Russ' Vintage Iron

In October, I wrote a column about how many tractors farmers own. I even did a three-day-long X poll to see what people had to say. Most had 10 tractors or fewer, but some had 10 to 20 tractors, and a few had 20 tractors or more.

I also received the following email in response to that column:

"I read your column on tractors. You can never have enough tractors and that goes for Vise Grips also.

"I have over 40 in various states of use or just to have them. It all started many years ago when I was working at the local garage. One day my friend/neighbor/customer was in for an oil change.

"I asked Roy, 'What's New?' and he said, 'A guy stopped in and offered me $50 for my old John Deere GP.' I said that I would have bought it for curiosity, and Roy said, 'It's still there, you can have it if you like.'

"I had no clue what it looked like, but I stopped after work and fell in love with the rusty steel wheel tractor sunk in the ground after many years. I grabbed the flywheel, and it turned over. I told Roy, 'I'll take it, and I think I can get it running.'

"I did, and we drove it around the farm. He put it in the shed, and I left it there until fall, and then I drove it home.

"The other guy I met at an auction a couple years later, and in conversation, we found out we were the two guys who wanted this tractor. He was no longer mad, and now I knew a guy that made parts for old tractors and engines.

"Several years later, Roy walked into the garage to tell me how happy he is that I got the tractor. He said, 'I'll never come and look at it, but I know where it is.'

"He told me the other guy came with a truck and 'I'd never know what happened to it.' Roy said, 'You have no idea how it has made me sick thinking about what I almost did.'

"About two weeks later, Roy died on his lawn tractor where the GP had stood. Old tractors are fun, but the reality is lasting love is the story behind how I ended up with it.

"Many times, I swear there is a spirit riding with them that guides me to what I need and at a price I can afford. The GP started the love and the special people and story that got me to today and a mind full of love filled with old rusty tractors and parts."

-- Lester Rydeen

Marine on St. Croix, Minnesota

**

I want to thank Lester for the email. I appreciate him sharing his story about his tractors.

His line about having a lasting love with the story behind how he got the one tractor was very striking to me. That is kind of how I feel about vintage tractors.

The tractors themselves are obviously the main attraction, but I always thought the story behind these tractors was also extremely interesting. That was very evident when I visited the Dreessen family of Kennard, Nebraska, a few months back and they could tell me a detailed history of all 50 tractors that they owned.

That is probably a common trait with vintage tractor folks. I would guess most people know where their tractors came from and maybe even who owned them before.

For many of us, the tractors were owned by family, friends or neighbors.

I think about my own family's tractors and how some of them have been in our family for many years. Two tractors (John Deere 4010 and 4020) have been with us for around 50 years, another one (JD 620) for 65 years and another (JD D) for 89 years.

My dad and uncle restored their dad's 1935 John Deere D about 25 years ago. My grandpa, John B. "Jack" Quinn, and his brother, Ed, bought it new during the Great Depression. It didn't run and sat in a tree line for about 35 years before my dad and uncle decided it needed to run again. My grandpa used the tractor mainly for plowing in the spring, and Ed used it in the sand pit business he owned.

When I operate these four tractors, I really do feel a connection to past generations of my family. And this is especially true for the older two.

My grandpa died in 1980 when I was just 6 years old. But when I drive his 620 in one of our local small-town parades, I do think of him spending many hours on it decades earlier doing different tasks from plowing to planting to picking corn.

The same can be said about the D. My great-grandpa, James E. Quinn, passed away in 1939. Considering the tractor is a 1935 model and they have owned it since the beginning, he most likely operated it.

Thinking about my great-grandpa operating this tractor and three generations later, me doing the same thing is kind of amazing to me. And my children would be the fifth generation of our family to drive it.
And then some people wonder why farmers have such strong connections to their tractors.

Russ Quinn can be reached at Russ.Quinn@dtn.com

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