2009 Winter Tractor Show, Auburn, Indiana
Featuring J.I. Case and Garden Tractor Collectors

On March 20-22, 2009, Maumee Valley Antique Steam and Gas Association and National Auto and Truck Museum of the United States (NATMUS) hosted the J.I. Case Collectors' Association Winter Convention and the Vintage Garden Tractor Club of America's Winter Expo at Kruse Auction Park at Auburn, Indiana. The event featured displays of antique trucks, tractors, garden tractors, farm machines, and vendors of parts, manuals, farm- and construction-related toys and memorabilia.

J.I. Case is one of the long-lasting farm-machinery builders, first offering hand-powered threshing machines in 1852. Under the leadership of Jerome Increase Case the company built a reputation for well-engineered and sturdily-built machinery and diligent customer support. As farms grew and threshing machines became larger, demand developed for mechanical power to replace the men and animals that drove the machines. Along with others Case began building steam engines for farm use in the late nineteenth century. Case built and sold more steam traction engines than any other maker. By the 1920s it became evident that internal combustion would soon replace steam power on America's farms.

Case's first experiment with internal combustion came in 1892 with one prototype, but the technology hadn't yet become advanced enough to be managed by owners who had little experience or training with complex machinery. Case didn't venture into internal combustion again until 1912, when they began building tractors with low-speed, two-cylinder-opposed horizontal engines. First pictured is a model 12-25, designating 12 horspower on the drawbar and 25 on the belt, typically used to pull a three-bottom plow. I helped the father of the present owner retrieve this tractor from a farmyard on the Indiana-Ohio line east of Woodburn, Indiana about 1960. It hadn't moved in many years, and the wheels were deeply sunk into the ground and had to be dug out. It had been used to pull a road-grader on hard-packed, crushed-stone roads, and every rivet in the frame was loose.

The next-larger two-cylinder tractor was the 20-40, which could pull a four- or five-bottom plow, depending on soil conditions, or easily power the largest threshing machines typically used in this part of the country. Case built one larger size in two-cylinder tractors, the 30-60. It was of a different mechanical design, and they're quite rare now. I've seen two, and they're imposing.

Technology advances that came with World War I enabled makers post-war to build lighter, more compact machines that were affordable for smaller farmers. Fordson led the way, and International Harvester's 8-16 increased the pressure on competitors. Case sort of got on the bandwagon while holding onto their belief in lots of cast iron. The crossmotor tractors used large-displacement four-cylinder engines with a design speed around 850 rpm, mounted crosswise on the frame to shorten the overall length of the tractor for maneuverability and avoid the need for bevel gearing. The crossmotors were powerful and rugged, and reputed to be fuel-hungry.

The 25-45 crossmotor tractor was designed to pull four or five bottom plows and handle large threshing machines. Again, my brother and I helped the father of the present owner of this 1928 tractor haul it home. It was a fresh restoration at the time; the second phot shows it belted to a Baker Fan at the Old Time Steam Thresher's and Sawmill Operator's Reunion on the Jim Whitbey farm north of Fort Wayne in 1962.

Only 42 of the ten-ton 40-72 tractors were built. They were comparable in performance to the large steam traction engines and used mainly in the wheat country of the great plains and possibly in mining and road construction. Very few of these survive.

In 1929, a few years behind some of the major competitors, Case laid the crossmotor to rest and introduced the row-crop Model CC and its bigger companion, the standard Model L with a design similar to what has been the standard ever since, with a compact inline engine. These tractors were very successful, and their basic designs carried through into the flambeau red models into the mid-1950s.

The C is the standard version of the row-crop CC pictured above. There were no Model L tractors at this show, but scale the C up by about 30 percent and you get a pretty accurate idea.

Leon Clausen came from John Deere to become Case company president and shepherd the introduction of the Model L tractor. He mostly acquiesced to the development of the Model C, but when dealers and block men came to him with requests from farmers for a smaller tractor, Clausen wanted nothing to do with it even though competitors were taking away business with their offerings. Over his objections, the engineers designed and the marketing department sold Models R and RC. To expedite the creation of these models they used Waukesha FC engines, a very good choice because these engines were proven in wide use in industrial and agricultural applications. These were good, successful tractors.

In 1938, styling hit the tractor industry in a big way. International Harvester hired Raymond Loewy, Allis-Chalmers hired Brooks Stevens, and John Deere hired Henry Dreyfuss to update the apperance and ergonomics of the basically functional machines they had been building. Other builders including Case had their own designers. Case's final design came out in 1939 with the SC and DC and in 1940 with the LA. The RC, predecessor of the SC, gave a sort of preview in 1938 of what was in store, with the flambeau red color, some spiffed-up sheet metal, and a classy cast-iron sunburst grille. For style this is one of my favorite Case tractors.

The DC, foreground, is successor to the row-crop CC. It's rugged and strong and fairly fuel-efficient. The LA, on the other side of the light gray RC, is successor to the Model L and Case's biggest tractor in the flambeau series. It was built 1940-1953.

