This is a graphics intensive page. Please allow time for the graphics to load.
The Confederate Farm Tractor Show
Struttin' and Poppin' in the Bright Georgia Sunshine
by Lamar Stonecypher
|
On June 13 and 14, 2003, Charlie Summerlin of Ware Country, Georgia, invited a group of old tractor owners and enthusiasts to spend a couple of days in the bright sunshine, eat some barbecue, make some friends, and renew acquaintances. Your Kudzu Monthly publisher was there with his camera, and this is some of what he saw, heard, felt, and smelled.
Three million Ford Model A trucks were made in 1929-1931, and three came to the show. The long-legged gentleman climbing out below is Vernon Crews of Folkston, GA. This car was used in the 1977 movie "Greased Lightning." (Click the picture for a closeup of the car while he was still in it.)  Vernon Crews' 1931 Model A Sedan (Click for larger image)
 Gene Allbritton brought the "late" 1931, one-and-a-half-ton Model "AA" dualie pickup pictured above, which is all original rather than restored. It has been repainted at least once in its life, and Mr. Allbritton was hard pressed to find something else to compare the truck's ride to.
Gene Christian of Waycross, GA drove in the 1929 Model A "Roadster Truck" below. It is a rare "indented firewall" model.  Gene Christian in his 1929 Model A
This is Kevin Wu pulling Elmer Wildes' 1948 John Deere into position. This young fellow from China was all smiles for most of the day. (We suspect this was his first antique tractor show.)  Kevin Wu (Click for larger image)
This handsome machine belongs to David Sherrol Strickland. The plaque reads,"John Deere 'A.' This was a row crop tractor from 1934 to 1952. It was sometimes called a 'Popping John' or 'Johnny Popper.' This tractor sold for around $2,400 new in 1950." That said, the tractor appears to be a Farmall M. We're accustomed to seeing John Deere models in green!  David Strickland's Farmall M
I was unable to identify the owner's name of this Massey-Harris, but it was too gorgeous to pass up. 
An unusual competitive activity found at antique tractor shows is a "slow race," or seeing who can manage to get to the finish line last (by having the lowest gearing). The standard joke is, "I'll give you a head start!" The nearer gentleman below is Bruce Paulson of Kingsland, GA on his 1936 Case, while the other fellow is our host for the event, Charlie Summerlin.  Bruce Paulson and Charlie Summerlin
The kids wanted rides, and plenty of folks were happy to oblige. Here are two examples, but I didn't get names for these folks. Can anybody help me out?
The main feature of the show was the "tractor parade," in which all the folks that could get their's "crunk" participated. As I stood and watched almost a hundred years of agricultural equipment pass by, the thought struck me that these machines were produced to work, and now they've done their work. New, they were something special to their owners - probably some amount of sacrifice - and maybe the entire farm was riding on the expensive new machine's capabilities. These were the tools that helped feed and cloth a nation through the last three big wars, and some of these men and women are the sons and daughters, grandsons and granddaughters of the men who toiled from sunrise to sunset to "bring the crops in" and to market.
Is it any wonder then that these machines find a receptive spot in the hearts of any true Southerner who remembers our heritage and is proud of our honor, our courtesy -- and our agrarian past? That Saturday in June, I stood in the bright Georgia sunshine and listened to the sounds of a bygone era. I smelled on the breeze the mixed tang of barbecue, hot manifolds, and exhaust. I watched, respectfully with my camera lowered, this Southern spectacle of antique tractors passing in review, all a'struttin' and a'poppin' across the green grass of Charlie Summerlin's Confederate Farm field. I left feeling better about the condition of the world than when I'd come. This is my South, and this is why I don't want to live anywhere else. These folks are alive and vital, crackling with sincerity and good humor, and these children are the lights that will carry Southern values forward to the coming generations. Maybe these youngsters will meet, fifty years from now, in a peaceful field in southern Georgia with lovingly restored old tractors and cars of their own. We can only hope.
