My Kelpie before and after

[Oldsiron]

Was just looking through some old farm pics from home, found this one of the old man giving our Kelpie a workout
Notice the shifter in his tool pocket, must have been for running repairs
pic taken 1968, Im standing over near the FB.

Chris

[Wayne Timms]

Hi Oldsiron,

Very nice job on your tractor.

I picked up a very nice original one the other day from a good friend, it even has the original plough for my son.

He loves it, although he has plenty of room to grow into it.

And before anyone says anything, I know I am probably breaking every safety rule letting a 5 year old drive a tractor, but he is heavily supervised!

Regards,
Wayne

www.bluefuel-whitesmoke.com

[Oldsiron]

Thanks Wayne, I learnt to drive on ours too, I have a pic somewhere of me on the kelpie when I was a young tacker,
Ill post it up when found.
Ours threw the rod through the block one day when my brother was on it luckily only left him with a small scar on his stomach
Howard engines have a habit of doing that.
I have seen lots of howard blocks over the years with big holes in them!
regards Chris

[john gilbert]

Hi Wayne, mate, I believe all kids should be taught to drive as soon as they are physically big enough to handle the appropriate machine / vehicle. My kids were all on motor bikes at 5 year old, very tiny bikes they were, and at 10 they could drive just about any vehicle at all. My farmer mate had his son at 4 yr old driving a 3 ton Bedford tray truck while he was stacking bales on the tray. Those kids, just dont seem to have the trouble driving that other kids learning at 18 yr old do.
cheers John

[Patrick M Livingstone]

I learnt to drive in a paddock but the car was one of my Father's Model A Fords. It was a 1928 Briggs Body Sedan. It was a great way to learn to drive with 'arm-strong' steering, non-syncro gearbox, & rod brakes.

[john gilbert]

Hi Patrick, I can appreciate what you are saying, I learnt to drive in a 1928 chevy buckboard when I was 14, I drove a 1942 Harley WLA to the Lic, office when I was 18 and the cop asked me. Did you drive that Harley all the way down Sydney road To Carlton, just for this Lic, test, ( 7 miles) I said, Yes, he said, what the hell do you need a driving test for and gave me the lic, 3 months later I was up bush and had arranged to go with a local chap for a load of fire wood in his 7 ton tipper, he got into the passenger seat, told me that I have a lic, so I could drive out for the wood, I had never been in a truck of any kind before, Crash box etc, so I had to drive the 15 miles to the wood heap. When fully loaded he again got into the passenger seat, told me that as I did a pretty good job with an empty truck I had better try with a full load, SO hear I am driving with 7 ton of wood 15 miles back to town, NO other way to learn than that , in my book. cheers mate John