Russ' Vintage Iron

The Thieman tractor was the subject of last month's Russ' Vintage Iron column. This month we have a couple of emails detailing more about the Thieman tractors, including one from a descendant of the founders of Thieman Harvester Co.

A simple conversation with a neighbor turns into a Vintage Iron column idea. A long-defunct tractor manufacturer built an inexpensive tractor during the Great Depression until World War II. Thieman tractors came in a kit and farmers assembled their tractors with their choice of a Ford...

Those who love vintage iron look forward to the beginning of summer, as it marks the start of small-town parades, tractor shows and antique tractor pulls. June is when many small-town celebrations take place, and parades are often at the heart of those. Who is bringing vintage iron to these...

Pennsylvania farmer Lucas Criswell's first tractor, a 1974 Case 1370, which he traded in 1998, popped up in different places a couple times over the years. The last time led to a big chance for the next generation of the Criswell family to get it back and restore it.

FFA students always look forward to Drive Your Tractor to School Day each year. While it usually takes place on a cold morning, many students drive their family's tractor to school to promote agriculture. In many small towns, the event turns into a special day for the entire community.

This month's edition of Russ' Vintage Iron features two Farmall stories from readers. These come after Case-New Holland (CNH) announced various activities planned to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the now-famous Farmall name.

Case IH celebrates 100 years of Farmall tractors. In 1923, an IH engineer had a vision of a tractor that would replace horses and perform many -- if not all -- farm tasks. The new tractors would allow farmers to easily cultivate their crops and the legendary Farmall brand was born.

Large, farm-place Christmas light displays always impressed me as a kid. Seeing Christmas lights on buildings, fences, and even farm machinery was remarkable. For a few years, roughly three decades ago, we did the same thing on our farm.

The 100th annual National Cornhusking Championship was held this month near Macomb, Illinois. While very few people around today have much experience picking corn by hand, family stories and history bring this lost practice back to life.

This month's edition of Russ' Vintage Iron is a look at grain storage in the past. The corn crib was an essential farm building.

In this month's edition of Russ' Vintage Iron, we take a closer at some of the lesser-known tractor variants. Some vintage tractor manufacturers had slight differences in their versions of the same series of tractors, while other makers had more complex different versions of the same tractor.