MORGAN TOWNSHIP, Ohio – Dave and Gail Lierer thought it would be fun to see how many International 1206s they could gather at their farm on a Sunday afternoon. They found quite a few and, over lunch, the stories were flowing. They planned to send the serial numbers of the assembled 1206s to Kristin Gall.

Years ago, Gall found his grandfather’s International 1206 carcass in a salvage yard in Iowa. He was able to identify it by the serial number written in his grandfather’s oil change records.

“The 1206 was the first International to come out with a turbocharger,” Dave Lierer said. “It was the first tractor over 100 hp. They made them for three years,1965 to 1967. To me, that was one of the best-looking tractors International made because of the color scheme.

“I have my dad’s tractor that we rebuilt,” he said. “We still use ours. There are quite a few here today that have monitors on them and are out in the field when needed. Some get used and some are just ‘trailer queens.’”

Many members of the Crone family came to Lierer’s gathering. Their tractors are mostly trailer queens. The late Paul Crone started farming when he was 16 with an International F12. Other Internationals followed during his career.

“When we got out of farming, we still had dad’s two original tractors, an International C and MD,” said Paul’s daughter, Melissa. “They restored them and started taking them to the shows. We have full-sized and pedal tractors. We are an International family.”

The family has “about” 30 Internationals. Megan Monroe, Paul’s granddaughter, had a 1206 at her wedding.

“My grandpa had International tractors, and we grew up with them,” Monroe said. “Then we started collecting them, and it grew out of control.”

All the serial numbers from their collection and those from the families of Paul and Nancy Reinhardt, Mike and Linda Bushelman, Kathy Dittman, John Brown, John and Gloria Schulte, Tim Eich, Dale Weber and Cary Brown will go into Gall’s registry.

When Gall was able to verify his grandfather’s 1206 at the salvage yard, it triggered him and Brad Twiss, an enthusiast from Michigan, to start the 1206 registry for others trying to find their long-lost tractors.

“That was about 18 years ago. We have maybe 2,500 serial numbers,” Gall said. “I list by the serial number; I don’t list by the state or name, and the list is private.”

If people are looking for a certain serial number tractor that’s in the registry, Gall will pass on the information.

“Everybody that I find one for, they’re excited,” he said. “I’ve had guys in tears on the other end of the phone. They were happy to tell their stories. It makes you feel like a million bucks to help people with something like that.”

He bought what was left of his grandfather’s tractor, restored it, and wrote a couple of articles for Red Power, a magazine for IH, Farmall and International Harvester enthusiasts. The Wall Street Journal picked up on that, flew a reporter to Gall’s farm, and Gall and his 1206 were on the front page of the paper.

“Case IH saw that, and they flew me and my wife and hauled the 1206 to Disney World,” Gall said. “They put it on stage in front of all of the Case IH dealers in North America for their dealer meeting. I had to give a presentation in front of the dealers to instill heritage in the brand into the Case IH dealers.”