The Florida Flywheelers show was Feb. 21-24 in Avon Park. Oliver was the promoted brand at this 26th annual show, and one of the most unusual pieces of equipment on hand was a 1918 Indiana Mule single-row cultivator with a Le Roi engine. Along with the machine were two women, Catherine Roby and her mother, Barbara. While this may have appeared as just a collector showing their restoration, the story goes much deeper – this unusual machine made by the Baylor Manufacturing Co. is owned by Joe Hope of York, S.C., and the cultivator was restored by Joe and his late son, Randy.

 

Catherine explained Randy had passed away the previous week, on Valentine’s Day, and per his wish, his wife, Barbara, brought the cultivator to the Flywheelers. Keeping that promise to Randy while immersed in grief was a big task, but this mother and daughter made it happen. After Catherine got off work the day before, they loaded up this piece of sentimental history and made the trek. “It was a long day,” Barbara noted.

 

Many stopped to see the Indiana Mule and learn its story: Joe collected hit-and-miss engines and would display them at a show in Albemarle, S.C. During one show, Joe got talking to a friend who connected him to the cultivator. Joe, Barbara said, always liked a challenge; knowing this, the friend told him that he had something he was sure Joe would like. The friend had bought the cultivator to restore, then got interested in cars.

 

“It sat in the field for 25 years. It was buried up to the axles in dirt and most of the sheet metal was rusted,” Barbara explained. “It took two years to finish and rebuild an engine. They used pictures from a magazine to replicate the cultivator.”

 

While working on the Indiana Mule, the Hope men found a little bit of green paint, which is how they determined the color. “It took seven years to get the cultivator running, and this was eight to nine years ago,” Barbara added. “My husband painted it and had planned to bring it.”

 

Besides the Indiana Mule, Randy also built some amazing model trailers that Barbara brought to the show. “He started last winter. He used to do tractor restorations, but he couldn’t take the heat anymore. He decided he could handle this, so he got into it.”

 

To recreate the models, Randy scaled down the trailers, drawing them freehand and creating his own pattern. Barbara, who works in a machine shop, had the skills to assist, as well.

 

The Indiana Mule is a beautiful machine and a tribute to a man – and the woman who kept her promise to share his antique equipment legacy. Readers with questions or comments for Cindy Ladage may write to her in care of this publication. Learn more of Cindy’s finds and travel in her blog, “Traveling Adventures of a Farm Girl,” at http://travelingadventuresofafarmgirl.com