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Hoosier group’s 21st show to feature Custom tractors
By NANCY VORIS
Indiana Correspondent

EDINBURGH, Ind. — The National Custom Tractor Club, a heavyweight horse pull and a home carved from a California redwood tree lead the events at the 2012 Johnson County Antique Machinery Assoc. (JCAMA) Show happening this Friday-Sunday at the Johnson County Park in Edinburgh.

JCAMA’s 21st annual show highlights Custom tractors, built just up the road in Shelbyville. Custom Manufacturing Co. was established in 1944 by three members of the National Farm Machinery Co-Operative: C.F. Brown, manager of the tractor project; Edwin Ashley, tractor designer; and Dan Heininger, machinist. Tractors were made in Shelbyville starting in 1947.

“Custom tractors were different because they had a six-cylinder Chrysler engine, and not a lot of tractors had a six-cylinder at that time,” said Charles Haecherl, president of the National Custom Tractor Club.

The Veseli, Minn., resident remembers when his father bought a new 1950 Custom Model B tractor for the family farm near Lisbon, N.D. He also remembers the dents he put in it as a 15-year-old, losing his temper when the tractor wouldn’t start or he got it in the mud. He would pick up the nearest wrench and give it a whack.
Fifty years later he pounded out those dents to restore the tractor, now the crown jewel of his collection of 16 Customs.

The tractors were also sold under the name of Lehr Big Boy, Regal Custom, Rockol, Wards, Timken and Simpson Jumbo. In October 1952, the rights to the Custom name were sold to the Custom Tractor Manufacturing Co. and headed by George Pusch in Hustisford, Wis. By 1954, Custom tractors were out of business in the United States.

Cory Crafton of Greensburg is organizing the Mid-Summer Heavy Weight Horse Pull at 7 p.m. Saturday, for the Indiana Horse Pullers Assoc. He said people who haven’t seen a pull before will not be disappointed.

“These horses are some of the most well-maintained horses you have ever seen in your life,” he said. “A lot of money goes into them, vitamins, good feed, a lot of training.”

He is expecting as many as 20 teams of horses, both local and out-of-state, competing for the title of biggest and strongest. For information on the competition, call Crafton at 812-569-7128.
To rev up your imagination, take a tour of the 1,900-year-old California redwood log, carved out in 1939 by Jim Allen to create a three-room home. His granddaughter, Jamie Allen, now has the home and travels the country to fairs, festivals and other events to share it with the public.

Other planned activities include a consignment auction on Saturday morning, antique tractor pulls, garden tractor pulls, flea market and swap meet, kids’ games, women’s tent, entertainment, steam engines, a working sawmill, horse-powered baler and more.
Along with Custom and other antique tractors on display, there will be gas engines, featuring Fairbanks-built engines, old trucks and cars, antique equipment and a special area for garden tractors in partnership with the Lawn and Garden Collector magazine. For more information, including directions to the park, visit the JCAMA website at http://jcamach.org
6/13/2012