This year, from Sept. 2-6, the Midwest Old Threshers show grounds located in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, hosted the group’s 60th reunion. Terry McWilliams, a staff member for the Old Threshers, said this year the numbers were up for attendance, thanks to great weather and acts like Mel Tillis and Heidi Newfield.

Phil Vassar, Collin Raye, Restless Heart and the Awful Purdies were also featured county music acts who performed in the evening for no additional charge.

The Threshers Reunion is a combination steam show, tractor and gas engine show supported by permanent museums throughout the grounds and live entertainment. “This year we were featuring Minneapolis Moline tractors, Woods Brothers Steam Engines and Gray Engines which were manufactured by Gray Motor Company,” Terry said.

Keith Grimm owned the featured tractor for this year’s reunions. The tractor is a 1953 MM UB that hails from Charlotte, Iowa. “I found this tractor about an hour from here in Illinois,” Keith shared. “Last year I made the deal right before the show. When I found out I had the featured tractor, then I had to fix it up!”

The featured car this year was a 1923 Ford Model T Speedster owned by the David Miner family. The featured truck was a 1939 Ford V-8 one-ton pickup owned by the Bill Brickley family. And, the featured engine belonged to John Shepard, a Wood Brothers $411 engine with 18 hp.

Another rare MM tractor on display was an orchard JTO owned by the Fred Wiese family. Dick Bockwoldt, who restores tractors for a living, brought it from northern Illinois. Besides the lovely JTO, he also brought his friend Marty Huber’s tractor to the show.
The HK Huber has a special story. “Pan American ordered about 14 of these tractors,” Dick said, explaining that farmers were unable to get tractors during the war years. “They had them for their seaplanes. They needed a heavy tractor to pull them then they didn’t need them after all.

“This model was shipped to Fargo, North Dakota. A family in California bought it,” he added, sharing some more of the history before Marty and Don Huber took possession. (Sometimes the story behind the tractor is as fascinating as the tractor itself.)
The Gray Motor Co. of Detroit produced the featured gas engine, which belongs to rich Thompson of Dallas City, Ill. According to the publication Thresher’s Chaff, the company came up with some fancy names for its engines: there is the 2.5 hp Gray Wizzard, the 4 hp Gray Thoroughbred, the 6 hp Big 6, the 9 hp Honest Jack and the 12 hp Big Reliable.

While MM may have been the featured tractor this year, a little yellow Cub was getting its fair share of attention from the collecting crowd. The little yellow Cub was sitting next to a white demonstrator Cub and a Super C. The trio belonged to Matt Sanford of Des Moines, Iowa, and his father-in-law, Jim Beyer.

“The Industrial Cub, we found deep in western Missouri,” Matt said. “There wasn’t any picture and it was listed on a Craigslist ad.”
While there were many restored tractors on-site, sometimes the beauty can be in the original tractor. Jack Beck of Omaha, Neb., had two original GPs – the first a 1930 GP with an original mower attached, and the second a 1931 GP with a 1952 plow.

Terry also said a few special events, such “Fins through the 50s,” featuring old cars, and a special exhibit of antique snowmobiles, were also part of the 2009 show’s draw. The Southern Iowa chapter of the Antique Snowmobile Club of America displayed around 20 machines. Aaron Kelly of Tipton, Iowa, had several snowmobiles at the show along with two special models.

In 2010, the show will also be Sept. 2-6. Log onto www.oldthreshers.org to learn more.

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