Collector Archive

July Feature

When Craig Voss puts on his black cap and maroon T-shirt with the EVAPA logo, it means that somebody is probably going to get to see his nicely restored 1948 Allis Chalmers model “C”with the wide front that day.  It seems that the “C” is Craig’s favorite among a whole stable of AC’s.  Stored in a 30 x 45 metal building he recently built, he has another C, two B’s, a WC, a WD45 and a D15, as well as a “ton” of tractor parts.  He got the tractor bug after his father-in-law took him to a big MM show near Vail, IA.  He is hooked on AC tractors mainly because his Grandpa had farmed with them and he also likes the color and style.

Craig, who lives on an acreage in Council Bluffs, IA, came across his favorite tractor quite by accident.  He was driving around looking at some other tractors that had been listed in the newspaper; at one of his stops he found this “C” sitting in the overgrown bushes.  He took it home knowing that it had serious problems, since it was partly torn down, was missing parts and what wasn’t missing was entirely worn out.  It took him three years to restore this tractor, working in his small garage during the warmer months.  His wife, Inez, insisted that the garage be used for the family vehicle during the cold winter months.

Craig, as one of the early members of the organization, served as President of the Elkhorn Valley Antique Power Assn. during the 2002 year. He works for Products Unlimited in Omaha as an electrician and machinist.  Products Unlimited manufactures non-woven polyester batting that is used as furniture padding and also has a line of air and paint filters. The company builds much of its own production equipment in-house and modifies a lot of the purchased machinery and Craig has a hand in it all.

Craig says he enjoys EVAPA because everyone seems to have a common but not competitive interest in all tractors.  He likes getting involved in the events, especially the annual tractor ride and the working exhibits at the annual show.  Craig also has a great interest in the process of rebuilding and remanufacturing and his stable of AC’s waiting to be worked on gives him plenty of opportunity.

June Feature

This World War II Victory Garden tractor, owned by Howard Sheldon of LaVista, NE, was assembled from parts of a 1934 Ford sedan found in an East Lansing, Michigan auto salvage yard.  The builder was Walter H. Sheldon, Howard’s father, and a teacher in the Agricultural Engineering Department of Michigan State College (now Michigan State University).  It was built as a demonstration of what could be done during the War when tractors couldn’t be bought and everyone needed a big “Victory Garden” for to provide food during the rationing period.  The tractor was completed in 1942 and used to till the family garden until the mid 1950’s.  After that the tractor was modified slightly by mounting a trailer hitch on the front, so that the elder Sheldon could pull and park his camper trailer with it.  He used it this way until he died in 1972. The engine is a Cushman industrial engine built between 1910 and 1925.  The engine was salvaged from a spray-rig by Floyd Howard of Farmington, Michigan, a farm chemical dealer and the builder’s brother-in-law.

Howard, the present owner, was a navigator on a B-47 in the Air Force, and later worked as an accountant. He worked for the J. C. Robinson Seed Company  (Rob-See-Co) as a computer programmer for 15 years until retiring in 2000.  He took possession of the tractor in 1973 after his father died.  After using it mostly for fun, he put it in storage in the back of his garage in 1980.  It stayed there until his grandson, Chad Arterburn, and he decided to restore it in 2002.

After cleaning the tractor, reworking the engine and repainting it, Howard and Chad now drive it in parades and display it at the annual EVAPA show in September. He continues to store it in the back corner of his garage.  It is small and doesn’t take up much room except when he gets it out to work on it or prepare it for parade.

Howard enjoys the fellowship with the club members and says the club newsletter is a great help to him.  He is still looking for some parts to finish a complete restoration of this unique tractor to its original state.  The contacts that are available through EVAPA membership have been very helpful to that end.

Howard says, “This restoration really has been a great nostalgia trip for me.  It has brought back a flood of memories from my childhood.  I was 7 years old when Dad completed the tractor.  I was allowed to go to the shop and “help” Dad, but I mostly watched.  I remember the flash of the welder and the metal curling of the tool on the lathe.  I also remember some of the tests Dad put it through after it was assembled.  And to think that after 60 plus years, it still runs and I can proudly drive it in parades!!!”

