Its been over a year now

[SimplicitySwede]

Well last June I posted pics of my grandpas Farmall 450 that he bought new that he bought twice and sold once. I bought it for the 3rd time and its not leaving. I finally got the whole story typed out and thought I would share. I know its red but your dont wanna miss this story. Well I think this story has been proof read and fixed. 1958 Farmall 450 I guess I should start this story from the beginning. My Grandpa, Enoch Olson, grew up in the Morrison, IL area. My Grandpa’s first tractor was a Massey Harris 44 Special, which he bought from his dad. He said it was the worst tractor he ever owned. One Saturday night, he went into town to buy groceries. As he was paying for the groceries, the lady cashier gave him too much change back. My grandpa told the lady that she gave him too much change back and he gave it back to her. One of the Handel brothers, who ran the Handel Implement dealer in Chadwick, IL was sitting in the store that night. My grandpa didn’t think much of it. One day my grandpa was picking up parts at the Handel dealer. He was looking at a 450 that was a left over since it was 1959. The one Handel brother that had seen my Grandpa in the grocery store on that Saturday night asked if he wanted to buy it. My Grandpa said, “No there was no way he could afford it right now.” The brother replied, “I saw that you gave back that change the other night at the grocery store. Most people would have just kept it and wouldn’t have said anything. I think we can work something out.” So he traded the 44 Special in for a brand new 1958 Farmall 450. My Grandpa bought this 1958 Farmall 450 new in January of 1959 from the Handel Implement dealer in Chadwick, IL. It was a left over 450, since International Harvester (IH) had already introduces the 60 series IH. It was delivered on January, 30th 1959. That day, there were six foot tall snow drifts. The 450 got stuck in them. It took five hours to get the 450 six miles to its new home. A few years later, my Grandpa had to quit farming. This was caused by the rickets his mom had, when she was pregnant with him. Rickets can cause low calcium and bone growth resulting in his leg bones to be weak. He had a farm sale in January of 1963 where the 450 was sold to my Great-Great Uncle, Joe Olson. After he sold his equipment, he moved to Pinckneyville, IL where he worked for the Interstate Producers Livestock Association (IPLA), where he managed a feeder pig facility. A Couple years later, moved to a little area West of Pinckneyville called Conant and started farming again. In Conant, he continued working for the IPLA. In the mid 70s my Grandpa located the 450. He bought the tractor back and had it delivered to his farm in Conant. When my grandpa got the 450 back, it had been converted to Liquid Propane (LP) fuel by my Uncle Joe. He had the hood cut to fit an LP tank. My Grandpa converted the tractor back to gas. To make it more presentable, my grandpa needed to find a non-cut hood. Since there was no JP Salvage back then or any other tractor salvage yard, finding a hood was difficult. All he found was a diesel hood. The exhaust and breather holes are on the opposite on a diesel 450 than those on a gas 450. So the holes on the exhaust side of the hood were welded shut and new exhaust holes were put in the other side of the hood. There were quiet a few changes over the years. The hood had been cut around the hydraulic filler hole to fit a funnel easier. He traded two F-20’s for a two point fast hitch that replaced the standard draw bar. In 1978, he sold out to a coal company and he moved to Campbell Hill, IL. In Campbell Hill, he put a Tractor Supply Co (TSC) wide front end under the tractor. The front end had John Deere wheels on it. My dad painted the wheels with nasty orange red paint. In about 1995 or 1996 the tractor was sold again. There are many fond memories of this tractor. My late Grandma, Dorothy Olson, always told me about the day it came home. She recalled my uncle, Jim Olson, looking out the window when the tractor arrived. He was almost a year old at the time. We have a home video of me looking out the window watching my dad blade snow off the drive way with the same 450. My dad can recall accidentally breaking the center steering wheel cap with a rubber hammer putting it back on. I can recall the after-market wide front end on the 450 when I was pretending to drive it as a little kid. My dad and I wanted to find the 450 and buy it back. After a few years my dad and I gave up all hope of finding the original 450, so my dad bought a 1957 450 to replace it. On June 20, 2011 I was going South on 127 in Murphysboro, Illinois and saw a Farmall 450 sitting at Norman Fred Truck Service. I noticed it had an after market wide front end with nasty orange red wheels with yellow paint showing through. I called dad to tell him I think I found Grandpa‘s 450. He doubted it, but told me to look at it anyway. I pulled into the parking lot at the truck service and could smell fresh paint. The tractor had just been painted. I walked up to the tractor and noticed the serial tag was missing which I was disappointed about. The person who painted didn’t clean the tractor at all and painted over dirt and grime. I walked around the other side of the tractor and looked at the hydraulic filler hole. The sheet metal had been cut for a funnel to fit. I think a lady sitting in the truck looked at me funny when I let out a yell of excitement! I knew this was grandpa’s 450. I got a hold of the owner and he said he would sell it. The next day Dad, Grandpa, and I hooked the trailer to the truck and went to pick up the 450. My grandpa, as soon as he saw it, knew it was his. The only thing I plan on doing to it is cleaning up and repainting it. I plan on leaving the hood the same to help tell my story. So for the third and final time, I brought the 450 home.

