Vintage tractor collector and Illinois native Jim Frank uses old iron to bring family legacy to life across five generations.
Nostalgia is the motivation behind some collections. Others hinge on rarity or variety or local connections. Jim Frank’s collection has just one goal: Preservation of family legacy.
Antique tools, an old buggy, tractors once owned by family members – even a fireplace mantle crafted from a hand-hewn walnut beam from an ancestor’s barn – are among the relics Jim has lovingly gathered and preserved at his home near Springfield, Illinois, sometimes without intending to.
Decades ago, when Jim’s mother saw her father (then in his 80s) working near a shed on a hot day, she dispatched young Jim to go help. The shed had partially collapsed during a storm, and the elderly man was trying to retrieve a buggy and his farm tools. Jim lent a hand, but progress was slow.
Frustrated, his grandfather said he thought he’d just light a match to the shed and its contents. Jim can’t explain it today (“I don’t know who was speaking,” he says. “I never wanted that stuff before that minute”) but he staked his claim when he said, “No! I want it!”
The two worked all day to extricate the buggy. They loaded the old tools in it and parked the buggy in a shed, where it sat for 18 years before Jim began mounting the tools on barnboard in his new home.
Hard work and risk-taking from a vintage tractor collector

Today, when Jim shares the treasures with his kids and grandkids, the relics bring valuable lessons to life. “I like telling the kids about my forebears who were involved in agriculture, how they worked very hard to make a living at it, and how primitive the tractors were,” he says. “But they were such labor-saving machines compared to farming with horses.”
“Then and now,” he muses, “agriculture is about very hard work and risk-taking. If you want to get ahead in this field, you have to have a strong work ethic and be willing to take risks. That’s how you get ahead and build wealth.”
The six family tractors in his collection are tangible reminders of work and risk. Jim has told each of his adult children and grandchildren that the tractors have been preserved for their use. “I’ve told them, ‘If you have rural acreage and you’re going to stay there a while, let’s talk about which tractor suits you and we’ll find a mower that works with it and I will deliver it to you. If you no longer need it, the tractor comes back to me so I can give it to the next generation.'”
The tractors have professional paint jobs and new parts. Well, mostly new parts. “All of them have their original steering wheels,” Jim says. “Whoever drives them puts their hands where their great-great grandpa’s hands once were. Maybe they’ll imitate his work ethic; maybe his risk-taking will be handed down. I think you should be proud of your heritage. I think the kids get that.”
Some of the grandkids have no farm experience but all are interested in the old tractors. Each has learned to drive at least the John Deere Model A and the Model 60. And it’s a safe bet that they’ve heard the stories.
1947 John Deere Model A

One of the first John Deere production models with Roll-a-Matic on the front, the Model A was Gail’s granddad’s (Johan Adolphson’s) tractor. He needed a tractor during World War II but nothing was available during the war years. He had to wait until 1947 to get the Model A. “I think this was his main tractor,” Jim says. “He farmed 80 acres in Marshall County, Illinois, with this tractor and a cultivator.”
Johan emigrated to the U.S. from Sweden at age 14. The oldest of 12 children, he came by himself. Pulling himself up by his bootstraps, he eventually put together holdings that included a house and farmland. Working with his son, Rudy, Johan continued farming until his death at age 85. Rudy used the Model A on his farm near Edelstein, Illinois. After his death, the tractor was purchased by Gail Frank from her mother.
Jim found a retired John Deere mechanic to restore the Model A. That man tried to talk Jim out of spending all the money needed to rebuild the engine and transmission when, he said, a similar working tractor could be purchased for $2,200. Jim wasn’t having it. “Johan and Rudy didn’t drive that tractor,” he said.
1951 Allis-Chalmers CA

Jim’s uncle, Marion Frank, bought the Allis new. Jim has the two-row cultivator and two-bottom plow he used with it. “He lived through the Depression and World War II and he worked three jobs,” Jim says. “He was very frugal. He wouldn’t buy another tractor; he used that one for more than 55 years. The Allis was probably the second tractor I ever drove.”
After Marion was injured in World War II, he was eventually taken to a field hospital where he lay all day, unable to see or speak. “He heard a nurse say ‘Frank’s still alive, doctor. What do you want to do with him?’ and he finally got treatment,” Jim says. “He was in 12 hospitals during the next three years, but he lived to be 94.”
1953 Ferguson 30

