Love of antique tractors has become a family affair

By TARA JENNINGSLedger Staff Writer

Donovan DesLauriers works to gain another inch during the kids’ pedal push competition Saturday, part of the annual Broad River Antique Power Association’s tractor/engine show.

Wayne Morrison of Shelby remembers tearing apart a lawnmower when he was younger. The fun part was making sure he reassembled it correctly before his father returned from his 2nd-shift job.

Now Morrison and his father, Johnny, have turned Wayne’s abilities and their interest in antiques into a hobby that takes them around the region to antique tractor and engine shows.

They brought a portion of their collection, including an engine dating back to 1910, to the annual Broad River Antique Power Association’s Tractor/Engine Show and Plow Day.

The 1910 engine was one of 10 purchased by Duke Power to pull generators and make power at the 99 Island Dam in Blacksburg. They also brought a 1912 Ideal lawnmower motor, possibly one of the first engine lawnmowers made, and a 1913 Sattley “hit or miss” engine that the Morrisons purchased eight years ago. Those first buys hooked them and they’ve been traveling to these shows nearly every weekend each summer since.

The hit-or-miss engine helped show Wayne Morrison that these antique engines give him more than just quality time with his father — they are also a great investment. Despite the opportunity, the Morrisons said they do not sell their antiques.

“I didn’t mess with (the hit-or-miss engine) for about two or three weeks after we bought it and this guy called and wanted to buy it,” Wayne said. “I paid $600 and he got up to offering $2,800. I told him ‘this was our first engine we ever bought, and you’d have to go through my dad and me and my children, and you already have two votes against you.’”

For York’s Russell Dover, his hobby of building classic cars got too expensive. He discovered antique tractors were much cheaper and just as fun – and the people associated with the hobby are fun and friendly.

His neighbor Tommy Smoak also enjoys a similar hobby. Dover describes Smoak as the “guru of David Bradleys,” the only brand of equipment built by a farm implement company at that time.

“He has like a hundred,” Dover said.

“I have a bunch of junk,” Smoak laughed. “But I have a few more that will run.”

Smoak had his Bradleys on hand and was awarded a very distinguished honor — first place in the Ugliest Tractor contest with his 1940 Handiman Jr. David Bradley tractor sold by Sears and Roebuck.

Smoak also displayed his 1958 Super 5.6 work tractor, which he still uses today.

“I started at tractor shows and I decided to throw a coat of paint on it,” he said.

Dover’s collection is for his grandchildren — but since they are not yet old enough to have them, he said he enjoys showing them at these antique shows.

More than 250 people attended Saturday’s antique tractor and engine show at Overbrook Drive and Twin Lakes Road in Gaffney. Although muddy conditions canceled the plowing competitions, spectators enjoyed the slow race, barrel roll, wagon backing contest, hitching contest and the pedal pull for kids.

Ledger photo by TARA JENNINGS