May Feature

It’s one of life’s little miracles that Larry Greer became interested in antique tractors. Larry was born and lived the first 26 years of his life in north Omaha, NE.  City living then wasn’t conducive to being exposed to tractors, farm implements or even farm life.  After doing his tour of duty in military service, he returned home to marry (wife Cleo) and have a family of three girls and start a long and successful career at Omaha Public Power District. 

At the power company he was a foreman for general maintenance for nearly two decades and retired as a foreman for the steamfitter group. He completed 35 ½   years with OPPD and decided to take a break (retirement) and do something else that he would enjoy. Cleo informed him that there would be “no retirement without a hobby to pursue.” 

So he just happened to end up at a tractor show in Irwin, IA. In the course of the day he met Arlo North, a fellow EVAPA club member and Arlo and Larry talked at great lengths about what was to become his  “new hobby.”  Larry said that if he was to learn all that needed to be learned about tractor restoration, he wanted to find a “basket case” tractor and start from the ground up.  Arlo felt that Larry should start half way and learn the ropes a little at a time.  One week later Larry purchased a 1941 JD A from Arlo with a handshake and a wish for “good luck.”  The rest is history as Larry jumped in with both feet and has reworked a different tractor every year since he retired.  He has a John Deere A, B, H & G. They are all 1941’s, as that was an exceptional year, according to Larry!!  He does all his restoration in a detached two-car garage built specifically to be used as a shop where all the cleaning, mechanical work and painting can be done.  Larry has also restored a JD 2-row check planter, a 3-bottom plow, and a two-row cultivator.

Larry is one of the early members of the Elkhorn Valley Antique Power Assn., being a member since 1996.  Each year he takes in about 20 or more shows and parades.  One weekend a few years back he made three shows in two states. Though he paints in green, he doesn’t feel that any one brand of tractor is better than the other, but says the differences sure make for some interesting conversation.

April Feature

Jim Quinn with the family "D".

One of the biggest reasons people restore antique farm equipment is the family
bond shared between generations. There is no better example of this in the
Elkhorn Valley Antique Power Association than the 1935 John Deere D, owned by
the Quinn family, specifically brothers Jim and Roger Quinn of Bennington and
Elkhorn, NE and Roger's son Russ Quinn of Herman, NE.

Their father and grandfather, the late John Byron "Jack" Quinn, farmed near
Elkhorn his whole life and his first tractor was this D. Jack's older brother
Edwin owned and operated a sandpit business near Venice, NE and had easy access to equipment, which is how Jack acquired the large tractor (for it's time),
according to family history.

If you were to go back into time, you would be find most farmers in eastern
Nebraska were more likely to have a John Deere A or B than the more powerful,
nearly 30 horsepower D. The D was more common in small grain areas of North
American, such as the plains of Canada or the wheat fields of western Kansas.
The D was certainly an oddity for this area, which makes it even that much more
special.

The D, which were manufactured from 1924 to 1952, was used on the family's
dairy farm mainly as a plow tractor. The tractor was on steel when first purchased,
but was converted to rubber in the 1940's. The back tires of the tractor are
the original rubber tires, over 50 years old. Talk about getting your money's
worth!

The tractor was retired in 1962 when the combination of mechanical
problems and newer tractors pushed the old tractor into the line of old,
outdated farm equipment all farms seem to have. The tractor sat unused from 1962
to the mid-1990's when Jim and Roger, who still farm in the Elkhorn-area,
decided it was time for the D to be resurrected.

 After an ill-fated first attempt at restoration in which the person restoring
the tractor filed bankruptcy halfway through the restoration process, the
Quinns turned to another member of the Elkhorn Valley Antique Power
Association. Jim Dillon of Elkhorn took the time to reassemble the fragmented tractor parts, laid on a near-profession paint job, and restored the tractor to it's original showroom condition. One can only imagine the skill it would take to have put a puzzle like this back together after someone had disassembled it. Jim did an excellent job!

The D is now retired to a life of parades and tractor shows. The D is usually
joined by Jack's last tractor, a 1957 John Deere 620. Dad/Grandpa/Great-
Grandpa's tractor helps to serve as reminder of the Quinn family's history of
agriculture. More importantly, the 1935 John Deere D also acts as a bridge
linking multiple generations together.

