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Annual Sublette Toy Show also features big machines
 
Wrenching Tales by Cindy Ladage 
 
It’s hard to believe, but another Sublette Toy Show has come and gone. The show that transforms the town of Sublette, Ill., from 500 people to more than 1,000 one weekend a year, featured Oliver brand tractors and toys this year.
The Midwest Oliver club got its start at the Sublette show 22 years ago, where members had their first official meeting. Attendees this year enjoyed the streets of Sublette that were lined with Oliver green, plus an array of other makes as well.
This even took place March 14-15 and that Saturday night at the banquet, host Don Dinges said this was the 33rd year for the show that “started on a wing and a prayer.”
“The money raised at the show goes to scholarships, all used in Sublette or nearby communities,” he noted.
That Sunday, Carl Sauter had his 1940 Cockshutt 70 tractor, built by the Oliver Corp. in Charles City, Iowa, for Cockshutt. The company’s history and that of Minneapolis-Moline – which will be the featured tractor in 2016 – are intertwined.
One miniature Oliver that caught a lot of attention was a 1/2-scale Oliver 88 Standard built by Bob Althaus. “I have 20 tractors here this year,” said Bob, who is a local resident. “The 1/2-scale Oliver 88 Standard is the first one I made. I did it a little over a year ago. I used a Wheel Horse lawnmower as a base and made the 1/2-scale from a picture.”
For those International Harvester admirers, Joel Jones of Rock Falls, Ill., had his amazingly beautiful 1951 Farmall McCormick MV high-clearance tractor: “I got this out of a 92-year-old man’s farm. It was used by Delmonte at the Rochelle location.”
While he bought it for a decent price, he admitted to spending a lot to have it restored. “It was restored from the ground up. It took me five months to get it all lined up. I drive a truck so I am only home two days a week,” he said, explaining why he had to hire out the restoration work.
The tractor was finished in 2014 and when he is not trucking he is “tractoring” – its 250 miles come from his tractor rides and taking it to shows. He used hard-working automotive paint to avoid damage while it’s on the road.
Joel picked IH because his grandpa used Farmalls on his farm.
The antique tractor hobby is a bit tamer than his previous hobby, which was demolition derby. His wife, Gina, likes the slower pace of the tractors and Joel said she gives him the freedom to enjoy his hobby.
For perhaps the first time at Sublette, snowmobiles were on display. Greg Cyrock of Lamoille, Ill., had his 1982 John Deere Spitfire. “The theme runs like a Deere came from the snowmobile promotion,” he said.
He also displayed a Massey Harris 500 SST snowmobile that he thinks was built around 1963. Greg’s cousin Matt Draper, from nearby Amboy, had a JD Liquifire that he said was the last one built in Horicon Wis., where Deere now builds lawn and garden tractors.
Dan Cox from Leaf River, Ill., had his 1979 7400 Blizzard Skidoo snowmobile, which he said of the manufacturer “is still in business.” He also brought a 1973 650 Nordic Skidoo with a Skiboose to transport passengers attached to the back. “This was the ‘Cadillac,’” Dan said of it.
The Sublette show, however, is primarily advertised as a toy show. Jerry Zahner is a toy collector and vendor from Wakarusa, Ind., and had some beautiful scratch-built toy combines on display. “I have about 20 different builders,” he said. “They are artists.
“I have done this since about 1980.  I collected all my life and have the majority of my toys still in the box from when I was a small kid. I thought someday I would be a John Deere dealer, when I grew up.”
Growing up on a farm, his family had John Deere equipment: “We had a 1927 John Deere D that was on steel when we got it. My tractor was a 1935 John Deere H. I pulled most of the harvest with a 12 A combine that had a little Hercules engine. It was pulled by the H. Then I got a JD 40 combine and wanted a toy.”
It was clear Jerry has a thing about combines. “At one time I had almost every series combine. I grew up on the farm and was going to be a mortician, then I went to Purdue and came out an ag teacher, then became an ag loan officer – then I moved back to the area and bought farms for investments.
Now my boys farm and we have 6,000 acres,” he explained.
Since he can only have so many toys, Jerry loves setting up because he can still have toys to sell and see others. He spends a lot of time delivering the scratch-built combines because he worries about damage through shipping.
Toy vendor Don Obermeyer had two beautiful International KB1 toy trucks from the 1950s. This toy dealer from Valparaiso, Ind., said he also has a real treasure at home: A 1908 Model F 2-cylinder Buick his grandpa bought new. “The Model F is going to be featured soon in a car magazine,” he added.

Readers with questions or comments for Cindy Ladage may write to her in care of this publication.

4/23/2015