Farmall H, split to satisfy everyone

I bought this 1949 Farmall “H” in Sac City, Iowa from a young man who had inherited a farm but no longer want to be a farmer. His father had bought two new Farmall “H’s” in 1949 and he wanted to save one for sentimental reasons.

I have restored a couple other Farmalls and participated in a number of tractor pulls in Southern Utah, where I have heard some of the other participants complaining about the fact that I had restored the tractors that I was competing with to almost new condition. As I’m sure you’re all well aware there has always been a debate whether to leave the tractor in the original patina or to remove all the dents, prime it, and paint it back to usually better than original condition. 

To solve that problem, I divided the tractor right down the middle. as you can see in the photographs. The left side is just like brand new and the right side is 76 years old. When we compete or show there’s a storyboard that goes with the tractor when it’s on display basically saying ”if you don’t like the right side in the original patina look at the left side”.

We have really enjoyed showing and doing tractor pulls in southern Utah with this Farmall “H“, and with our Farmall “M” and our Farmall “Cub” both of which have been totally restored.

Billy DeSilva
Cedar City, Utah

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