Restorative Therapy
Iowa farmer's course correction keeps him on his feet
By Oscar H. Will III
When Dick Bockwoldt's physician told him to either quit farming or live with debilitating pain in his back and subsequent loss of mobility, Dick's life almost immediately changed for the better. After some careful thought and planning, the Dixon, Iowa, farmer sold his cattle and machinery, and turned his tractor restoration avocation into his new vocation. “We didn't plan it this way,” Dick says from beneath a respirator as he emerges from the paint booth. “But it has worked out very well for us.”
“About 14 years ago, the doctor told me to get off the tractor or else,” Dick explains. “The constant twisting and rocking over rough ground had really damaged my back and there was a chance I would lose mobility.” As luck would have it though, by then Dick had developed a steady side business of restoring tractors. But restoration work also can be hard on a back. “The doctor told me if I wore good, soft-soled shoes in the shop and was really careful about lifting, my back would be okay,” Dick explains. “So far, I have not had any more problems, but I am careful.” He still misses the cattle, especially the calves, but with over a year's worth of restoration work backlogged today, he admits the change was a good one.
So how does a farmer become a restoration artist, all in a single lifetime? In Dick's case, he started as a collector, and when folks saw the quality of his work, they wanted to engage his services. As might be expected, Dick has put together an interesting and highly unusual collection of machines, implements and related ephemera during his more than three decades of collecting. “Just about any tractor or implement is interesting to me,” Dick says. “But I like to collect things that you don't see too often.”
In the beginning
“When I was 16, we were farming with an International F-20 and a John Deere A, and dad wanted something for grinding feed,” Dick says. “Dad bought the Rock Island to power the hammer mill.” Dick is quick to point out that both the F-20 and Model A were plenty capable of running the hammer mill, but it was difficult to accomplish when the tractors were outfitted with their front-mounted cultivators and other implements. “It was a real chore removing the cultivators just to grind feed,” Dick explains, “only to put them back on again.”
Although the Bockwoldts didn't realize it at the time, that Rock Island tractor had a family connection. “I went with my dad to look at the tractor,” Dick says. “The guy had a pair of them, one on rubber, and one with steel wheels and fenders.” Dick's dad made the deal on the tractor with rubber tires, but he negotiated for the fenders too. Once they got the machine home, Dick and his dad replaced the tractor's repaired front axle and put it to work. “One day my dad's uncle came over while we were grinding and thought he recognized the tractor,” Dick says. “But then he said it couldn't be the one because it had fenders and a good front axle.” Once the fenders were explained, Dick took his great-uncle behind the shed to look at the old axle. As it turns out, Dick's great-uncle had driven that particular tractor pulling gondola cars at the Rock Island Plow Co. foundry where he had worked.
In 1970, Dick didn't know what the proper paint scheme was for the Rock Island tractor so he painted it with an early Case color scheme – orange with black accents. But the outlandish color scheme drew attention to Dick's skills as a painter, which led to many requests by area enthusiasts for help with their restoration projects. In the 1970s, the tractor-collecting hobby was in its infancy, and few were concerned with correctness. Today, however, that has all changed, and so the 1935 Rock Island is again in pieces, primed and ready for a fresh coat of paint.
An unusual collection
Many collectors are fascinated by a specific tractor brand and limit their collection to that line. Others focus on variations of a specific model, or even on representative examples of the entire lineage of a particular model. Dick Bockwoldt's approach adds even more variety. He collects unusual models of even more unusual brands. His collection includes tractors with names like GO, Heider, Rock Island, Huber and CO-OP.
Shortly after finishing his first Rock Island tractor, Dick started looking for others. To date he has 11 Rock Islands, including a beautiful 1929 Model FA with a Rock Island plow in tow, and a Model G that was sold in Canada. “I learned that Rock Island tractors sold here were painted grey with red wheels, and for the Canadian market they were painted green with red wheels,” Dick explains. “Both are technically correct.” Dick also has an earlier 1920 Rock Island Heider Model C in original condition. “The Heider is unusual because it has a friction drive transmission,” Dick explains. “You change the speed by sliding the engine forward or backwards.” Dick's Rock Island Heider had spent its life running a sawmill, so not only was the friction-drive system intact, the tractor was in remarkably good condition, and its 2-bottom plow was virtually perfect.
By the early 1980s, Dick was on the lookout for something else to collect when he saw Huber tractors for sale in Ohio. “I got an army buddy to look at them for me,” Dick says. “When he gave me the word, I sent a semi out after them.”