Lots of tractors at the State Fair; I'm given to understand that they even do a tractor parade.
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| Teeny little '54 IH Farmall Cub, not quite waist-high on a grownup. Its charming bug-eyed asymmetry rated a piccie. |
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| Great big brand-new John Deere, casting a shadow that dwarfs some apartments I've rented and sporting a price tag that would get you a couple Roseholme Cottages with money left over for a kickin' hot tub in the back yard. (Small child not included.) |
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| This picture is from last year's fair. Unfortunately, our favorite tractor wasn't there this year. Perhaps Flash Gordon was using it to harvest the spice crop on planet Mongo. |
I never miss the antique tractor show at the fair. That last paint combo - sherbet orange on the tractor and fire engine red on the wheels - is my hands down favorite.
ReplyDeleteThe Minneapolis Moline comfort tractor is so rare every fair only gets it for one year So it'll take 50 years for it to come back to Indianapolis again.
ReplyDeleteOnce in a while our fair will have a short collection of "orchard" style tractors, swoopy streamlined things made to drive through fruit tree orchards without snagginig the branches on the sharp corners of the tractor.
The Cub shares that asymmetry with the Farmall A/Super A, a representative of which is partially visible behind the cub's right rear tire. IH called it "Culti-Vision", as offsetting the powertrain gave the operator a much better view of what was going on beneath the tractor.
ReplyDeleteBonus! Article on Flash Gordon's tractor: http://www.hemmings.com/hcc/stories/2005/04/01/hmn_feature19.html
ReplyDeleteThanks for pointing me down that rabbit hole, Og! :)
Does the Deere at least come with that Cow hat?
ReplyDeleteNever lived on a farm...and my grampaw's farm was strictly mule driven. So...WHY do I loves me some tractors???
ReplyDeleteTam,
ReplyDeleteThe big John Deere, at that angle, looks like the "Farm-zoid" in the movie Spaced Invaders.
Dave
International Harvestor's products are all one of a kinds.
ReplyDeleteIf you buy an old International, you will find a line card in the glove box. Do not lose it. It tells the dealer what assemblies were used to make that particular item.
For example, if they needed to make a bunch of trucks, they grabbed whatever axles happened to be available at that particular moment, used them, and put them on the line card ... that axle could have been meant for a road grader ... if it could be made to fit and work, it would go in.
The farms where I grew up were all cattle-driven - bullocks pulled the plow. I want an International Havester M1 Garand.
ReplyDeleteThere's no spice on Mongo - it's all on Arrakis!
ReplyDeleteHmmm. Swap the big lugs for slicks, throw on straight headers and a big blower, and that last one could be used in the live-action Krass & Bernie movie.
ReplyDeleteKinda doubt it's got the guts to do wheelstands on launch, even on nitro, though.
Tam, do you get RFD-TV? They have classic tractor shows all the time... between horse training shows and small gardening and Ag PhD.
ReplyDeleteFor some reason, that last one radiates a vibe of "I started life as a pickup truck." There's no bed and the wheels are in entirely the wrong places, but it's uncanny how much that cab and hood look like a really old pickup truck. Or maybe a milk truck.
ReplyDeleteWolfwalker...it reminds me of the tractors you'd see in old pictures of the DEW line WAYYYY up north in the Artic.
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