March Featured Tractor

March’s featured tractor photo was submitted by Ivan Beyeler of Leo, Indiana.

“This Cockshutt was purchased in Sterling, Ohio in 1957 by my wife’s father. I began dating her in 1962 and they were still using it. Her father passed away in 1969, and the tractor was sold at that time.

Jump ahead to 1988, when one of my wife’s cousins saw a tractor that he thought looked like theirs sitting in a field near Cleveland, Ohio. My wife’s brother, who was living near Middlebury, Indiana, went to investigate. He was able to identify it as their tractor (from a photo in 1966) showing a large y-shaped scar on the nose cover and the placement of a fire extinguisher on the left side.

My wife’s brother bought the tractor and took it back to Middlebury, Indiana and had the engine repaired. He moved to Colorado in 1992, and that’s when I received the tractor to finish the restoration.

I went through 4 different buyers of the tractor to track down the original wheels, which I found and bought back from someone in Mt Vernon, Ohio. One of the first buyers of the tractor had sold the wheels and put Oliver wheels on it.

Well, my intentions were good, but it has been sitting in my shop since, so last Fall I decided it was “Now or Never” to restore it. I finished it during the Covid-19 outbreak last April. It will now go to our daughter and son-in-law who live near West Liberty, Ohio. They live on a farm there and will be able to show the tractor at Fairs and Shows.”

Ivan Beyeler
Leo, Indiana