When tractors come to push and shove

You've heard of tractor pulls, but a tractor push? That's just one of many events scheduled for the second annual Inman Farm Heritage Days set for Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 18-20, 9 a.m. until dark.

According to Joanne Minter, who is hosting the show with her husband Rick, the tractors will stay in neutral gear while spouses push the machinery steered by their wives. There will also be a tractor race with the slowest entry declared the winner.

"This is a real big accomplishment," Minter said. A full complement of handmade crafts, children's activities such as sand art, face painting and games, plus food and beverages supplied by the Inman Methodist Church, rounds out the three-day affair.

Last year's debut tractor show and fair drew about 7,000 spectators, far surpassing the sponsors' expectations. Organizers are planning on exceeding last year's numbers and have added more food, more tractors and more fun to meet the demand.

About 200 tractors are expected to roll into Inman this week. Some of the more unusual models will include a 1930 Allis Chalmers high crop sugar cane tractor, the 1920 Aultman-Taylor steam tractor which appeared last year, a pea sheller and a butane-powered 'hit-or-miss' engine.

Minter owns about 30 tractors of varying vintage and stages of remodeling which are housed in barns on his rolling property on Hills Bridge Road, just five miles south of Fayetteville, off Ga. Highway 92. By all accounts, collecting tractors is becoming as popular as collecting antique automobiles.

Glen Roberts and J.D. Parker, both of Senoia, caught the tractor bug about a year ago and jointly own a bright green 1942 John Deere. They are working on restoring a 1938 John Deere which features an open radiator and spoke wheels. Parker also acquired a 1950 Ferguson 30 from his father-in-law in California who used it in his almond orchards. The small, cream-colored dynamo has new brakes and wiring thanks to Roberts' expertise; a shiny new finish is the result of Parker's sandblasting and paint job.

"Just in the last two or three years, there have been more tractor shows and a growing interest in collecting," Roberts said. "It's coming here from the Midwest." States including Kansas, Wisconsin and Iowa have been staging shows for 30 to 40 years, he explained, and those areas are meccas for serious collectors.

So what constitutes a prize tractor? Roberts and Parker said that some models might have only been manufactured for a period of 10 years, making them highly collectible.

A Massey Harris Pony, which was available between 1947 and 1957, is such a tractor. "That tractor really hit my eye," Roberts said of his recent acquisition.

Different styles, field uses and manufacturers all play a role in making a tractor desirable. "You can pay in the range of $1,000 to $5,000, depending on how rare they are," Roberts said. The man-hours which go into the total restoration, plus parts, which often have to be crafted by hand, make some pieces priceless. Without maintenance manuals or blueprints to follow, Roberts said he uses his common sense to put the pieces of the old work horses together.

Once assembled, painted and polished to perfection, these tractors get plenty of TLC from their owners. "They get more baths than we do," joked Parker.

Inman Heritage Days is a community event which gives the word neighbor real meaning. Throughout the year, friends, neighbors and tractor lovers gather at the Minter's farm to build, plow, plumb and improve the site for the upcoming festival. That's one reason no admission fee is charged. "After all the work they do all year, we can't charge our friends," Minter said, taking a sip of her cold drink during a late afternoon break. She envisions a turn-of-the-century village to be erected in the not-so-distant future for Heritage Days, which is typical of established Midwestern tractor shows. "You ride right into the town," Minter said.

This weekend, however, tractor buffs can park and take a hayride to the fair site, a folksy prelude of the fun to come.

The show is presented by the Georgia Antique Engine Club, the West Georgia Two-Cylinder Club, the North Georgia Two-Cylinder Club, Inman Methodist Church and the Inman Pioneer Power Association. All brands of tractors and engines are invited to exhibit.. For more information contact Dale and Pat Duncan at 770-719-1596 or John McLucas at 770-461-9444.

The Facts

* Inman Farm Heritage Days

* Sept. 18-20, 9 a.m. until dark

* Hills Bridge Road, five miles south of Fayetteville, off Ga. Highway 92 S

* Info: Pat Duncan at 770-719-1596 or John McLucas at 770-461-9444

* Free admission

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