Factory Original-(long)

There is alot of 'stress' about keeping/returning things to "factory".Most if not all tractors were modified in some way or another.This variety keeps things interesting.I have noticed at tractor shows people walk down the line of tractors(show queens) and look but not stop.Then comes a 'oddball'.Homemade;rusty,ugly,modified.....People stop,look,point,crawl under/around,talk to each other about it....I rather prefer the odditys.About all the fancy show queens say is "look at me";"I have lots of money/talent...".The tractors/equipment that is 'personalized' are more 'real'.Back when things were new folks didnt have money to just go out and "buy"(like they do today)The tractor provided their liveing.They made it do what they needed to do,some times 'modifying' it in the prosess.When it broke down,they fixed as best they could to keep going.They didnt care if it was "original" or not.It just had to work! Keep ing the implements is also important,they give the tractor a meaning.People today dont know what a tractor was meant to do-work.I recently heard a young woman tell her children it was a "farm car"....I used the opportunity to (hopefully)educate them a little.I could go on...this is a 'sore spot",Important to me....Steve

Amen!! I like the show queens too. Lets us know where they stared from. But the additions done by the guys that used them day in and day out are very neat. It gives a little history what the farmers neede at the time. Look and see how many of those ideas are being used in todays tractors.

Totally agree. I can walk real fast past the seemingly endless rows of shiny Farmall M's and John Deere A's that are at every showing. I stop when I see something odd. I like to imagine just what problem the user was trying to overcome when they built this or welded that.

There is a lot of specialization in agriculture with sides of this or that, that may be unique to the farm or area, but is important to the operation as a whole. Look at the high crops, or offsets, factory, but modified to suit a purpose.

I like seeing a factory original, to learn what it was like off the assembly line, they have their place too, but given the purpose of this equipment its hard to be a purist unless its just for show, and even then just like old cars, people get nuts about it, correctness, restored, cosmetically or overhauled from a complete diss-assembly, with the age and OEM parts being not so available even those are not "pure" LOL, but look good and give a spectator an honest or as close can be representation of what it looked like new, paint and finishes are often times better, and it does look nice, I like both, nicely done restore or overhaul, and a complete original in nice shape still working or just a secondary tractor.

In earth moving, there was a Cat dealer, Peterson, who did all kinds of modifications for specific purposes, somewhere in CA. and is a great story to read, he did work with Caterpillar on some things, but was a leader in custom built equipment, per a contractors specialized needs, likely to increase production and profitability, those machines do have unique character and it does not take away from the strong reputation of the OEM manufacturer, just enhances it, same with ag equipment, I think its safe to say, enjoy all of it for what it is, original, or custom built for a need, its all good and certainly all of it was better than hand labor as modern times evolved.

My opinion only but if you are going to call it "restored" it needs to be as close to factory as possible.

That said, I have no problem with one that has been modified. It's just not "restored". In fact, the ones that just rolled in from working on the farm are usually the best and most interesting to look at.

slim

I agree! I guess I don't restore tractors, I fix them up! Our Farmall C got a bath and went to town for the parade but when it was all over it went home and cut the grass. I feel I do a better than average fix-up because I don't paint the belts and plug wires. That really bothers me, I call it a mop-job.

(quoted from post at 07:28:18 07/30/13) There is alot of 'stress' about keeping/returning things to "factory".Most if not all tractors were modified in some way or another.This variety keeps things interesting.I have noticed at tractor shows people walk down the line of tractors(show queens) and look but not stop.Then comes a 'oddball'.Homemade;rusty,ugly,modified.....People stop,look,point,crawl under/around,talk to each other about it....I rather prefer the odditys.About all the fancy show queens say is "look at me";"I have lots of money/talent...".The tractors/equipment that is 'personalized' are more 'real'.Back when things were new folks didnt have money to just go out and "buy"(like they do today)The tractor provided their liveing.They made it do what they needed to do,some times 'modifying' it in the prosess.When it broke down,they fixed as best they could to keep going.They didnt care if it was "original" or not.It just had to work! Keep ing the implements is also important,they give the tractor a meaning.People today dont know what a tractor was meant to do-work.I recently heard a young woman tell her children it was a "farm car"....I used the opportunity to (hopefully)educate them a little.I could go on...this is a 'sore spot",Important to me....Steve

Click to expand...

I enjoy looking at the restored tractors, I imagine they look like the new tractors dealers had on display at the county fairs back in the day (or better). Over the years my appreciation for the "farmerized" and original tractors has grown, they have a lot of character and I enjoy them as well. All of my old tractors are "restored" and I really enjoy working on them but if I had a decent original I would leave it that way. You can restore one over and over but it's only original once.

In my book and on my farm a tractor is a tractor is a tractor what ever stage they are in.

I have to agree.
Walk down a row of restored (insert your favorite model here) and they pretty much all look the same so I keep moving.
The ones that have mud on the tires, a few dents in the tin and 30 year old paint are the ones I will stop to scrutinize.

I am just drawn to looking over every WC, WD, and WD-45 I come across... Find restoration jobs or strange modifications. I will always stop and look at them.

I must agree again. We have an 8N on the place that my son-in-laws father bought new. One of my grandsons and myself had been talking about restoring Gmpa John's tractor. we have changed our minds. I have listened to a couple of SIL's sisters talking about their experiences with the little tractor - one of them claims to know "something" about the dent(s) in the grill and so on. Just would not be right to "restore" that tractor ! It needs some repairs, we will do that because we still find some jobs for it. He even has an original Dearborn sicle mower for it & that should still work also. KEN

Ever see one with a buck rake on the back and the seat and steering turned around? They'd go fast, too. Meaning they'd gotten the thing to go backwards as fast as they were meant to go forward. I first saw several in a field in the early 1940s buckraking windrows of pea vines.

One thing I know, as a kid on the farm in the 1950's I was more excited about seeing new models of tractors than I was about cars. Wonder if new tractors mean as much to farm kids nowadays, for one thing there isn't as much variety.

We will keep all the "dings" our Regular acquired over the years - it is part of the story of her life:

a broken, then badly welded support arm for the drawbar



a dented rear-end cover



an elongated hole and very badly welded spot on the draw bar



a somewhat tattered fan shroud or housing



all the dirt and grease build-ups like this steering gear and other areas (at least the ones that can be left undisturbed while my husband works on it)

Sweetfeet just needs some posies to put in her flower planter. Yellow ones would look nice.

I agree Delta...we have been making a concerted effort to get implements last few years...most frustrating thing is "well the scrap guy is gonna pay me this much, so if you want it that's how much it is!" Problem is that I'm just not that altruistic; by the time you pay scrap price for an implement, then factor in the cost to rehab it, the numbers just don't work out...happening with tractors alot now too...some guy on JD board last week tellin' us how stupid we were for not paying scrap plus for some junk tractors his neighbor had when ya could usually find a running one for the same price.