Photos and text copyright © 2003 Lamar Stonecypher
About the Author Lamar Stonecypher is the publisher of Kudzu Monthly Magazine. |
Reader's Comments |
Kudzu Monthly urges our readers to provide feedback for our authors. If you would like to comment on this article, you can enter your comments in the form below. They will be added to this page. |
|
I would like to have information on any shows you know of. We have a farm all that has been around for a while. Thank You, Richard Richard Hill <DH1959@PLANTTEL.NET> - Thursday, March 11, 2004 at 07:34:06 (EST) These pictures are wonderful. When is the next show? Sherrie Collins <sc2551@yahoo.com> - Sunday, February 29, 2004 at 09:44:07 (EST) Sir, the owner of the Massey 30 is Bruce Paulson. He is also in the next picture wearing red suspenders and driving his old Case. Many of the tractors came up from the Woodbine Antique Tractor Club. We really enjoyed the show. Some of our tractors are show at http://public.fotki.com/bald/ . Thanks, H.L. Fry, Secretary, WATC. Harvey Fry <bald@tds.net> - Thursday, December 25, 2003 at 19:47:09 (EST) Gosh, Stoney...for someone to be able to breathe fervor into a tractor show...is a lovely surprise! Your photos are absolutely gorgeous...(and here I thought "firewalls" were invented for computers, lol!) and the slow-moving tractor race is so cute! I grew up on a farm, and we had a John Deere tractor too... (before that, I remember our big Clydesdale pulling a plough and a stoneboat). I thoroughly enjoyed this! Laryalee <laryalee@hotmail.com> - Monday, July 14, 2003 at 01:28:32 (EDT) Stoney, a fine account of Southern friendship and hard work. Your piece shows that a person won't really care much about the world until they've learned to love their own backyard. Fred Tribuzzo <ftribuzzo@earthlink.net> - Saturday, July 12, 2003 at 13:28:09 (EDT) Thanks STONEY FOR YOUR COVERAGE OF OUR 4TH ANNUAL ANTIQUE TRACTOR/HIT AND MISS ENGINE AND CAR SHOW AT Confederate farm.WE PLAN ON HAVING A COUNTRY/GOSPEL SING THIS FALL IF POSSIBLE and looking forward for another Tractor Show in 2004. Your Friend Charlie. Charlie Summerlin Confederate Farm 227G Bennett Road Waycross,Ga. 31503 Charlie Summerlin <csummer1@gate.net> - Monday, July 07, 2003 at 20:03:59 (EDT) I spend (well, used to) a lot of time hiking in remote areas of Texas, and on several occasions I've happened upon an abandoned, rusted hull of one of these babies. When this occurs, I always feel compelled to stop and contemplate the past, that moment in time, and imagine the lives of the men, women and children who relied so heavily upon these machines. Invariably, I walk away a little sad, as if much of the past resembles that of the oxidizing relic, listing and barely visible above the tall Johnson grass that engulfs it. Your excellent photography and inspiring words at the conclusion brightened my sentiments considerably. Jefre Schmitz <jefre.schmitz@hhsc.state.tx.us> - Sunday, July 06, 2003 at 11:59:51 (EDT) Your photography is so good, Stoney, and how smart and polished all the tractors look. Combine all that with sunshine, tractor and barbecue smells and it seems a pretty good day, add on good humoured and friendly folk, and it was obviously the tops.... Thank you for letting me stand on the sidelines and share in the fun with you. CecileHare <woyguk@yahoo.co.uk> - Saturday, July 05, 2003 at 11:01:46 (EDT) The pictures were stunning. I liked this article and it made me feel like a kid again, learning to drive...not a car, but a Ford Tractor gathering corn...losing my place and winding up six rows too far over! Do more of these articles. LouHaper <luharper@brightok.net> - Thursday, July 03, 2003 at 16:02:30 (EDT) This was truly awesome. I thoroughly enjoyed your photographs as well as your descriptions. I wish I could have been there. Judy Dixon <jdixon03@tampabay.rr.com> - Thursday, July 03, 2003 at 14:56:35 (EDT) The excellent pictures of these magnificient machines are well worth the wait for them to download. You have captured the proud and generous spirit of the South where I've never been, but from where I've discovered so many talented people and made so many generous friends. Brenda Ross <BrendaRoss> - Tuesday, July 01, 2003 at 23:11:27 (EDT) This kind of show is one of the joys of living in the country for us here in Virginia too. Every year my husband (and sometimes I tag along) goes to a "Steam Engine and Tractor Show" in one of the other little towns in the Shenandoah Valley. It's a real hoot! Everyone knows everyone and the farmers break out their treasured old tractors to strut their stuff. There's row after row of old steam engines to see, and the food tent has the BEST country cooking for miles around. Mostly it's the sense of family the friendly folk engender that attracts me. It's more of a social event than anything else and people come from miles around to soak up the "down home" atmosphere. I enjoyed this article immensely Stoney - I think it just proves that "country is country" whether in Georgia, Virginia, or anywhere else where good people enjoy each other's company. Pam Kimmell <junekimm@aol.com> - Tuesday, July 01, 2003 at 07:36:15 (EDT) Brought a whole lot of fond memories to this old geezer's head as I scrolled down the page and saw vintage tractors that I grew up seeing as a normal day-to-day experience. These workhorses were great, where men cultivated, plowed, mowed, all sorts of odd jobs sans air conditioners installed in them. I have a strange feeling that even if they were give that option, most of the men who farmed with these beauties would have said, "Naw, caint git the smell of the land thataway." Course, I could be wrong. Nice piece Stoney! Jerry Bolton <righterjerryb@aol.com> - Tuesday, July 01, 2003 at 07:35:08 (EDT) |
