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
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
“In 1970 the town of Donahue, Iowa, had its centennial, and they
were going to have an antique tractor parade and pull,” Dick says.
“So I went looking for a tractor.” Dick didn’t have to look far to
find the first tractor for his collection. In fact, he knew about
this machine from his teenage years at home on the farm. The 1935
Rock Island was still parked in the orchard at his dad’s farm when
Dick went looking for it. “It was a little rough from sitting all
of those years,” Dick says. “But dad gave it to me and I managed to
get it going for the celebration.”
“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 COOP.
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.”
Among Dick’s especially unusual Hubers is a one-of-a-kind 1937
Model L delivered from the factory with a custom-built
extra-capacity fuel tank for an Indiana farmer. He also has a 1935
Model SC, which is an unusual row-crop version of the Model S (C
stands for cultivator), and a 1935 Model S Modern Farmer he has
restored to perfection. The tractor is rare today: Dick says just a
couple hundred were built. Dick’s Huber collection also includes a
Model 40-62 Industrial with rear duals. That tractor was originally
delivered with hard rubber tires. Dick also has the 33rd
Huber-built CO-OP tractor – out of a total of 34 (or 36, depending
on which reference you consult). This machine dates to the
mid-1930s and is essentially a Huber Modern Farmer Model S, but it
is painted CO-OP red. The Duplex Printing Press Co., Cockshutt and
possibly others built later CO-OP tractors (see July 2005 issue of
Farm Collector).
The most unusual tractor in Dick’s collection may well be his GO
friction drive model. The GO tractor was built by the General
Ordinance Co. of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in 1919. The machine was
previously also sold under the names Denning and National, but
according to Dick, those companies went broke. Dick says his GO is
one of eight known to exist in the U.S. and one of two that run.
Dick found his GO on one of his Huber forays into Ohio. Like the
Heider, the GO tractor makes use of a Rockwood friction
transmission built by the Rockwood Manufac-turing Co. of
Indianapolis, and requires sliding of the engine to change
speeds.
More than machines
“I like to get as much information about the tractors I collect
as possible,” Dick says. “So our literature collection is now
pretty substantial also.” “Substan-tial” is really an
understatement, but what is true is that if Dick needs detailed
information about a Heider, Huber, Rock Island or any of a number
of additional brands, he need only look through his library to find
it.
“When you are looking for old and rare pieces of literature, you
have to be patient,” Dick explains. “And you have to look
everywhere.” Dick inadvertently attends a large number of auctions
and combs sale bills for paper items of interest. He can’t say
exactly how much literature he has, but the number is high, and he
has virtually all of the Huber, Rock Island and Heider lines fully
covered. Dick also has several serial number lists, along with many
parts catalogs, operator’s manuals, sales brochures and service
materials.
“When you are in the restoration business, it helps to have
numbers, instructions and pictures,” Dick adds with a chuckle. “The
rest of it you figure out as you go along.” At this point Dick
isn’t really searching for any specific machines to add to his
collection. He does continue to look for literature, but he won’t
rule out adding a machine or two. For Dick, getting into the
restoration business was the best therapy his ailing back could
get.
For more information:
– Dick Bockwoldt, 27404 60th Ave., Dixon, IA 52745; (563)
843-2270.
– Oscar “Hank” Will III is an old-iron collector and
freelance writer and photographer who retired from farming in 1999.
He splits his time between his home in Gettysburg, Pa., and his
farm in East Andover, N.H. Write him at 243 W. Broadway,
Gettysburg, PA 17325; (717) 337-6068; e-mail:
willo@gettysburg.edu
Heiders Muscle In
The Heider Manufacturing Co. was rooted on the Heider family
farm north of Templeton, Iowa where, in the late 1800s, young Henry
Heider became known for his ability to repair machinery, harnesses
and other horse-hitching devices. By the time he was 21 years old,
Henry had patented an evener that facilitated a 4-horse hitch, and
by the time he was 24, his hitch repair and evener manufacturing
business had outgrown the buildings on the farm. In 1903, Henry
formed a partnership with his older brother, John, who was well
into a career in banking, and the brothers moved the fledgling
manufacturing business to Albert Lea, Minn., where demand for their
goods literally soared, and rapidly outstripped their production
capacity.
By 1905, the Heider Manufacturing Co. was located in Carroll,
Iowa, just a few miles north of Templeton, where they produced a
line of wooden ladders, a large number of horse-hitch items
(including a new 6-horse evener) and replacement parts. In 1908,
Henry began serious work on a tractor design, and by 1911 the
Heider Model A was offered for sale. The single-speed,
friction-drive tractor was painted green and silver, and sported
red French and Hecht wheels and a 4-cylinder Rutenber engine.
Heider’s Model B tractor was released in 1912 as a 4-plow
tractor. It featured the same 40-hp Rutenber engine as the Model A,
but it had better weight distribution and an improved overall
design. The Rock Island Plow Co. had become Heider’s largest
tractor customer by 1913, and the small company initially struggled
to supply Rock Island’s demand. In 1914, Rock Island and Heider
entered into a formal agreement with Heider listed as the
manufacturer and Rock Island the distributor and principal sales
agent for the tractors.
Henry Heider’s third tractor was released in 1914 as the Model
C. This machine used a Waukesha engine and was a near complete
redesign from previous models. Once again, Henry opted to utilize
Rockwood’s Friction Transmission, but in this case, the engine and
flywheel (coated on the edge with friction material) could be slid
forward or backward with the help of a lever (locking in seven
positions), which changed the relative diameter of the
transmission’s driven wheel, effectively giving the tractor seven
speeds. The Rock Island Plow Co. was impressed with the Model C and
bought the tractor in large numbers, and in early 1916, negotiated
purchase of Heider’s tractor division – along with the services of
Henry Heider.
Henry’s relationship with Rock Island netted them the 2-plow
Heider Model D in 1917, the Model 15-27 in 1925, and the
sliding-gear transmission-equipped Model 18-35 in 1929. Henry
resigned from Rock Island in 1922 shortly after working out much of
the 18-35’s design. Terms of the Heider-Rock Island agreement
stipulated that the tractors carry the Heider name through
1927.
Meanwhile back in Carroll, Iowa, Heider Manufacturing Co. was
still busy with horse-hitch parts, ladders and Henry’s All American
Coaster Wagon that initially featured fifth-wheel steering and,
later, automotive-type steering. The company went on to produce
farm wagons, feed wagons, running gear, truck boxes, hog feeders,
farm gates and other items until it was sold to the Wellbuilt
division of the Scranton Manufacturing Co. in 1983.
