The 1,300 Mile Tractor

This past Friday and Saturday I spent on the road with my dad, grandpa, and great uncle. We were in search of a Grand Haven tractor located in Chattanooga, Tenn. The tractor is the same kind as my grandpa's first tractor. It was made back in 1953 or 1954. There was an article in a magazine a while ago that told that there were less than 1,000 of these tractors ever made, and the writer only knew where 15 of them were left. This makes number 16. My great uncle found it advertised in a magazine and got some pictures to see what it looked like. It was in good shape, so we decided to take a road trip. We left Friday afternoon and got to Nashville by midnight, then got up first thing Saturday, drove to Chattanooga, loaded up the tractor and some other good finds, and made it back to Michigan by 12:30am, putting me back in South Bend by about 2:00 Sunday morning. It was very draining, but a blast. I got to hear all sorts of stories. I realized the next day that the entire ride down and back that radio had not been on once, a good indication of many stories being told. We ended up driving through 5 states on the trip, Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Georgia (only for 4 miles, but it counts).

Here is a picture of the tractor.


I fit on the tractor, but not sure if I could drive it for hours on end.


Here is the crew, my dad, great uncle, grandpa, and me.