisconsin engine in it.  It used trck tires on the rear. We couldn't even 
think about stopping it. I wish we would have talked him into chaining it up 
to a Cub.

John Hall

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Francis Robinson" <robinson at svs.net>
To: "Antique tractor email discussion group" <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Sunday, December 23, 2007 12:28 AM
Subject: [AT] Homemade tractors.


>    Has anyone here ever owned or used a homemade tractor? I never have but
> have always been fascinated by them. I used to see a bunch of them setting
> around parked for good during the early 1950's. Most were made out of an 
> old
> car or truck chopped down. A lot were made out of Model A Fords. Many were
> built during the war (WW II 1941 to 1945) or just after when tractors were
> really hard to come by. When I was at BSU in the early 1960's they were
> still using cut down Model A Fords to pull ganged golf course reel mowers 
> to
> mow much of the campus. The only other thing I saw used for mowing there 
> was
> Farmall Cubs with rear mounted flail mowers used on rougher grounds. Did I
> just say "grounds"?   ;-)
>    A lot of homemade tractors were small and narrow made just to pull a 
> one
> horse wheat drill down rows of standing corn. I also remember a lot of 
> CUB's
> and Pony's being narrowed up for wheat drills. A lot of them ended up
> turning over...
>    Larry, I believe I once read of a lot of Economy tractors being set up
> to pull one horse wheat drills.
>    I have two one horse wheat drills that  are strictly "yard art". One of
> them has a few good sized bullet holes in the sheet metal guard panels.
> While I always fess up eventually I do enjoy giving the grand kids a line 
> of
> crap as they come along about my having been attacked by Indians while
> working in the fields...   ;-)   I bought these at sales, we never planted
> any wheat like that during my lifetime. We always had one field of early
> corn that we could get picked in time to plant wheat. We only grew about 
> 20
> to 30 acres of wheat.
>    The grandkids usually half believe the Indian stories since they think 
> I
> am old enough to have been attacked by dinosaurs.   ;-)   A couple of 
> other
> tales I like to work in on them involve how I used to play the grand piano
> in the marching band and that I was once in the Olympics. My event? Why
> javelin catching of course...   ;-)
>
>
>
> --
> "farmer"
>
> Our wretched species is so made that those who walk on the
> well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are
> showing a new road.  ~Voltaire
>
> Francis Robinson
> Central Indiana, USA
> robinson at svs.net
>
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