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Ken: Getting back to your W4 question and the possibility of it being the first W4 sold in Canada. That same communication factor I mentioned, making it hard to determine who may have sold the first W4, also positions London as having one of the better chances of selling the first one. Remember in the 1940s the transportation factor wouldn't have been much faster than communications. Those tractors were coming out of Chicago, and about the only spot on the Canadian map much closer would be Essex or Kent counties. I thought about this and as you may know I'm from central Nova Scotia. My grandfather, dad and I dealt with the same IH dealer, which by the way lasted for 3 generations also. (JG Parker & Son, Truro NS. When I bought my 1066, Owen Parker mentioned how quick it was to get a new tractor in Nova Scotia in 1975 compared to when he started out as a young man with his dad in the early 40s. He told me how he and Ralph Joyce made two week round trips from Truro NS to Chicago IL with a K-5 International and 40' flat bed trailer. If they didn't go after tractors, they just didn't get tractors that far away from factory. Tractors came through the system, but it was much too slow for Owen. We had no expiry DOT tractor registration in Nova Scotia. It wasn't uncommon down there to find tractors registered for the first time, two years old according to the serial number. Very common in the 40s and 50s, my Super A for example 53 model according to serial number, not sold new until 1955. I'm trying to find out a first and a last. Owen Parker was a mere teenager when he sold my dad a new W4 in Aug of 1942, could it have been his first sale? Within a month after I bought a new 1066 in Sept of 1975, Owen passed away, rather prematurely I might add. Could he have had a 35 year career and sold his first and last tractor on the same farm, and to the same family. Interesting, but I doubt if I ever find the answer.
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