| To set the stage, I am mostly a city kid, the son of a West Coast city kid. Needless to say, tractors were not a part of my childhood. Antique cars and hotrods were but definitely not tractors. . . that is until this spring. My wife was raised on a hobby farm and always wanted to get back out to the country so we bought a little bit of acreage outside of small town and began to dream of one day having a couple of horses. This spring the old Massey Ferguson lawn tractor gave up. That's when I started looking into getting something bigger to keep the pasture under control. It was more of a weed patch than a pasture but that is another story. Since my father-in-law uses small Fords I figured that was as good a place to start as any until I saw this little orange thing sitting beside the road with a for-sale sign on it. It turned out to be a 1941 Allis Chalmers 'B'. Soon after the 'Little Allis' had a new home. I used to be hounded by my children to go here or there and do this or that. Now the standing request is 'Can we go for a ride on Allis?' In just a short couple of months, she has, in a very real sense, become a part of our family. I now understand the sentiments of wanting to keep a tractor in the family for generations. I have become as used to the Allis' purr as I am the voices of my family. There is something tranquil and calming about the sounds and smells that surrounds that tractor. I hope that, someday, my children and perhaps my grandchildren will look at that tractor and their minds will be filled with fond memories. Incidentally, since I purchased the Allis, my grandfather has begun speaking about when he was a farmer and his family’s farm that was lost in the 30’s. I didn’t even know there was family farm! He has been talking about using his old 2-cylinder John Deere. That will definitely be my next purchase. I’d love to have him climb aboard a “johnny-popper” again and remember. Hopefully someday…. Scott, from KS, entered 2000-09-20 |
