Making Antique Decals

Enlarge Image Image Gallery A diesel International Harvester decal.

A sense of sweet anticipation fills each day for John Hiniker of North Mankato, Minn., — anticipation that more tractor decal orders will be coming his way. "Almost every day I get a new order," he said. "Those orders are the highlight of my day."

He's been getting them now for 30 years, even though he hasn't advertised in decades. "I probably should advertise, but I don't," the 86-year-old tractor aficionado said. "I don't know how many more years I'll be doing this."

John started making decals in the early 1970s because he couldn't find any for the tractor he was restoring. "It was a McCormick-Deering 10-20," he said. "I went to the International dealers and they didn't have any, and I checked other places too, but I couldn't find any."

Finally, on a chance visit to an International Harvester dealer in Rogers, Minn., John found his first set on a dusty shelf. "I saw an envelope with the last 10-20 decals he had," John recalled, "and you couldn't get any more."

Knowing other tractor collectors and dealers also needed the hard-to-find decals, John took that set to a Minneapolis silk-screening company and had some more made.

Initially, he said, International Harvester gave him a hard time but when John explained that their own dealers wanted him to make the decals and that the decals were only restoring the company's name to their own tractors, they changed their minds.

"After that," John said, "the International Harvester Company in Minneapolis sent out a bulletin to all the dealers in the area, informing them that I had these decals - and I started getting calls."

His first decals were for the 10-20 and  15-30 McCormick-Deerings, not only because he was restoring those tractors, but because he knew a number of other 10-20s and 15-30s were being restored at that time, providing a ready market. "Then I made decals for other tractors, like Allis-Chalmers, for the WC, WD-45 and WD. I still have a few of those on hand; I don't sell many."

The same goes for his decals for International Harvester orchard tractors, the IHC I-4 industrial tractor and Hi-Clearance tractors, including the International AV, HV and MV.