It’s pretty easy to tell when the old iron community is
working its way through the doldrums of winter – one look at the
queries coming in for C.H. Wendel and you know cabin fever is
taking its toll, as collectors and restorers of old iron hunt for
information on their finds from last year.
C.H. Wendel is still on the mend, so we haven’t the benefit
of his encyclopedic insight, but responses from readers to queries
posted in Reflections have gone a long way towards giving owners
necessary information to complete their engine and tractor
restorations. It’s a unique community that responds as ours
does to requests for help – readers routinely tell me about members
of the old iron community offering to send rare parts across the
country to them, offering a needed piece for use as a pattern or
simply as a physical reference. And all this without ever asking
for anything in return.
So let’s keep the questions coming and the answers flowing –
it’s all part of what keeps the hobby thriving, and integral to
the critical process of collecting information for the benefit of
us all, ensuring we keep the old iron we love in running form for
our enjoyment today, and that of others tomorrow.
