Post by Mike B on Dec 20, 2008 18:39:30 GMT -4
Old tractor gets new lease on life
Shhhh! It’s a secret
by Laura Lane H-T columnist | lane@heraldt.com
February 17, 2008
STINESVILLE — If you know David Neal of Stinesville — the elder one — don’t read this column unless you can keep a secret.
He and his wife have gone off to Florida for the winter. And while they are away, their three sons, David, thingy and Doug, have taken on a project: refurbishing their dad’s 1952 Oliver 77 Row Crop tractor.
“My dad has been talking about restoring the old tractor for a long time, but I don’t think he wanted to take the money to pay somebody to do it,” his son David Neal said.
“Then two weeks before dad left for Florida this year, me and my brothers were together and one of them mentioned restoring the tractor. We agreed. So the day after he left, I drove it down to thingy’s shop there in Stinesville.”
That was Nov. 14. Since then, the brothers have spent time about every day taking the tractor apart piece by piece.
“I haven’t missed too many nights since Christmas,” David Neal said.
Let’s just say the tractor has seen better days.
David and thingy Neal spent hours and hours with wire brushes and putty knives chipping away half a century of crud on metal.
“It was a lot of work,” David Neal said. “There’s more than 50 years of dirt and grease. It’s never been really cleaned, just hosed off.”
Underneath it all was a green body with red wheels and a yellow grille, Oliver’s distinct color scheme.
The Oliver Chilled Plow company, which was based in South Bend, merged with two other manufacturers in 1929. The last Oliver tractor rolled off the assembly line in 1976; all that’s left are vacant Oliver buildings at the corner of Sample and Chapin streets.
Fifty-six years ago, the current tractor owner’s father bought it new at Millard Conder’s farm implement business in Ellettsville. He grew corn and hay on 43 acres where Richland Plaza is now located.
He passed the tractor down to his son, the elder David Neal, who continued the family farming tradition, with the tractor.
“About the only thing he does now is bale and sell hay,” the younger David Neal said. “Dad used the tractor just last year to put hay up with. I noticed it was not in very good shape. It ran pretty good, but I guess you could say it needed some cosmetic help.”
So they decided to dismantle it. “We took it all apart, stripped it down to the transmission, the rear-end and the axles.”
Pieces littered the cement floor. Each part that didn’t need to be replaced was cleaned and repainted.
Neal said he shopped around the country before finding a vendor in Ohio, “a guy named Rudy,” who could provide the Oliver replacement parts he needed, including a grille and new front tire rim.
“We’ve spent about a thousand dollars on parts,” he said. “All kinds of things.”
The sons hope to have the tractor finished when their father returns home to Stinesville in April. They are taking pictures along the way to document the restoration process.
“Dad doesn’t know anything about this, and we hope to keep it that way,” Neal said.
At first, they had planned to park the tractor outside the Stinesville Mercantile store and call their dad down for coffee to see it. Practically everyone in town knows about the project, and they wanted to be there for the surprise.
But the brothers decided against a public unveiling.
“We thought he might be too emotional, and he wouldn’t like that in front of a lot of people,” Neal said.
“He is going to remember what the tractor looked like new when his dad bought it. And with us boys doing the work, I think it will mean a lot to him.”
I will find out what happens, take a picture of the finished product and write about it this spring.
In the meantime, don’t tell anyone.
Got a story to tell about a car or truck? Call 812-331-4362, send an e-mail to lane@heraldt.com or a letter to My Favorite Ride, P.O. Box 909, Bloomington, IN 47402.
Brothers David Neal, thingy Neal and Doug Neal have a secret: They’re rehabbing their dad’s 1952 Oliver 77 Row Crop Tractor. This is how it looked before they started the project. Courtesy photo
Shhhh! It’s a secret
by Laura Lane H-T columnist | lane@heraldt.com
February 17, 2008
STINESVILLE — If you know David Neal of Stinesville — the elder one — don’t read this column unless you can keep a secret.
He and his wife have gone off to Florida for the winter. And while they are away, their three sons, David, thingy and Doug, have taken on a project: refurbishing their dad’s 1952 Oliver 77 Row Crop tractor.
“My dad has been talking about restoring the old tractor for a long time, but I don’t think he wanted to take the money to pay somebody to do it,” his son David Neal said.
“Then two weeks before dad left for Florida this year, me and my brothers were together and one of them mentioned restoring the tractor. We agreed. So the day after he left, I drove it down to thingy’s shop there in Stinesville.”
That was Nov. 14. Since then, the brothers have spent time about every day taking the tractor apart piece by piece.
“I haven’t missed too many nights since Christmas,” David Neal said.
Let’s just say the tractor has seen better days.
David and thingy Neal spent hours and hours with wire brushes and putty knives chipping away half a century of crud on metal.
“It was a lot of work,” David Neal said. “There’s more than 50 years of dirt and grease. It’s never been really cleaned, just hosed off.”
Underneath it all was a green body with red wheels and a yellow grille, Oliver’s distinct color scheme.
The Oliver Chilled Plow company, which was based in South Bend, merged with two other manufacturers in 1929. The last Oliver tractor rolled off the assembly line in 1976; all that’s left are vacant Oliver buildings at the corner of Sample and Chapin streets.
Fifty-six years ago, the current tractor owner’s father bought it new at Millard Conder’s farm implement business in Ellettsville. He grew corn and hay on 43 acres where Richland Plaza is now located.
He passed the tractor down to his son, the elder David Neal, who continued the family farming tradition, with the tractor.
“About the only thing he does now is bale and sell hay,” the younger David Neal said. “Dad used the tractor just last year to put hay up with. I noticed it was not in very good shape. It ran pretty good, but I guess you could say it needed some cosmetic help.”
So they decided to dismantle it. “We took it all apart, stripped it down to the transmission, the rear-end and the axles.”
Pieces littered the cement floor. Each part that didn’t need to be replaced was cleaned and repainted.
Neal said he shopped around the country before finding a vendor in Ohio, “a guy named Rudy,” who could provide the Oliver replacement parts he needed, including a grille and new front tire rim.
“We’ve spent about a thousand dollars on parts,” he said. “All kinds of things.”
The sons hope to have the tractor finished when their father returns home to Stinesville in April. They are taking pictures along the way to document the restoration process.
“Dad doesn’t know anything about this, and we hope to keep it that way,” Neal said.
At first, they had planned to park the tractor outside the Stinesville Mercantile store and call their dad down for coffee to see it. Practically everyone in town knows about the project, and they wanted to be there for the surprise.
But the brothers decided against a public unveiling.
“We thought he might be too emotional, and he wouldn’t like that in front of a lot of people,” Neal said.
“He is going to remember what the tractor looked like new when his dad bought it. And with us boys doing the work, I think it will mean a lot to him.”
I will find out what happens, take a picture of the finished product and write about it this spring.
In the meantime, don’t tell anyone.
Got a story to tell about a car or truck? Call 812-331-4362, send an e-mail to lane@heraldt.com or a letter to My Favorite Ride, P.O. Box 909, Bloomington, IN 47402.
Brothers David Neal, thingy Neal and Doug Neal have a secret: They’re rehabbing their dad’s 1952 Oliver 77 Row Crop Tractor. This is how it looked before they started the project. Courtesy photo