The Rural Voice, 1991-09, Page 30PRESERVING THEIR HERITAGE:
RESTORING CLASSIC TRACTORS IS A
FAMILY AFFAIR FOR GROSS FAMILY
Gordon, left, and son Brian Gross stand beside their collection of restored tractors,that they began collecting five years ago.
By Keith Roulston
The Gross family, who farm near
Aubum, are proud of their roots in
Huron County which go back five
generations. Two of those generations
are helping to keep that agricultural
history alive with their hobby of col-
lecting and restoring classic tractors.
Harold Gross, his brother Gordon,
and Gordon's son Brian, say the old
tractors tie in their strong interest in
mechanical things with their sense of
family tradition. The collections of
the two families are dominated by the
bright orange Case tractors, the first
tractor that was on the farm of Harold
and Gordon's father, William.
Harold caught the bug of restoring
old tractors first, when he began his
collection 11 years ago. It's a cheap
hobby, he says, as he was able to ac-
quire most of the tractors for about
$300 each, while putting them back on
the road takes more time than money.
Gordon followed, catching the bug
five years later with a good deal of
urging from his son Brian. Gordon
was at the Thresher Reunion in Blyth
and, looking at the restored tractors
perform, decided on the spot that by
the next year he'd have a tractor to
enter in the show. He had such good
luck that he had two to put on display.
His first tractors were a Case D and a
Case S. "The family started farming
with a Case D," he recalls.
The urge to restore tractors wasn't
always understood by all members of
the family, Gordon's wife Bernice
recalls. When Gordon and Brian re-
turned with one of the tractors to be
restored, daughter Anita told them "I
thought you were going to get a trac-
tor, not a heap of junk."
Gordon says the most fun is in get-
ting the tractors operating again. Most
are seized up, and it takes hours upon
26 THE RURAL VOICE