wolc123, I thought of you Thursday, I went to my cousin's house to pick up a potato digger I agreed to buy from him. After visiting for a while with him and his brother they said come on, let's go for a ride, I had no idea where we were going, other than we were going to "Sam's" for a tour.
After a 5-6 mile ride we pulled into a driveway of a property with a well groomed lot with a very nice shop w/large pole barn attached. Outside was a fellow stripping paint from the hood of a Cub, and looking around I saw many parts, and attachments for Cubs. My cousin asked the fellow if Sam was around, and he pointed towards the shop. A gentleman in his what appeared to be early 70's appeared and we got introduced. My cousin asked if I could get the tour. He said Sure, come on in.
We walked in the shop which was roughly 60' wide and 40' deep. There sat numerous Cub's parked side by side. From '47 models, to '79 models, he had at least one from each year made, most in the higher versions, but many Lo-Boys too. One of the '79 models had every option offered by IH, and aftermarket on it. It is the crown jewel of his Cub collection. I asked how many Cub's he had, he had to ponder a second and said over 50 restored, and more in stage's of restoration.
After looking what was in the shop over, they said you need to see "the rest". We walked through to the storage area of the building, and there sat more Cub's, Super A Farmall's, Farmall 100's, 130's and 140's, most with Fast Hitch, and each tractor had an attachment. Numerous other attachments literally stacked around. Beyond that, a very nice restored IH 460 and 560. In the very center sat a pristine original IH 966 that has 1400 original hours, the Crown Jewel of his whole collection. It was really hard to absorb all I was seeing in the short time we were there. I was actually stunned at what I was looking at. He's a pretty private fellow, so thought it best not to take any pictures.
My cousin mentioned we'd better get going, and Sam told me come here, I want to show you something. We walked out among numerous attachments and came up on a single point 2-12" moldboard plow. I've been looking for one for 5-6 years. Sam looked at me and asked if I was interested, I told him maybe, how much..?? He spit out a price, and I couldn't get my wallet out fast enough. It has seen very little use, couldn't fell any noticeable wear on the moldboards, coulters the same. We had to rearrange how things would fit on my small trailer, but we made them fit for the 100+ mile trip home.
It just seems that a lot of my collection I just happen to come across. My cousin said that is the first time he's ever known Sam to sell anything. Apparently, the stars were aligned for me on Thursday, maybe I should have stopped and bought a lottery ticket...
The old power-driven potato digger which I believe is a IH No. 16, it definitely needs some TLC, but it will be a fun project, and the plow I hope to mount on the 140a do some plowing here in the next couple of weeks at the Smeck County Farm Park where they let us grow several crops for their Fall Harvest Days. The digger should make a good backup to the one we use now. Other than repairs needed I'll leave it in its original work clothes, people seem to be amazed this rusty old stuff still works. That's half the fun of it...