[MDB]

Great story, now we need Pics Man, get us some pics.....:D

[Willy]

Great story Jared. Thank for taking the time to post it.

[MysTiK]

Wow. A good read. Quite the story - a lot of family history, and a lot of emotion. And very personal; but the links to the family history too. This is almost like a movie. And there aren't too many people named Enoch. That name always catches my interest. There's supposedly some (lost or forbidden) book of the Bible called Enoch, possibly banned for some silly reason, which causes people like me to want to find what's hidden. There's lots of books written 'about' it. I never found the real thing - don't know what the big deal was either. But thanks for sharing - yeh, it's like one of those great old movies. My family has a lot of old pix back to early 1900's. Life is pretty interesting. Things change. Things move. It's good to know the origins. My parents have gone to a lot of trouble to preserve that; and I have the family tree, hand-written by me, in a book, dictated from memory, by my mother. It's sad now that that very capable memory is mostly gone. She hardly knows who I am now. She was the only one in the family able to understand me when I was 'way out there' on my secret journey. That's way too personal to speak it; but I had a group of friends that could go there too. And we referred to ourselves as the 'inner circle' - we could talk about anything. Things change, things move, experience is not forgotten. It's kinda like time travel, doing the impossible. Thanx again for sharing.

[John_RI]

Priceless - Thanks for sharing!

[SimplicitySwede]

quote:

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Originally posted by MysTiK
Wow. A good read. Quite the story - a lot of family history, and a lot of emotion. And very personal; but the links to the family history too. This is almost like a movie. And there aren't too many people named Enoch. That name always catches my interest. There's supposedly some (lost or forbidden) book of the Bible called Enoch, possibly banned for some silly reason, which causes people like me to want to find what's hidden. There's lots of books written 'about' it. I never found the real thing - don't know what the big deal was either. But thanks for sharing - yeh, it's like one of those great old movies. My family has a lot of old pix back to early 1900's. Life is pretty interesting. Things change. Things move. It's good to know the origins. My parents have gone to a lot of trouble to preserve that; and I have the family tree, hand-written by me, in a book, dictated from memory, by my mother. It's sad now that that very capable memory is mostly gone. She hardly knows who I am now. She was the only one in the family able to understand me when I was 'way out there' on my secret journey. That's way too personal to speak it; but I had a group of friends that could go there too. And we referred to ourselves as the 'inner circle' - we could talk about anything. Things change, things move, experience is not forgotten. It's kinda like time travel, doing the impossible. Thanx again for sharing.

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My names Jared and in the bible Jared was Enochs father. Also my dads name is Paul, my uncle is James and my bro is John. So we all have bible names lol

[Al]

Hi, Great story, Thanks, Al Eden

[Brettw]

Great story, Jared. Now we just need some pics!

[MysTiK]

quote:

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Originally posted by SimplicitySwede

quote:

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Originally posted by MysTiK
Wow. A good read. Quite the story - a lot of family history, and a lot of emotion. And very personal; but the links to the family history too. This is almost like a movie. And there aren't too many people named Enoch. That name always catches my interest. There's supposedly some (lost or forbidden) book of the Bible called Enoch, possibly banned for some silly reason, which causes people like me to want to find what's hidden. There's lots of books written 'about' it. I never found the real thing - don't know what the big deal was either. But thanks for sharing - yeh, it's like one of those great old movies. My family has a lot of old pix back to early 1900's. Life is pretty interesting. Things change. Things move. It's good to know the origins. My parents have gone to a lot of trouble to preserve that; and I have the family tree, hand-written by me, in a book, dictated from memory, by my mother. It's sad now that that very capable memory is mostly gone. She hardly knows who I am now. She was the only one in the family able to understand me when I was 'way out there' on my secret journey. That's way too personal to speak it; but I had a group of friends that could go there too. And we referred to ourselves as the 'inner circle' - we could talk about anything. Things change, things move, experience is not forgotten. It's kinda like time travel, doing the impossible. Thanx again for sharing.

