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Plenty of late-summer fun at annual LaGrange show
 
Wrenching Tales by Cindy Ladage
 
Fun times abounded at the 33rd annual Antique Power Steam and Gas Show  Aug. 7-10 at the 4-H Fairgrounds in LaGrange. While Ferguson was the featured tractor brand, there were lots of other neat things to see and do at this show, which has been taking place for three decades in northern Indiana.
One person having a good time at the show was Richard Norman, a retired diesel injection mechanic who had his own specially-made ride with him. “This goes to every show with me,” Richard said of his hybrid. “I didn’t want a golf cart.”
So, he decided to make his own cart version: “This will ride four people; it started out as a 1450 Cub Cadet garden tractor. I cut it in half, stretched in two feet and welded it.”
The engine is a two-cylinder Wisconsin that runs on propane. “The tanks are under the seat. I have two tanks and it will run eight to 10 hours on one tank … The cover is a camper top off of a small S-10 truck or a Chevy pickup. The seats are out of a school bus.”
Besides this, Richard also had a small 1958 Ferguson at the show, in deference to the featured brand. His T035 has a twist, however, along with his 1959 Massey Ferguson 85 diesel – with an attached bubble-maker! The two tractors also sported camper tops like his “cart” so Richard could keep cool.
The MF 85 has more than 500 miles on it because it goes on tractor drives. “This has been in the Rockville, Illinois, tractor drive and the next one is in Kankakee, Illinois,” he said at the time. “I put the top on the other tractors last year. I had a top on this one for at least six years. I like it for shade – I don’t want to get a red neck. I am a redneck, but I don’t care,” he said, laughing.
At the show lawn and garden tractors were also on hand and Dick McNeal from Albion, Ind., had a bevy of Wheel Horse tractors manufactured in South Bend.
“The transmissions were manufactured in Kendallville, Indiana, machined there, and the castings were shipped to South Bend to be put together,” he explained.
Besides being a collector, Dick was also a Wheel Horse dealer in Marion, which is just outside Fort Wayne, from 1969-76. He and a few of his tractors were featured in a 2009 issue of Lawn & Garden Tractor magazine: “I took my 1973 16 automatic Wheel Horse to Pennsylvania and Kate Goelzhauser interviewed me.”
His son, Vic, was also at the show. The two collect together and had their 1958 RJ58 Wheel Horse, a 7316 Automatic, 1971 GT14, 1074 C120 and a 1068 500 special.
“There is a cool story to go with the 500 Special,” Vic said. “This was a commemorative tractor for the Indy 500. Each dealer has the opportunity to take a tractor to the time trials and pull the tractor out of Gasoline Alley. They used the 500 Special one year.”
Another neat sighting at the Antique Power Steam and Gas Show was a farm toy that was a scale model of Arnold Palmer’s golf tractor. On the side of the box there is an explanation that in the late 1940s, the Latrobe Country Club purchased a new tractor for Deacon Palmer, Arnold’s dad, who was the golf superintendent. The course is located in Pennsylvania and the future golf pro did chores on the tractor during his youth.
He purchased the club, later, and the tractor was part of the bargain. Palmer posed with the tractor in several Pennzoil commercials.
The show also had many notable tractors including an Eagle and a Love – and, of course, a bit of steam. There was something for everyone: a flea market, working in the field, a chance to sit a spell and talk old iron.
For more information about the LaGrange show, log onto www.lagrange engineclub.com

Readers with questions or comments for Cindy Ladage may write to her in care of this publication.
10/30/2014