On the banks of Big Creek, on the west side of Mt. Pleasant, on Business 34, is a brand new shop with a whole bunch of real “purdy” old tractors parked out front. They’re all Massey Harris tractors. The sign on the front of the shop reads, “Massey Harris Better Built Farm Equipment” — it’s a replica of a Massey Harris dealership sign from back in the 1950s.
My car pulled into the driveway all by itself. There, I found 64-year-old Dave Loving, happy at work on his latest project, a Massey Harris 50. The previous owner had painted it Oliver green, something Dave will correct in his new paint booth. The original colors for this particular model are red and bronze. Dave Loving is a stickler for authenticity.
He shrugs his shoulders and launches into the story of how he acquired “the green beast. A real steal,” he proclaims. Then, breathing a sigh of patronization for a poor city slicker (me), he recites, as if reading from a history book, the complicated, interweaving genealogy of Ford, Ferguson, Massey and Harris tractors, which is 100 percent pure Americana.
Back in the Henry Ford days, Ford and Ferguson built a tractor together, called the Fordson. Ford and Ferguson split, each building their own tractor. Then along came Massey, for the Massey Ferguson, then Harris, for the Massey Harris. I became confused about the details after the Fordson. No matter.
Trying to act as if I knew something about tractors, I spouted off that I was a "Farmall man, myself." Wrong thing to say. Dave looked at me with sympathy and stated bluntly, "If you haven't driven a Massey, you haven't driven a tractor." I was put in my place real fast.
Thinking back to my youth, working on farms, I can't even remember seeing a Massey Harris tractor. Dave said that it wasn't unusual. Farmers of a certain area tended to own tractors supplied by local dealerships. Where he grew up in southeast Iowa, there were several Massey Harris dealerships. In fact, his dad was a Massey Harris mechanic and farmed with Massey Harris tractors. Dave was raised on Masseys.
Dave's wife, Deanna, was sitting close by, watching her husband work and listening to his tales. She chimed in, "When Dave retired five years ago, I told him he had to have a hobby. He chose tractors. I told him, there's one rule — they have to be kid-friendly."
Dave explains, "A lot of collectors won't let anyone get on their tractors. Not us. We let kids (and adults) climb all over them. There are adults who have never been on a tractor. One lady brought her three kids. I let each one of them steer the tractor during the Old Threshers Parade. They had a ball."
Dave and Deanna have two sons, Jason and Jeremy. Each one of them, plus their kids, claim ownership of a Massey, because it’s a family hobby. The new shop for the Massey Harris tractors is on Jason’s property overlooking Big Creek — a nice setting for a flashback to the past. There’s an alfalfa field in back.
They have 19 tractors, all of them Masseys, except for one Ferguson — an English Ferguson, a real collector’s item.
In the back window of Dave Loving’s pick-up truck there’s a picture of the tractors, with the words, “Pappy’s Old time Tractor Restoration.”
Call or text Curt Swarm in Mt. Pleasant at 319-217-0526, email him at curtswarm@yahoo.com, or visit his website at www.empty-nest-words-photos-and-frames.com. Curt also reads his stories at www.lostlakeradio.com