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My names Jared and in the bible Jared was Enochs father. Also my dads name is Paul, my uncle is James and my bro is John. So we all have bible names lol

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Religion is one highly flammable topic. I have been in groups of people where a few comments have been made of a religious nature, and suddenly one person stands up, raging angry and terrified, threatens everybody to stay away, and then storms out of the room never to be seen again. Many are abused or threatened. The "bible" (there are too many modern language translations where the meaning is completely lost) is a collection of smaller books, somewhat preserved for thousands of years. The New Testament changed the whole scene from a message of fear to a message of love. And there are many other religions with their own "bible" - and most of these religions come down to the same thing. Mainly it's a guide for living, and possibly an explanation for thoughts, feelings, events, and various phenomena that human beings naturally experience to a greater or lesser degree. Much depends on past influences. Accuracy of translation, and severe editing, book burning, prohibition, banning, etc. have made the search more difficult. One book I had was called "The Gnostic Gospels" by Elaine Pagels. Gnostic comes from old Greek "gnosos" meaning "knowing". The Gnostics were in conversational, devotional communion with God and some wrote down their experiences. In the early days of the modern church these people refused to take the oath that was dictated, demanded, and were executed - the early church wanted total control of the belief system. This left us with "dogma" kinda like just the basics. The experiential was somewhat deleted. Human nature however, does not work that way. Human nature cannot be limited. But it remains dangerous to speak such things. The New Testament helped the cause (esp. Paul). I found other books - The Urantia Book (online) and A Course In Miracles. These too can be subject to distortion by people who are either well intentioned, limited, or, once again, greedy. It remains a personal secret journey that can be shared with few. A popular band called The Police made a hit album called "Ghost In the Machine". The first track - "you will see light in the darkness, you will make some sense of it, when you've made your secret journey, you will find the one you missed". (or like that) There are many books. The wisdom of the Essenes, Gurdjieff, F.S.Perls, Ouspensky, Sufi, old Persia, Lao Tzu, Nietzsche, Learning to Live Like Jesus. Much of this is either deemed insane or classed as esoteric. (eso=inner, teric= circle) All of it is untouchable; hence preserved. Of course, the distorted spinoffs (psychics and channelers) (no such thing) can be in play here; it is up to the reader to decipher the wheat from the chaff. The emphasis is 'don't believe anything: prove it to yourself'. Me, I talk to my tractor; and I walk my walk. It could all be a waste of time; people will only pursue if they have a burning desire. The others, I don't know; it's personal. It's about personal evolution. And highly flammable. I am the only one on my path; but I am never alone. But sharing with others was helpful for me. I apologize to any I offend here. This is like walking a tightrope. It's personal, unlimited, optional, or essential. Very symbolic. We are not taught these things directly. We spend our lives wondering. Just like finding olde tractors; the info is available. I have been shown and lead to my tractors; by those who have gone before. Or, I just got lucky. Blow your mind, read The Revelation. again, I apologize to any I offend here.

[SimplicitySwede]

Heres some pics all 3 of my Farmalls are in the same album the 450 is the one with the wide front end. I dont have alot of pics of it yet. Been having troubles with it. http://s1172.photobucket.com/albums/r569/SimplicitySwede/Toys/1947%20Farmall%20M%20%201958%20Farmall%20350%20%201958%20Farmall%20450/

[PGL]

Good pictures. Sorry to hear of troubles with the 450, but even if it doesn't work, it will be great to just look at it and pat it for the memories, assuming you didn't get it again to do a lot of tasks.

[PhanDad]

Thanks for sharing the story. I enjoyed reading it.

[huffy]

great story, and impressive pics.

[MrSteele]

I've been chasing my Dad's L John Deere for a few years. It also will not be too difficult to identify, unless someone else has already restored it. It has an LA engine on an L frame. A man at work told me about one he had found rigged just that way. I need it like I need another..... Dad's last tractor is ready to reassemble, a Farmall A. Can't find Simplicity or Allis Chalmers lawn tractors too easy down here, so I got a bit bigger, though the A and the L aren't rated much more HP that my Landlord. I hope you get the tractor repaired to what you remember.