October 1998
Leslie McDaniel
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Machines Of Iron
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Some prepare for winter's chill by canning tomatoes. Others caulk windows or cut wood. But if you're looking for a good way to warm up a cold night, you might tune in to a couple of new videos produced by Spinnaker Home Video.
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The pair from Spinnaker's 'Machines of Iron: America's Show Classics' series include a video on the Tulare, Calif., show and one on the Antique Gas and Steam Engine Museum at Vista, Calif.
Pop either of these videos into your VCR, and you'll be on the front row of the reviewing stand on a warm summer day. The camera focuses in on parades, but also takes you 'behind the scenes' to learn more about the most unusual pieces on display. (The Vista video, for instance, includes a segment on the history of a 1937 Power Horse tractor steered by reins.)
A tractor pull figures prominently in the Tulare video. Footage of top contenders' pulls is interspersed with a tour of the show grounds, parade highlights, a quick look at an auction, interviews, and even a dash into one of the exhibition halls, where you'll see everything from decorative chimes to belt buckles to toys to a performance by a men's choir.
The narration is kept simple, but informative. Mostly, it's the PA announcer calling out parade and tractor pull entries. First-person observations and
commentaries are provided by collectors and exhibitors. Those passages are the real gems of the videos: More than a sound bite, less than an interview, they give a real sense of the passion and affection these collectors have for their hobby.
When you go to a show, there's no telling what you'll see as you make your rounds. The folks at Spinnaker have duplicated that experience: in the Tulare video, you'll go from tractor pull to parade to kiddie tractors to earthmovers to motorbikes (including a 1911 Honda that could be operated manually in a pinch). You'll see a crawler modified to work cauliflower and broccoli fields, a 1936 McCormick Deering vineyard tractor, and a John Deere bicycle. The Vista video gives you a bird's-eye view of a 1950 Bucyrus Erie, terifle close-ups of steam traction engines, a rare 1939 General tractor, and a Fageol with vaguely menacing iron spike wheels.