HomeMy WebLinkAbout30th Annual Huron Pioneer Thresher & Hobby Association 1991 Reunion, 1991-09-04, Page 4PAGE A-4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1991.
Tractors of all kinds
and colours at show
One of the largest and most colourful
parts of the Thresher Reunion is the gas
tractor show.
The tractors, as shiny and colourful as
the day they rolled off the assembly line,
sit row on row, in bright greens and reds,
oranges and yellows. In charge of the
tractor display this year is Jeff Thomson
of Aubum. Jeff has been involved in the
show for five or six years and in charge of
the tractor show for the last couple of
years.
While the big steam engines may be the
showpiece of the Thresher Reunion, the
little gas tractors are the most plentiful.
Nowadays there are 150-200 tractors at
the show. This year Jeff has room for
about 200 tractors and he hopes he'll have
room for all the entries.
People come from a long way to show
off their restored tractors. Jeff has already
heard from an exhibitor from Michigan
who plans on bringing two tractors to
Ontario for the show.
The job for the tractor chairman is to
organize the show. For the most part there
arc so many tractors coming that he
doesn't have to seek out tractors to come
but in some case^ he does seek out rare
tractors. If the tractor is very rare, the
Association may pay the trucking costs to
get it to the show. Jeff tries to get as many
different kinds of tractors as possible on
the field. When the tractors arrive he tries
to keep each make of tractor together.
Although he was never a farmer
himself, Jeff Thomson knows the appeal
of the tractors for the exhibitors. He
caught the bug from his father Bruce and
his uncle Bill Andrews, both of whom had
been long-time members of the Thresher
Association and who keep tractors
themselves. Jeff has two tractors himself,
and enjoys "taking an old tractor that's
pretty well beat and making it work the
way it did when it was new." There's a
real attraction to "seeing old stuff run the
way it used to run."
He had put in "hours and hours and
hours" in fixing up his two tractors. His
Oliver was discovered in an old bam when
he went to borrow a tent trailer from a
friend's father-in-law. He saw the
abandoned tractor and enquired who
owned it. He found it was owned by a
neighbour who had passed away several
years earlier. Jeff contacted the son of the
man who agreed to sell him the tractor.
He got a John Deere Diesel from his
father and uncle who make trips to
western Canada to buy old tractors. The
tractor was in very bad shape, he recalls.
He had to rebuild the pup engine and the
diesel engine, fix the injection pumps for
engines, have metal work done on the
body of the tractor, replace lights and
tractors, put three gears in the
transmission and fix the clutch. Even if he
had a dollar for every hour he put in the
tractor would still cost too much, he says
ruefully.
It's a story that could be retold about
nearly every one of the 200 restored
tractors on the site and the owners love
recounting with each other, the stories of
their sow's ears turned into silk purses. It's
part of what makes the Thresher Reunion
such a favourite attraction.
Jeff Thomson knows the fascination with turning old equipment into shining
memories of past times as he did with this John Deere Diesel so he knows
why owners of hundreds of tractors bring their equipment to show it off each
year at the Thresher Reunion. Jeff is head of the gas tractor committee.
Congratulations to the Pioneer Thresher Association
on their 30th Reunion
John, Bev, Rick & Anne Elliott,
Welcome
to
Blyth
jEMJOTT
INSURANCE
Barb, Michelle, Jackie 84 Betsy
GENERAL
Rick Elliott
519-523-9725
LIFE
R. John Elliott
519-523-4323
BBOKEIRS Established 1910
BLYTH, ONTARIO N0M 1H0
519-523-4481
4GENERATIONSSINCE1910
. WELCOME
to the 30th Thresher Reunion
While visiting the Reunion, drop in and see us for all your
various needs. We have just about everything you need to make
your stay enjoyable.
BLYTH
MINI MART
Queen St. Blyth
523-4486
OPEN: 8 a.m.-11 p.m. daily
Prop. - Fred Tilley
on your 30th
Threshermen's Reunion
Seaforth & Clinton
Veterinary
Services
Brian Nunn, D.V.M.
Robin G. Wiley, D.V.M.
Peter W. Wiley, D.V.M.
on the
_____30th Annual Thresher Reunion_____
TIRES
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