Posted by Fixerupper on September 25, 2011 at 17:12:03 from (216.51.181.73):
The other day we fired up the 'Old A' to give it a yearly excercise session. I got a little nostalgic thinking about the history of this tractor and I thought I'd share it with you.
In 1950 dad was farming 240 acres with a 47 Deere ANH as his only tractor. He needed a second tractor and the Deere dealer in town had the one he needed, a 35 A Ser.416239. He struck a deal and the tractor came to our farm. He didn't know the history of it but the dealer had put a new set of rings in it, new tires on the back, and a new coat of paint.
It was only used for the light jobs on our farm, mowing with a #5 mower, raking, hauling manure and running the elevator with a flat belt. It jumped out of second gear under a load and leaked a little here and there but it was a dependable starter as long as the starting routine wasn't messed up.
Fast forward about 40 years. Dad was visiting with a dear old farmer friend who's name was Maynard Mckenna, who he first became acquainted with when dad worked for him as a hired man during the war years. In 1948 when dad started farming Maynard loaned him machinery to help get him going and didn't want any money in return. In September of 1951, when I was 6 months old Maynard and his wife took me in as their son for 6 months while my mother lay in the hospital recovering from polio and again they didn't want a cent in payment. They were just genuinely good people and remained dear friends to us. He called me 'Jimmy' till the day he died and I always felt good that he still thought of me as his 'Jimmy'.(I'm beginning to tear up)
Anyway, during the conversation with dad Maynard started reminicing about the tractors he owned and got to talking about the 35 A he traded off for a new A in 1950. This turned out to be the old 35 A that dad bought. Dad had run this tractor for many hours picking corn for neighbors when he worked for Maynard as a hired man. All of a sudden this old worn second hand tractor had a completely new meaning to us. He went on to tell dad he had bought it used from his father-in-law who bought it new and farmed with it just south of Sulphur Springs, Ia. He also told dad that sometime in the late 30's this tractor was taken to a machine shop in Alta, Ia to be put on rubber.
We sent the serial # to the Deere archives and found out out it was made, or shipped, I'm not quite sure on that, on april 5, 1935 was sent to the Omaha branch and then was sold through the dealer in Odebolt, Ia. I've put new rings in it and ground the valves, but other than that nothing mechanical has been done to it through the 61 years it's been on this farm. It still has the same rear tires. The paint job is a 'Dupont restoration' I did about 20 years ago. Needless to say it will stay on this farm as long as I'm alive and will be well cared for as a tribute to Maynard. My son won't let it go either so hopefully this old tractor will be in the family for another 60 years. Jim
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Today's Featured Article - Listening to Your Tractor - by Curtis Von Fange. Years ago there was a TV show about a talking car. Unless you are from another planet, physically or otherwise, I don’t think our internal combustion buddies will talk and tell us their problems. But, on the other hand, there is a secret language that our mechanical companions readily do speak. It is an interesting form of communication that involves all the senses of the listener. In this series we are going to investigate and learn the basic rudimentary skills of understanding this lingo.
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