I learned to drive on a tractor just like this at age 12
Originally uploaded by luacreskid.
Even though I spent most of my quality tractor time on a 1954 JD Model 40, This old 1944 "B" is closest to what I learned to tractor on. Ours did not have the nice seat and lights, but other than that it is pretty close. Ours was a hand crank (at the flywheel) with a metal seat.
Everything I learned about tractoring was from Brother Dave, including how to speed shift with a hand clutch. Ours, and this one, has a five forward gears and a two speed axle. The speed shifting came when you went from 5th low to 5th high. When you were going as fast as it could go in low range, you pulled back the hand clutch, shoved the two speed axle from low to high with your foot and reengaged the clutch. Hey, Dude, look at me.
The two red tractors represent some significant events for me as well. The big tractor that pulled the baler and the combine was an MTA. While this model does not have a torque amplifier, it is a big Farmall M. The MTA was superseded by a Farmall 400 by 1957. The Super C was the competition for my JD 40. It was quieter than my JD for sure, but it was not stronger. I liked raking with the "Supie" as we called it, but when it came to plowing or harrowing, the JD was tough.
Oh yes, the red tractors were owned by Brother Dave's father in law. They were farming together in the 1950s. I was summer help in the summers of 56, 57 and 1958. After Dave and family went to seminary in Washington DC in 1959 (the summer after I graduated) I sold my livestock and headed to Penn State. Good memories...Dave, Tillie, Margy, Becca and their cousins, Liza, LuAnn, Buddy, their Aunt Peg were all a part of my life during those years. Whew...over 50 years ago.
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