The rare Allis Challmers 10-18 2 cylinder opposed tractor on
this month’s cover is the property of Richard Sleichter, Rt. 1,
Box 62, Riverside, IA 52327. What follows is his description of the
tractor’s restoration.
I purchased it in March of 1981 from the original owner who is
now 95 years old. He had ordered it from a mail order catalog in
November of 1914.
Completely contrary to everyone else buying old tractors that
are shipped to them in boxes and crates, with parts missing, this
tractor had not run for 26 years, yet, it was 100% complete. Once
we began restoring it, we completely disassembled the tractor.
The tractor’s restoration took, for all practical purposes,
from start to finish, three weeks. We, of course, ‘farmed
out’ a lot of the parts such as the mag., force feed oiler,
radiator, fuel tank, etc. Leo Brubaker of Prairie City, Iowa, one
of the renowned Brubaker brothers, did the engine work.
We had it at the Old Threshers Reunion at Mt. Pleasant this past
September. Countless people would ask how many years it took me to
restore it and I would reply, ‘Three weeks.’ They either
(1) didn’t believe me, or (2) asked me if it had been restored
before! So, consequently, here is a picture to verify where the
tractor had been sitting under a pine tree for 26 years, and the
condition it was in. This is the extreme opposite of restoring most
rare tractors- basically it is a simple tractor, and, as I said
earlier, it was 100% complete. So, I guess what I am trying to
emphasize is that with a little luck and cooperation from others,
this tractor was as easy to restore as others must be hard!
