VBF Moline

“This is a VBF Moline. What that means is that it was built after Minneapolis Moline bought BF Avery, so they called this a VBF Moline. I went with Sam Parra and hauled this home for him many years ago when he bought it from Mrs. Ray Price. It belonged to her brother. I overhauled it at that time and repainted it in its red color. But over the years the red peeled off it in many places and it showed it to be yellow. And the wheels showed it to be this Prairie Gold. Prairie Gold is a Minnneapolis Moline color. And supposedly the tractor should be Minneapolis Moline Prairie Gold, but I’ve been told by the authorities that the wheels are supposed to be red; the cultivoator’s supposed to be red, but this is the color it originally was, so that’s the color I painted it.

I got this from Mr. Sam Parra. He gave it to me. He used it for many years cultivating his garden. Fine tractor.”

Gary Holtman
Columbus, Mississippi

LA John Deere

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“I traded for this with Tommy Shockley, a retired school teacher-lives over there on Wright Road. I tried to buy it from him for years. I couldn’t buy it from him. I finally traded from him. I traded him an International Scout, 4-cylinder, a belt-pulley attachment for a WC Allis Chalmers—also fits a WD—just this, that, and the other thing. I just kept putting stuff on the stack until finally he agreed to the trade. The back wheels were rusted completely off the rims. When I brought it home, I looked out at an old A Farmall I had and I thought, “Boy, them wheels sure do look the same.” And they are they same, the tires. So I got by with just swapping the wheels and tires off the old A Farmall. Doris and I went the Litchfield, Kentucky and got the engine. This is a combine engine, an LUT or LUC engine, which is identical to it. I had to change flywheels and so forth because it was a hand crank. But that wasn’t any big problem either. I got the hood from some Mr. Deb Kimmelschlause or something like that in California; the hood, gas tank, and air cleaner from him. Marty and I built the grill. There was virtually no grill left in it.

This little tractor is kind of unique. The tractor was built from spare parts originally. The steering sector is the steering sector for a model A Ford. The gears in the transmission are out of a Model A car. This was built in 1942.”

Gary Holtman
Columbus, Mississippi

40 John Deere

"That was Jack Parra’s.  It’s a 40 and they only built the 40 I think for one year, and then they built the 420.  So that would make it a ‘53 model.  Jack had a Super A Farmall that was the last year they were built.  But he wanted something with a 3-point hitch.  Ray Dove had this 40 John Deere, and they traded.  I think they traded even up.  Both of the were approximately 1953 models.  Billy Welch has that Super A Farmall now, and he has completely restored it.  I overhauled the little John Deere and repainted it and put new inner tubes in both back tires.  I put a new set of front tires on it, and it is a fine little tractor now.  Bought new side panels for the battery. 

Jean (Jean Parra - Jack’s sister) gave it to Dale (Parra).  Dale took it home and never cranked it again.  Just a few months before Jean passed away, 2 or 3 years ago, Dale mentioned to her that I’d like to have it, and she said, “Well, let him have it.”  So I reworked it, and Marty drove it in the Christmas Parade that year.  Two weeks after I got it, he drove it in the Christmas Parade, that’s how fast I hustled."

Gary Holtman
Columbus, Mississippi