Ever seen a Waterloo Bronco tractor? Not many have; this somewhat rare tractor made an appearance, however, at this year’s Florida Flywheelers show.

Owned by Jim Kauffman of Fernandina Beach, Fla., this retired forester found his Waterloo Bronco in 2005. “The Bronco tractor was made in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada,” Jim said. “Mine is a 1949 version two-cylinder with a Wisconsin engine.”

The tractors were built after World War II, and there is not a lot of knowledge about them. “Waterloo started producing them in 1948 and built around 100 to150 a year,” Jim said.

He added that the little tractor didn’t make a big mark because while there was a factory to build them, Waterloo didn’t have distributors to sell them. “They never set up a distributorship,” Jim said – so when Minneapolis Moline was looking for a small tractor, it bought the company.

Another small company that fell to Minneapolis Moline was the Avery Co. “MM owned Waterloo and Avery,” he said. “MM kept Avery going, but shut down Waterloo in the early (19)50s.”

Jim’s tractor is No. 240 and was built either at the end of 1948 or the beginning of 1949: “It was built out of flat steel. It was not until 1949-1950 that they started castings for differentials and drop boxes. The tractors up to serial number 250 had round tanks; those above that serial number had square ones.”

The Waterloo Bronco that Jim owns originally came from Ontario, and he purchased it from the wife of a member of his club, who had lost her husband. Jim said the little Bronco was in great shape. In addition, he purchased a Massey Harris Pony that had belonged to the same member.

Jim estimates there were about 1,000 Waterloo Bronco tractors built, and shared that about half of them went to South America. The Waterloo Bronco is hard to find.

“I know of four of these tractors around here,” Jim shared. “Barbara Dawson has the Registry, and there were about 180 registered as of 2005.”

Jim collects many brands of antique tractors and has set up an unusual way of collecting them. These days he is focusing on smaller tractors not usual to the South, and tractors that have his birth date. He began collecting birth date tractors in 1998.

“My birthday is November 7, 1939. I picked out serial numbers of Case, Farmall and Ford and got a list of those numbers to try to buy,” he explained. The first he found was a 1938 JD Model B and he has added six more since then.

Keep a watch out for Jim and his Waterloo Bronco at shows west of the Mississippi. He and his wife, Beverly, travel extensively and enjoy displaying not only their antique tractors, but also Jim’s collection of chain saws.

(Oops! Last week, a photo with my column on Earl Overbeek was incorrectly identified as being of an IH 560 1/2-scale; it was actually a Super M 1/2-scale.)

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