My Betsy!
My name is Kailey Neal and I was 17 when I restored my first tractor. My daddy came to me about the RPRU Youth Restoration Contest and I told him I wanted to do it. At first, I was a little iffy about it because I had school and competition cheerleading. I thought about it for a while, because he told me about it back in the summer of 2012. I finally told him I would do it.
When my daddy told me all the things I had to do, I didn’t know what to say. I had to do everything by myself with no help. I had to take everything apart clean it, paint it, and put it back together by myself. That’s what the guidelines were for RPRU. I looked at daddy and said, “I don’t know if I can do this.” Daddy said, “Yes you can.”
I got started on my restoration January 5, 2013. Daddy and I went over to the chicken house to see if the tractor would run. The tractor turned over so we knew that the block wasn’t stuck, but it wouldn’t crank. We finally got the tractor back over to the house and found out the problem. After we finally got the tractor running, daddy told me to ride it around a little bit so the battery would charge.
As time went on, I began to wonder why I chose to do this restoration. I told myself “Kailey you’re the first girl in the family to ever restore a tractor.” That just put more motivation in me to get the tractor done.
When I got it down to the running gear, I had to put four seals in it. The seals are front main engine seal, front transmission seal, the belt pulley seal and seed sprocket seal. I didn’t have to go into the motor. I finally got everything cleaned off of it and it was finally ready to paint. When I got to the painting part I was so excited! I couldn’t wait for it to be done.
There were some long nights out in the shop painting and, at one point, I was just about to be done. I was stressed with school and cheerleading but then I thought, “ Kailey let your stress out through painting.” So when I would come home from my long day of school and cheerleading, I would head out to the shop.
Once it was finally painted and everything was coming together, I was one happy girl. There was just one time when I got really frustrated and that was when the hood wasn’t fitting right. Once I finally got the hood to work I looked at daddy and smiled really big. Then I had to take it back off to paint it.
After I got everything painted and put back together, I was so excited. I have always dreamed of restoring a tractor and my dreams came true. Little did I know that it would be a family tractor that I restored. If you have a dream, keep it and believe in it. Eventually the dream will come true!
When everything was put back together and done, we headed up to Lima, Ohio. The reason we went up there is because of the Youth Restoration Contest. When we got to the contest in Ohio my tractor was placed in the middle of all nine contestants.
When the judges came around and judged the tractors they talked to every contestant except me. I was standing there watching the judges look at my tractor but they never even bothered to talk to me. The next day when the plaques and money were supposed to be given to first, second and third, they never handed a prize to us. I found a third place plaque lying in my seat!
I won third place and $500 with my tractor because I was not in FFA or 4-H. I also have a stainless steel muffler on it and they said, “It wasn’t original.” They liked my eyelashes I have on it but the judges never took off for those, even though they were not original. The judges also said I needed more information in my scrapbook, but they gave me a good score on it.
Since Ohio, we have had my tractor at several shows. Everyone loves the eyelashes and says how good of a job I have done. Everyone knows my tractor as Betsy. This year, (2014), I have had Betsy at Gray, Tennessee, Hickory, North Carolina and Denton, North Carolina. Betsy will be at more shows in the future of 2014 and the years to come.
While I was at Denton with Betsy, I had two interviews with the newscast and one interview with a radio station. One of the interviews was with News 2 and the other interview was with Fox 8. Both channels were great with interviewing, and it was a new learning experience with people that you see on television everyday. The radio station was a little different than the news interview. The radio interview was just like a normal conversation because no one could see me they could only hear me. The man would ask me a question and then I would tell him and we would just go back and forth. The only thing that was different about that conversation is that he was holding a microphone for me to talk into so everyone that was listening on the radio could hear me. If anyone has a chance to be interviewed with the news or radio station take that chance it may change your life, or it may spread the word about something amazing that you have done or impacted.
#tractorrestoration #NewPartsforOldTractors #Farmall #STP #International
Jonathan says
Wow. So cool. Neat story. What a beaut..