Mid America Show 44, Page 2

I arrived at the venue about 10:45 Thursday morning, Thursday advertised to be the opening day of the show.  But I arrived a bit early, for many of the featured items were not yet in place.  In fact, I spotted two semi transporters loaded with the old iron waiting to be unloaded.

 The Ford 9000 hauler was interesting in its own right;

it is more than 25 years old!

 Two trucks full of old tractors.

 Unfamiliar marque.*

 I don't know Empire, either.  *click*

 I do know Avery because I have a friend in Minnesota

who has been searching for a certain model Avery.

 I was not surprised that Porsche made tractors, but I was

surprised that someone imported them.

 Fageol: now that is an artistic wheel. *click*

 Long.  Really?  *click*

 Love Tractor.  Okay, there are those who "love" tractors.
*click*

 Silver King.  There were two of them, one behind the other on the truck.
*click*

 Custom, which begs the question, custom what?  *click*

Another fun summer day in the Midwest!

*A bit of digging on the Internet suggests that Farmaster is a defunct U.S. company who imported Chinese-made Jinma tractors and sold them under the name Farmaster.

Mid America Show 44

It's tractor time!  The Mid America Threshing and Antique show starts today here in Perfect.  I trekked out to the showgrounds on my bicycle and made the rounds.

Last year's featured brand was Allis-Chalmers and the year before that it was Oliver.  This year the feature is "Lesser Known Brands."  I am starting this tour by featuring a nice old Huber manufactured in Marion, Ohio.

Those solid rubber tires are bolted to the rims.

I've a feeling the operator is in for a rough ride.

 Need to saw some logs?  See that power take-ff there just

behind the transmission?  Four cylinders at your service!

42nd Edition, Mid-America Show

 We spent the first two days of this year's celebration of Oliver equipment in our air conditioned cave, and with good reason.  We are much too old to be out and about in this August's weather offerings.  Saturday morning, though, the sky was occluded, the temperature was lovely and I went to the doings.  I strolled leisurely through the grounds marveling at the ingenuity of our species.

The first set of machinery that caught my eye was a display of single-cylinder yard and utility tractors.  It appears as though these little  monsters could handle a wide variety of chores, up to and including sawing up fallen timber.

 Where this collector found the paint for this beauty I know not, but it certainly made the machine a standout in the crowd.

 The featured make this year is the Oliver.  An old Oliver was the first (and only) tractor that I drove in actual farm work, turning the soil following the wheat harvest in Liberal, Kansas in 1952.  Mr. Rohrer had a big hit-and-miss John Deere as well, and my friend Wes was assigned to it.

 The Oliver Chilled Plow Company operated out of South Bend, Indiana and had factories in other locales.  The company was purchased by White in 1960.  White manufactured tractors under the Oliver name, and under the Cockshutt, Minneapolis, and White names as well. The Oliver 2255 also sold as the White 2255 was the last Oliver tractor.  From 1974 the company used the White brand only.

This event is held at the Tipton County Fairgrounds each August.  I have attended for several years and enjoy it every time, marveling at the machinery and talking to the old guys and gals who love their equipment.

Conversation with Random People: Twelve

Here about a year ago, I related a conversation with one of the exhibitors at the Mid-America Threshing and Antique Show.  This year I stopped to visit with him again, talked Sandwich engines, our health in general, and wished him a happy eightieth birthday come October.  He said I had a pretty good memory for an old man.

On down the way fifty yards or so, I saw a display which I almost rode past.

I turned the bike around and went back.  An old fellow visiting a few yards away saw me stop, hobbled over on his cane.  He was the proud tinkerer who created these lovelies.

"Keeps me out of bars and out of trouble.  Actually, I don't drink, never have.  I only have one vice."

"Building these things?" I queried.  He might have been insulted, but he didn't seem to be.

"No.  Smoking."  Okay, he is nearly as old as I am, and if it hasn't killed him yet. . .

"I have never seen sewing machines repurposed in just this way," I averred.  

Then he was off about his ownership and participation in monster truck rallies, dreams of constructing one more "sewing machine" monster, steam-engined this time, his children, his residence and his loss thereof in the Palm Sunday tornado of 1965, and so on.  You see why I was unable to provide details of the conversation, or I should say monologue, for it was sometime before I found a chink in his reverie where I could put in a gracious "Nice talking with you.  Good luck on your next project."

Allison V-12

Green Monster

Grey Ghost

McCormick at the Mid-America Threshing and Antique Show

A lot of red at the show this year.  What could the featured machinery be?

Then this baby, "Gray Tractor," went rumbling by.  It is a vintage
roller, or road compactor.

Mid-America Threshing and Antique Show

The show opened and I had an opportunity to walk through before the crowds gathered.  Hope to share more later.