10003 RD.X37 Wapello, Iowa 52653
It was just after World War II and Dad needed a tractor to power
the blower to fill his silo. Farm machinery was still scarce, and
he bought a used 1927 McCormick-Deering 10-20. It was on rubber,
had a gas manifold and a cylinder head from an F-30 Farmall. It had
an old coat of red paint and looked rough, but it ran well. It was
kept in use until 1957.
Dad passed on and the old tractor stood idle in my shed for
thirty-five years. A few years ago I decided that it deserved a
better life. So, with putty knife and wire brush I started to
remove the many years’ accumulation of grease and grime.
The engine was free, but time had taken its toll. The tires were
bad, a rear rim had rusted through, and there was a crack in the
manifold. A mouse had discovered that the radiator cap was loose
and had filled the water jacket with hickory nuts.
With the help of retired mechanic L. W. Leonhard, the engine was
overhauled. I got a better fan assembly from Ken Dinse at Green
Bay. Jerry Gast, a local machinist, repaired the manifold. My
want-ad for side curtains was answered by a man only sixty miles
away. With a new rim, four new tires, many small repairs and
replacements, it was ready to go to our local body shop for sheet
metal work and sandblasting.
The old tractor had been repainted a few times over the years.
Certainly the coat of red paint was not the correct color. Some
hidden crevices revealed that the original paint was a dull shade
of green instead of the usual gray. Some of my collector friends
confirm that a very few 10-20s, probably only one or two percent,
were factory painted a drab green.
We shipped the tractor parts that still retained a trace of the
original paint to an automobile paint supplier in Davenport, Iowa.
They used some type of scanner camera and computer equipment to
produce a paint formula that would match the original color. The
paint was dry just in time for me to drive the tractor in our local
Pioneer Days parade celebrating Iowa’s Sesquicentennial in June
1996.
The tractor has been in my family for fifty years. The fact that
some of its features are not original does not detract from our
enjoyment of it, and although the color it is painted is a bit
unusual, we think it is quite attractive.