March Feature

How does a computer guy with a quarter century of experience who finds that he can’t get farming out of his system find happiness?  Well, Randy Lukken followed his boyhood memories of growing up on a farm outside of Ponca, Nebraska.  He first acquired his 1949 Farmall C (pictured above) to help his family cultivate a half-acre of potato crop.  Working with his brothers, they were planting the “taters” with an old Super M that did not steer straight and true.  Using the C you can raise either side of the cultivator, which was nice for cultivating the rows that weren’t straight. 

Randy got his Farmall C (serial #51576) at a farm sale near Obert, NE (population 50 on the Nebraska border near Yankton, SD). After it was running good and looking clean (it had lots of oil and grease leaks), he had it painted and decaled.  It looked so nice that he started taking it to small town parades.  But his brothers thought it was a work tractor so he went out and bought a second C (serial # 51578) so they could have one to farm with, and Randy would have one to show.  To keep the tractor as original as possible he has resisted the encouragement of his brothers to convert it to a 12 volt system so it will start easier.  However, the family did convert the second C to 12 volts.

The Farmall C was produced from 1948 to 1951, when the “Super C” replaced it. Approximately 79,850 Farmall Model C tractors were manufactured. Driven by a 4-cylinder engine rated at 11.5 horsepower, it weighs 2,780 lbs. The C’s "Touch Control" system allows the operator to lower and raise implements by touching one small lever. 

Randy has worked for Northern Natural Gas in Omaha as a computer analyst for the past 22 years.  Besides tractoring, he plays a good game of golf, cheers on Nebraska football and follows the successes of his two-grownup sons.  Randy, who is in his second year as a member of Elkhorn Valley Antique Power Assn., feel his involvement has given him an opportunity to meet and share with other restorers.  His greatest enjoyment comes from seeing the smiles on people’s faces when they see and hear these old tractors.  He tells of one parade where a young boy about 10 shouted, “Nice looking tractor, mister!”  Randy figures he must have been a farm boy.  Look for Randy and his good-looking Farmall C at a small-town parade around Iowa/Nebraska this summer because he’ll probably be there!!

February Feature!

This high clearance Model 10 Caterpillar is owned by one of the Elkhorn Valley Antique Power Association’s founding fathers, Tim Rees of Elkhorn, NE.  Tim comes by his interest in CAT’s naturally for he is employed by Nebraska’s largest Caterpillar dealer, Nebraska Machinery Company, as the Parts and Service Sales Manager.  He started working for the dealership in 1974 as a mechanic doing track rollers. 

Tim located this rare find in Clarks, Nebraska.  The tractor was in good condition because, though it was out of service, it had been stored inside. Although the motor was stuck, the head cracked and a piston broken, it took only two winters (with some honey-do tasks mixed in) to get this jewel running, after a complete rebuild from radiator cap to drawbar.  The toughest part of the rebuild was the replacement of all the pins and bushings in the heavy-duty tracks.  Using a 100-ton press, it was two day’s work to dismantle and reassemble.  The rest was general clean-up, resealing, sandblasting  and painting.  This model 10 doesn’t just sit by itself on the rural Rees acreage for Tim, wife Cheryl, and teenagers Sarah and DJ (David John) also have 11 other Caterpillars (1924-1937), two John Deere’s, one Allis D-14 and a Ford Jubilee.

While nearly 4900 of the 10-14 horsepower model 10’s were manufactured, this high clearance version numbered less that 400.  It had a 3-row planter and cultivator made to use with it.  This gasoline-powered crawler weighs in at 4575 lbs.

Tim’s proud to be a member of Elkhorn Valley Antique Power Assn. and he finds the diversity of the more than 100 members to be a unique strength.  While some member’s expertise is restoration, others are great at organizing and planning club events.  He thinks Elkhorn Valley has some of the best-restored tractors in the area and states that our annual show demonstrates that our restoration quality is top-notch.

Tim’s personal satisfaction comes from taking something old, worn-out or rusty and turning it into something that is like new.  He gets great pleasure in noticing the look on an individual’s face when he/she sees something from the past that now looks like new and runs like it just left the manufacturing line.  The Rees family, including two dogs and two cats, are very involved in many Elkhorn community and church activities, but working with the enthusiastic members of Elkhorn Valley Antique Power is involvement they really enjoy.