11215 Oakland Drive Kalamazoo, MI 49002
This is a story of a 1942 Case of the ‘S’ series. It was
affectionally called Mighty Mouse by the owners (an aunt and uncle
of our recently married granddaughter). It had been put out to
pasture behind a barn some 5 years or more previous to July 5th,
1985.
When our granddaughter got married the owners of this tractor
told my son (after finding he and his father were old iron
collectors) that he could have this tractor by merely driving up to
Sutton’s Bay and bringing it back.
After some inquiry and our young grandson’s trip up there
with his sister finding out more of this tractor, we got pretty
anxious to get up there after it (after all 200 miles wasn’t a
bad drive for a free tractor).
So on Friday afternoon, July 5th, 1985, our daughter, son, and
grandson in the rear of our pick-up and Mother and I in front were
off to Traverse City.
That evening when we arrived at Sutton’s Bay we found a
rusty little creature in a rather sad state of repair begging for
some T.L.C. Magneto failure had been the biggest reason this
tractor had been laid up.
Now this tractor was in a field behind the barn. One of the
spark plugs had been removed and I kept my fingers crossed as I put
the crank to it. Hurrah! It turned over freely. Needless to say I
fell in love with this little tractor as we looked it over (just
the right size for a collector’s toy).
My son said, ‘At the time, Dad, with the amount of hours
plus overtime I’m working at G.M., it will be considerable time
before I could have it ready to show.’
Now I had retired in 1982 and I was anxious to get to the task,
so I told him, ‘Let’s unload it at my place. I will have
more time to work on it and you can help whenever possible.’
Well I soon found out that a later Model Case-Delco Remy
Distributor was adaptable to this tractor so I found a used one and
soon had this tractor running (as the grizzly bear would say
‘ruff’).
Well now after a complete tear down I found some valves so badly
burned I could look through the cracks into the valve chamber-so it
was a complete head rebuild, new rings, wrist pins, for the
internal part. Generator and starter rebuild, and another carb,
plus lights, fenders, gas tank, hood, grill, and tires for the
outside.
1942 CASE This restored ‘S’ Series Case
shown below is owned by Stewart Webster, 11215 Oakland Drive,
Kalama-zoo, Michigan 49002.
I find this is not too bad when someone else is paying the bill.
Well after a lot of scraping, cleaning, sanding, and eating dust
most of the winter, and with my son taking a lot of the parts home
with him for refinishing, and now after a complete new paint job,
my son and family have a beautiful little Case to show this year at
its first showing-in its second life, that is.
Its first showing will be at the Kalamazoo Valley Antique Engine
and Machinery show which is always held on Father’s Day
weekend.
