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26 www.FarmProgress.com ◆ March 2015
Prairie Farmer
A collection of extraordinary proportion
ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF MEYER FAMILY
By JOY SHELDON
T
UCKED away in the southern hills of
Stendal, Ind., is a tractor collection
of extraordinary proportion. Erich
“Bud” Meyer is a farmer with many tractors in his sheds.
There are 63, to be exact. What makes
this collection so unique is that most of
the tractors are Farmall International
Harvesters. Meyer also has his sister’s
Ford 1100. Not many people can say they
have 63 tractors, let alone so many of the
same brand.
This collection, recently displayed
during an open house on the family farm
in Pike County, Ind., began when Meyer
was 8 years old. He purchased his first
tractor, a Farmall B, for $348. He still has
it today. He even drove his Farmall B to
high school.
“You always knew when Bud was
leaving home; you could hear him fire
it up miles away,” says his sister, Hazel
Katter.
More tractors!
Once Meyer started collecting, he couldn’t
stop. His father used a horse and plow to
do a lot of things on the farm, but he also
used a Farmall tractor, which was a driving
force in Meyer’s love for the brand.
This favoritism to red tractors is very
evident; his sister jokes that “he was born
under one.”
After a lot of trading, buying and collecting, Meyer’s collection grew even more
with the help of his wife, Sherry.
Meyer has restored every tractor on
his farm. “All 63 of them have my fingerprints all over them,” he says.
He is far from finished with his collection. He recently purchased a Farmall
Super A. When it’s restored, he will have
a full set of Farmall Super models (see accompanying story at right).
Meyer is also on the lookout for an
IH 240. Those are scarce, making the task
more difficult.
Sheldon is a senior in agricultural communication at Purdue University. Hailing
from Morgan County, Ind., she also is a
former recipient of the Indiana Prairie
Farmer Tom Budd scholarship, which is presented to an outstanding incoming freshman
in Purdue ag communication each year.
FIELD OF RED: Bud Meyer parked his collection of tractors in the pasture and invited everyone to come look at tractor history.
The Super
Farmalls
B
SUPER TRACTOR: Here is Bud Meyer’s Farmall Super C. Once he finishes restoring
a Farmall Super A, he will have a complete set of the Farmall Super series.
UD Meyer’s goal is
to complete his set of
Super Farmall tractors.
There are four — Super
A, Super C, Super H and
Super M. He already has
restored three, and after
finding and purchasing a
Farmall Super A in Morgan
County, Ind., recently, he
will soon have the full set.
Restoration of the Super A
is in progress.
International Harvester
originally offered the Farmall
A, C, H and M standard
models. Later, each model
was modified with more
features. To tell them apart
from the original models, the
company called them the
Super models.
Drive for the fun of it!
T
RACTOR drives are a big deal to collectors of old tractors. Sometimes
even farmers with newer tractors join a drive just for the fun of it. Bud
Meyer was one of 25 drivers in an annual tractor drive in September. It
was a 29-mile drive through southern Pike County, Ind.
In 2012, Meyer’s Farmall 460 led the I-69 tractor drive, organized
through the Pike County antique tractor group. The drive covered a new
stretch of I-69 that opened from Marin County south to Evansville. It was
the first time in Indiana history that tractors were allowed to drive on an
interstate highway.
If you’re into tractor drives, consider the 13th annual Covered
Bridge Tractor Tour, sponsored by the Covered Bridge Antique Power
Association. The two-day drive is June 27-28 and features a 35-mile tour
in Parke County, Ind., each day. A bus tour is available if you don’t want
to drive a tractor.
Pre-registration is due June 20. Registration fees and specific rules
apply. For more information, contact the Covered Bridge Antique Power
Association, 2297 S. Nucor Rd., Crawfordsville, IN 47933. Or call one of
these members: Joe Warters at 765-362-0910, Ron Brock at 765-3622237 or John Fulwider at 765-569-1619.
LEAD THE WAY: This is Bud Meyer’s favorite tractor, a Farmall 460. Meyer led a tractor drive
on Interstate 69 in Indiana with this tractor in 2012.