Any member of the Texas Early Day Tractor and Engine Association can attest to the truth of that statement. Association members have been known to sell a spouse’s car to buy a tractor that hasn’t run for 30 years but just needs a little work. They might drive a thousand miles for a particular steering wheel.
Ask them why, and they will look at you like you’re crazy.
The payoff for the public comes once a year when the association holds its annual Antique Tractor, Gas Engine and Machinery Show. This year’s show is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday at the association grounds on Eberhardt Road. The grounds are home to farm equipment, heavy machinery from sugar mills, oil fields and cotton gins. They are set up here and there among turn-of-the-century houses, general stores, dentist offices and churches. Most of the engines and tractors run because association members know how to make them run.
The featured tractor this year belongs to longtime association member Frank Turner. Turner bought the 1919 Titan International Harvester in 1995 or 1996 and put 10 months of work into getting the thing running.
“It was considered one of their lighter tractors,” Turner says. “It has a 10-horsepower engine and weighs 5,700 pounds. One of their lighter models.
“International Harvester made another tractor of the same kind that did the same job for another company to avoid some anti-trust trouble from the government,” Turner says. “The other tractor was called a Mogul and it was sold by McCormack. This one was sold by Deering. Kind of a funny deal, but that’s how it was.”