“My dad got the Ferguson in 1959 when I was 10,” Jim says. “Dad used it for years and then I bought it from him. It was originally industrial yellow but I painted it in the Ferguson colors when I was in Future Farmers of America (FFA). When I got my own place, I needed a small tractor with a loader, and it was my only tractor for a while. You expect a loader tractor to be beat up, and it was.
“When it was a State of Illinois mowing tractor, they used it to load cinders and salt, and it had a lot of corrosion. When we took the rims off during restoration, we found calcium chloride used as ballast in the rear wheels. I don’t know how those rear rims held up without falling apart. I do have a Ferguson two-bottom plow for the three-point hitch and a brass tag Ferguson disc.”
1953 John Deere 60

“My uncles lived 9 miles apart; they shared pasture and cattle,” Jim says. “They’d drive cattle back and forth and hauled hay. When my uncle (Robert Frank) bought this tractor new, he used it for a custom sileage cutting operation. In 1953, it was a pretty good size tractor. He had it rebuilt 10 years before he died, but it didn’t get much use after the rebuild.”
Robert removed the center plug from the flywheel cover and installed a removable steering wheel. That way, he could roll it over occasionally by using a steering wheel, ensuring that the pistons wouldn’t get stuck in the cylinders.
“When I got it a year after he died, the engine was perfect,” Jim says. “He never used a loader on it and kept it inside. The sheet metal is really straight on that tractor. He repainted it with a brush. At age 11, this was the third tractor I drove.”
1961 Farmall 560

“I bought the Farmall 560 in 1988 because the Ferguson was worn out. The man I bought it from had bought it new. It was in good shape when I bought it, and boy, I jumped up in power. The Farmall became my main tractor for haying and mowing. I welded up a round bale mover for the two-point hitch.
“When I restored it, I had the valves ground and pistons replaced, and got new wiring and gauges. I cleaned it up and it has a really, really nice finish. Today it’s a good parade tractor. It has eye-popping road gear; it’ll go 20mph.”
1978 John Deere 2240

Almost 20 years after buying the old state highway department Ferguson loader tractor, Jim’s dad (Thomas) was still putting the aging tractor through its paces. Jim’s mother had had enough of the old relic. “Mom threatened to buy a new tractor if Dad didn’t,” Jim says. The same weekend Jim took possession of the Ferguson, his dad sealed the deal on a new 1978 John Deere 2240.
“It was so much easier to operate and more powerful,” Jim says. “He said he didn’t know why he hadn’t gotten one earlier – but he didn’t say that within Mom’s earshot.” When Jim got it, the tractor had all of 748 hours on it. “For a diesel, that’s hardly broken in,” he says. Thomas only used it to haul manure and mow weeds, and kept it shedded.
In about 2019, Jim made arrangements for a local FFA chapter to do a cosmetic restoration of the tractor. He connected with an ag teacher in Arcola, Illinois, who was looking for a project for a group of juniors and seniors. A deal was struck and the tractor was delivered – and then the pandemic struck. “It stretched a one-year project to almost two school years,” Jim says.
Ultimately, the tractor gained a professional paint job (thanks to a student’s dad, owner of an auto body operation). Jim’s costs dropped, so he doubled his donation to the chapter for the youths’ work. Jim and Gail were invited to a celebration, complete with the restoration crew sporting their blue FFA jackets.
It was a meaningful moment for Jim, who served as president of his FFA chapter during his senior year in high school in Sparland, Illinois, in 1967. Eventually, it all came full circle: As a high school student, Jim restored his dad’s first tractor as an FFA project. Years later, a new generation of FFA members restored his dad’s second tractor.
For more information, email Jim Frank at fci93@aol.com; phone: (217) 341-2233.
Leslie C. McManus is the editor of Farm Collector. Email her at LMcManus@ogdenpubs.com.