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Despite unpredictable weather, the club's New-England
get-together was a big success. The weather was just unpredictable enough
to discourage some, but they missed a great time. Sporadic drizzle started
late in morning, with a couple of showers between noon and 1:00 PM, but by 3:00
the skies had cleared. Sadly. many people left as soon as the showers let
up, and it kept many more people away, I'm sure.
Members came from several surrounding states -- New Jersey,
New York, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and perhaps
others.... An unofficial count showed at least 25 Simplicity and Allis-Chalmers
garden tractors on display (counting the walkers) and several others for sale that
remained on trailers. We certainly outnumbered both the John Deere and Cub
Cadet crowds, and may actually had as many as both those brands combined.
The Cub guys weren't very pleased! In that vein, the show opened on a
great note -- watching this John Deere tow another one in, to our teasing and
taunts....
Click for a closer view Nothing runs like a Deere . . . huh?
Several club members didn't bother bringing a tractor due to
the weather. I'd estimate that perhaps as many as 40 club members either
brought tractors or stopped by.
Several tractors were for sale, and some sold.... There were
lots of neat items and bargains in the "swap meet area" too, including
some "new original stock" items, in addition to used parts of all types.
Here are some preliminary photos. More will be coming as
members send theirs in and get them incorporated. We're already planning
to repeat it next year.
The left side of the display was largely
the Simplicity lineup, with a couple of Allis' in the back row. A 75th
Anniversary special had the place of honor at the center, under the awning.
It belongs to Marvin Neely, Cal Neely's (Yankee Sales & Service) son, and a
new club member. Marvin drove it in the 75th Anniversary parade.
The right side of the display was largely
Allis-Chalmers, though some Simplicity tractors overflowed from the left.
Steve Redfern's nice Allis 620 certainly got a lot of attention during the
day. Steve had three very nice tractors there, all for sale.
A few nice Allis-Chalmers belonged to non-members, including the B-112 with
L-10 loader, above. Another was the B-1 visible in the last row in the
picture to the right. John Suprono had a whole trailer load of nice
"projects" parts, and implements" for sale over across the road in the
picture above...
Just a sampling of what was available in
the swap meet. There were a couple trailers and a couple trucks more
across the pathway. Talk about bargains -- for example, several folks
"lucked into" new original rear couterweights for $10 each.
That's Jim
Vieira's pair on the right, including
the nice Allis 710 with a Johnny Bucket in the center and Simplicity 717 on
the right. I think the old-style 700 Allis on the left belongs to Cal
Neely.
That's Roger Arnoldi (yellow rain jacket)
talking to Stan Somers in these pictures, discussing Roger's walker.
That's Roger's 6216 in the foreground on the left. Note the Paul
Van Blarigan's Mott
flail mower in front of the 2012 above. There's another view of it
below.
Talk about a load of "precious metal" --
look at these nice ones on Paul Van
Blarigan's trailer, all packed for the trip home. Sadly, look at
the blue skies appearing -- too late! By the way, the 3212V on the
rear, above, was for sale with a complete set of implements. Someone
missed out on a great deal! There were at least eight complete running
Simplicity/ACs for sale (most of those above, for example), plus almost that
many parts tractors.
The grounds cleared almost as fast as the
skies. One positive though -- it left room for the kids to play. These
show Roger Arnoldi packing up for home, and my son Elijah cruising around...
In addition to trying to take photos in the
rain, some tractors seemed to "come and go" due to the weather, so these
pictures don't show the whole lineup. For example, there was a
300-series (310 I think) that I never got a chance to look at closely, much
less photograph. I have to admit that I didn't get as many good -
photos as I'd planned. I got water on the lens of my camera, which
messed up a lot of them. I was also distracted, I guess. I'd taken my 9-year
old, Elijah, who had a ball (now he wants me to help him build/restore his
own garden tractor --YES!), and I was constantly being sought out to answer
questions, meet folks (many of them club members), etc. I talked so
much that I came home hoarse, but with fewer photos than I'd have liked.
Luckily, Stan Somers took dozens, and other members are also sending in
photos so if you have some to share, please send them in...
Let's look at some of the tractors a little closer.
A closer, larger view of the right side,
including my Big Ten and Cal Neely's original one to the right of it, and
Steve Redfern's 620 to the left. That's Steve in the blue jacket in
the background.
(Photo courtesy of Fernando Gomes.)
A closer, much larger view of the left side
of the lineup, including the Mott flail mower. Talk about bargains --
the second tractor there is a Paul
Van Blarigan's nice 3212V, complete with mower deck, tiller,
large snowblower and tire chains -- all in good condition -- for $500.
You missed it!
(Photo courtesy of Fernando Gomes.)
Shane Johnson tooling around on his 2110
that has lots of nice, custom tweaks, including a Harley muffler. It
has lots of other nice touches, like new, original lights, matching
front/rear counterweights, etc.
That's Jim
Vieira's pair on the right, including
the nice Allis 710 with a Johnny Bucket. I think that's Steve
Redfern's old-style
700-series on the left, but I'm not sure.
Nice photo of a
Mark Schmidt's 9HP
Landlord. This is a very CLEAN tractor.
(Photo courtesy of Mike Decoteau.)
Check the condition of this grader blade! Though
it's an Allis blade, Paul Van Blarigan
has it mounted on his 3212H. I tried to buy it, or buy the tractor,
but no luck...
(Photo courtesy of Mike Decoteau.)
Closer view of the L-10 loader on a B-112.
There were also a couple of nice Model W walkers there. Roger Arnoldi
brought one, and Paul Van Blarigan
brought another.
(Photo courtesy of Mike Decoteau.)
Unquestionably the nicest restoration job
in our lineup is Vinnie Arata's Allis B-10 (orginally a Ward's Squire), the second one from the
foreground above. I'll be adding the story of its restoration soon.
(Photo courtesy of Mike Decoteau.)
A good view down the line of
Allis-Chalmers B-series.
(Photo courtesy of Vinnie Arata)
Another view of the B-series
lineup, including a B-1 in the front of this photo.
(Photo courtesy of Vinnie Arata)
This nice old B-1 was owned by a young man
who isn't a club member -- one of two "strangers" who participated in our
lineup.
(Photo courtesy of Vinnie Arata)
These old B-series got a lot of attention --
including by the photographers....
(Photo courtesy of Vinnie Arata)
Talking tractors -- we certainly
didn't run out of things to talk about, either!
(Photo courtesy of Vinnie Arata)
Steve Redfern's Allis in front,
and someone checking out the B-112 with L-10 loader in the background.
(Photo courtesy of Vinnie Arata)
A view down the lineup of newer,
orange tractors. That's Steve Redfern's in front, and Jim
Vieira's 710 with a Johnny Bucket next.
(Photo courtesy of Vinnie Arata)
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