Last fall I came across a barn that was being cleaned out. Outside was this gem of a homemade tractor I saved from the scrap heap. The tractor is a great example of “necessity is the mother of invention.”
A Model A Ford supplied the running gear with a cut-down rear end, and angle iron welded on the wheels formed tire cleats. It has a Model A Ford transmission and homemade throw bearing for the clutch, which is mounted over the rear end, and a huge chain-driven sprocket that would drive the tractor. The engine is missing and nowhere to be found. I think the engine had to be an air-cooled unit. The front end of the frame is not extended for a radiator. It must have been a large engine, based on the size of the starter.
Several engine and tractor enthusiasts have thought that this was a single plow tractor or rock-and-stump puller. The “man-killer” may have been used to drag out firewood logs, but not during Maine’s mud season. It will be used as a flower box this coming spring.
Paul Baresol, Buxton, Maine; pgbaresel@yahoo.com
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