[AT] Can you name the first three tractors you drove?

David Myers walking_tractor at yahoo.com
Mon Dec 14 19:27:26 PST 2009


Let me see,,,

The first tractor I remember was owned by a family friend and when Dad built his house in '59 he would drive this Farmall A back to our place, usually with me on his lap, 'steering'.  I was just a little kid, literally, I was very small for my age so it was several years afore I got to drive one of the beasts for myself.
When I went to my Granparents during the summer it usually was while they were making hay, I loved it and Grandpa would let me ride on his MF 35 with him.  Along about the time I was 11 or 12 Grandpa had picked up a MF 180 and felt that I could safely handle it on my own (I could actually reach the pedals and with hydraulic steering I could control it.  So....
Off I went with fully loaded hay wagons up and down the "side hills".  Ya know, I just realized I never told my Dad that story, he woulda had kittens!! Hope he's reading this over my shoulder now. The first thing HE let me drive by myself was a push lawn mower. <g>
Funny note, Dad was born and raised in the bootheel of Missouri, down in the FLAAAAAATS west of Sikeston.   After WWII, he wound up in Kalamazoo, MI at WMU where he met Mom.  Well, Mom's folks were the Grandparents I just mentioned.  Dad had quite a scare on those hills, he'd seen nothing other than levees before so had a hard enough time walking on these hills let alone driving a tractor on them!  They must have looked like the mountains of Nepal to him at the time.  Still today the only flat places in the county are the barn floors.
OOPS, back to the subject.  I can't rightly tell which tractor was next, I drove most of Grandpa's tractors (all MF's) until I was 18 and since then I have driven oh so many, (but never enough), different tractors.
So, Farmer, to answer your question, nope, sorry, I just can't tell you.  

David Myers
Paw Paw, MI
Ya know, I don't remember ever forgetting anything.

--- On Mon, 12/14/09, Indiana Robinson <robinson46176 at gmail.com> wrote:

> From: Indiana Robinson <robinson46176 at gmail.com>
> Subject: [AT] Can you name the first three tractors you drove?
> To: "Antique tractor email discussion group" <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
> Date: Monday, December 14, 2009, 8:56 AM
> I first drove the Ford 9N when I was
> about 7 with my father standing
> nearby pulling fence post. I had "steered" while sitting in
> his lap
> but that was the first time I "drove" it. I would back up
> to the post
> and he would hook the chain. Then I raised the hydraulic
> lever to pull
> the post and after he unhooked the post I drove to the next
> post and
> backed up to it. The 9N was traded for a new Jubilee Ford.
> -
> The next tractor I drove was the McCormick 10-20. I didn't
> drive it
> very much because I could not really handle it safely. To
> me it seemed
> like a behemoth... I really want one now even though they
> look pretty
> small now. :-) It was traded for a pretty decent 1939
> Chrysler 4 door
> in 1951.
> -
> The third was the Ferguson TO-20 he bought new in 1949. It
> was sold in
> nicely restored condition about 1970 after my father
> finally gave in
> to my mother's constant nagging and complaining about us
> having too
> many tractors... :-(
> Maybe that is why I want so many now. :-)
> Naw... I just love old iron.  :-)
> -
> Can you name the first three you ever drove?
> 
> 
> -- 
> Have you hugged your horses today?
> 
> Francis Robinson
> aka "farmer"
> Central Indiana USA
> robinson46176 at gmail.com
> _______________________________________________
> AT mailing list
> http://www.antique-tractor.com/mailman/listinfo/at
> 


      





More information about the AT mailing list