Historic Farm Days, Penfield, Illinois
(A Hot Time In The Old Town Of Penfield)
It was definitely hot, the mercury hovered in the upper 90's most of the weekend. A brief intense rainstorm Wednesday afternoon made things a bit soggy and limited field action, but the grounds dried out and the show turned out great. A great display of Fords and Fordsons took center stage along, and several very rare and almost unknown prototype Fords were present, including two very unusual tractors with aluminum transmission cases, one with a opposed two cylinder air cooled engine. Graham Bradley owners surprised us with 12-14 tractors on display including a very rare standard tread model. A Bradley tractor was also there, one of about 300 made.
The 8020/Wagner group had an excellent turnout, with a tractor and 8 bottom mounted plow from Ontario, Canada on hand, and another tractor made a serendipitous trip from Idaho. In addition to the several 8020's on hand, John Deere/Wagner WA-14 and WA-17 tractors also appeared. The rare JD experimental RTX-547 owned by Darrell Fischer was on display. Deere assembled this tractor by installing a Detroit Diesel engine in a Case LA chassis to test the upper limits of horsepower farmers might be able to use. This led directly to the development of the 8010 and 8020 tractors.
