Leslie's Tractors

   There's a vague recollection back in the recesses of my mind that Leslie, or his father, Sam, once had an old Case tractor, maybe even a crossmotor. More certain is that he had a F-20 Farmall and I have a faint memory of that.  In 1938 my father bought a new 22" IHC threshing machine.  When it was not in use it was stored in a lean-to shed next to an old granary.  To get it into the shed the feeder was removed.  Then a front wheel of the machine was raised and the tongue was pivoted from protruding from the front under the wheel so it was 180 degrees reversed and under the thresher. Long chains were attached to the machine through a little trap door and it was pulled backwards into the lean-to.  I have vague memory of the F-20 being used to pull the thresher in this operation.
   Sometime before WW II the F-20 was traded for an IHC M.  (See the last post about the M and a mounted corn picker.)  When tractors became generally available after the war, Leslie had a farm deferment, he traded the M for a new IHC MD.  The D stands for diesel and he was the first one in the community to have one.  Those IHC diesels started on gasoline and after a brief warm up were switched over to diesel.  There was an internal mechanism in the engine that close off the spark plugs and increased the compression so it could run as a diesel.
  At some time Leslie bought an IHC WD-6.  This had the same  engine as the MD but was not a row crop tractor as was the MD.  The WD-6 was called a "Standard" and often referred to as a "Wheatland."   The front tires were spaced widely apart, the same distance as the rear wheels, which, unlike the row crop tractors, could not be adjusted.  As with the MD he was the first one in the community to have a WD-6.
   Leslie owned two other tractors that I remember.  Departing the long line of IHC tractors he bought a VAC Case which was a  small row crop type, less that half the horse power of the MD.  Most farm tractors regulate engine speed with a hand operated throttle.  The VAC had such a throttle but it also had a foot operated accelerator similar to what is used in an automobile.  I thought that made it fun to drive.
   He was also the first person in the community to buy an IHC C, which was just slightly larger than the VAC,  It, too, was a row crop design and was so modern that it had "live hydraulics" , i.e., the hydraulic lift would would work even when the clutch was depressed.  In contrast my father's '41 IHC B had no hydraulics so when dad was cultivating he'd have to manually raise the cultivator.
   I don't remember which of the tractors he still owned when he had his machinery auction before moving to Washington.  The auction was on a school day so I was not allowed to attend.  Leslie did tell me that, during the war, he was offered the chance to buy the Nordby Place, where Dennis Miller just built a new house.  It was 3 quarters of land, 480 acres, and he wished he would have done it but the debt seemed to high so he turned it down.

F-20 Farmall

B Farmall

M Farmall

WD-6 would look like this but smaller.