The VAC was Case's smallest tractor in the flambeau series. It's a snappy, agile tractor that is now acknowledged as a lot better machine that a lot of people realized when it was introduced.

A somewhat rare high-crop version of the VAC, designed for working with cane crops.

The LA, built 1940-1953, had a 403 cubic inch engine rated at 1100rpm. It came equipped for gasoline, distillate, or propane; the gasoline model delivered 58 horsepower in Nebraska Test 480 in 1952. The LA, like its predecessor model L, was massively sturdy and had abundant low-speed torque and lugging power.

The 500 Diesel, built 1953-1956 had a 377 cubic inch, 6-cylinder engine rated 55 horsepower at 1350rpm. Under actual test, one produced a little more than 63 horsepower. Give them clean oil and clean fuel, and they'd run nearly forever without major repairs. The departure from the black lettering and decals of previous flambeau red tractors was a harbinger of things to come.

The 600 Diesel was successor to the 500 Diesel. Not greatly changed mechanically, it reflected the move to a two-tone color scheme and somewhat more refined sheet metal work.

A high-crop version of a gasoline-powered 400. The 400 in various configurations was one of Case's most popular and successful models in the mid-1950s.

Along with acquisition of Terratrac, a maker of crawler tractors, Case got president Marc Rojtman. Rojtman hated the sheet metal design of these tractors, stating that it looked effeminate. He directed an immediate design, and the photo following this one shows the result.

At the time of its introduction in 2007, the Case-IH Magnum 335 was the largest Magnum tractor to date. It features a 9-litre, 270 horsepower engine.

A Case hay mower built to be pulled by horses and converted with a tractor tongue.

Every casting on every Case-built machine carries the Eagle-on-the-Globe logo.

A poltical-promise distributing machine.

The Newton Wagon Company was bought by Emerson Brantingham, and Emerson Brantingham in turn was bought by Case for their acclaimed line of hay-harvesting machinery and wagons.

The corn binder mechanized the laborious task of cutting and shocking corn in the field by hand.

Many people don't realize that Case built automobiles; this is a 1916 model. Case purchased the Pierce-Racine motor company and built cars from 1911 until 1925 or 1926. Case cars were built according to the same principles as the company's farm machines; durable, rugged design and quality materials and workmanship. They were noted for power and performance, and I believe they sold at the upper end of the mid-price range. When it became clear that the industry and market were placing more emphasis on style and amenities than on mechanical excellence, Case decided to exit the business. I believe about 75 Case cars are known to survive in collections.

I know little about garden tractors except what I learned as a hundred-pound skinny kid hanging onto the handlebars of a Gravely Model L in the 1950s, so I don't have much commentary for these, except that the machine in the second photo looks truly frightening.

GE ventured into outdoor power equipment in the early 1970s. I knew a man who bought one of these, liked it, and used it happily for some years to take care of a large suburban lawn. He was fastidious about taking care of all his tools, and took special pains to keep the battery box from corroding, probably accounting for why his held up so well. It was an idea whose time had not yet come; possibly with advances in battery and motor technology it's time to try it again.

The flea market offers parts, tools, memorabilia, and all the odds and ends you could - or couldn't - imagine ever wanting.

The crafts area offers hand-made items, supplies, classes, and knick-knacks.

A wonderful model log truck.

No need to go hungry.

A lot of machinery brands other than Case are represented.

Silver King tractors were built by Fate-Root-Heath, an Ohio company that built Plymouth industrial locomotives and clay machinery for brick-making. They were first introduced as Plymouth tractors.In 1934 when Chrysler Corporation came after them about the use of the name, "Plymouth," Fate-Root-Heath was able to prove that the company had used the name before Chrysler Corporation ever existed. Chrysler ended up paying Fate-Root-Heath for the use of the name, and the tractors were renamed "Silver King." They were well engineered tractors for small farms and had many features years in advance of their larger competitors.

An engine the size of this 1912, 6 1/2 horspower Alamo typically would have been used to grind grain for feed, or power a buzz saw for cutting up firewood.

1906 Cadillac automobile, very much in as-found condition. It runs, and it didn't require major work to get it to that state.

1942 Chevy half-ton pickup.

1929 Ford AA 1-ton truck/

Tables and tables and tables full of farm toys ...

... some of which you probably wouldn't let your kids play with. Great detail, $185 price tag.

There were tables full of small engines, some hand-built and others highly collectible antique toys.

Over the past couple of years that I've seen it, this man's machine continues to evolve. It's a mobile crane that runs on crawler tracks and is powered by a steam engine, with a boiler fueled by butane. The lift boom is fully articulated, and it has a strong lifting capability. It's incredibly detailed and mechanically complex.

A walking-beam engine patterned after the type of engine first used in factories and mills.

This working model of a Case steam traction engine is all hand-made and impeccably detailed. All the model engines in the display were running from compressed air because insurance rules prohibit the use of open flames in the buildings.