My tractor story began three years ago when my husband went to an Antique Tractor Show for the first time. He came home with so much excitement in his eyes he looked like a school boy in a Fifty year old body. It wasn’t long before he bought his first which was a 1945 Farmall M and totally refurbished it himself using parts he ordered from Steiner Tractor Parts. Needless to say I wasn’t as hooked as my little school boy was but I couldn’t help but to get excited just from seeing the BIG grin on Mark’s face every time he took it out of the barn. We don’t have a lot of Antique tractors in our small town of Temple Georgia so when Mark showed up at the Christmas parade he was an instant hit. I would go and cheer him on in whatever event he was attending never thinking about a tractor for me mainly because I had never been on a tractor until now. I had just turned fifty years old and surely didn’t think I could learn to drive one. Anyway Mark got lonely and wanted me to join in on the fun. I remember him saying this is something we can do together. So I told him I would go with the idea only if I could pick my own tractor. He agreed and the search was on. I spent every night online looking for antique tractors narrowing down the ones I liked and didn’t like. Finally I decided to go with a Farmall but choose the number series instead of the letter series. I got so excited when I spotted the 1956 Farmall 400 for sale. We traveled two hours from our home to Athens Georgia to take a look at my new found love.  At the time I didn’t know anything about tractors unlike my husband who had been raised on them so I had no idea how big the tractor I picked out was until we pulled up. I nearly had a heart attack it was so big but had my heart already set on it so I decide to go with it. I had already told Mark that the only way I would go along with his plan of togetherness was if he painted it pink for me. Well we went around and around because according to Mark farmalls are only suppose to be RED. You know the old saying “If it ain’t red leave it in the shed”, lol. Well he finally gave in trying to talk me out of it the whole hour long drive to the paint store but I had my head set and knew exactly what color I wanted. So we get to the paint store and I pull out my business card for my hair salon and tell the paint guy to mix the paint to match my card. OK he looks at me like I am crazy but I don’t care because I had a vision and I knew in the end I would get the last laugh. We get back home and Marks gets started on the paint immediately. Oh my goodness I could hardly contain myself the more he painted the more excited I got . Mark finishes up and stands back to admire his masterpiece. I am sure that’s not what he was thinking but I was thinking it for him. So our journey of parades and tractor show begin together. We would have never thought “The Big Pink Tractor” which I have written on each side of the hood would have ever drawn so much attention but it is crazy how excited people get when they see it. I have to stop in parades for people to take pics of themselves with it, as we go down the road we see people all the time pulling up beside us taking pictures. Our daughter got married last year and we had it parked outside of the venue to pull her and husband away for reception. When I pulled up before the wedding there was a whole group of teens that were going to the prom sitting on top and around my tractor taking pictures. Things like this make me smile because this was the vision I had for “My Big Pink Tractor” for everyone to enjoy it as much as I do. We are members of the Gordon County Antique Tractor Club in Calhoun Georgia so we stay very busy showing our tractors and teaching the younger generation to preserve the past for the future. This year has truely been a good year for “My Big Pink Tractor”. The highlight was when I was asked if it could be used for Fastline.com’s 2015 Calendar where we represent the month of Ocotober which is Breast Cancer Awareness month and also my birthday month so it is pretty special to me. I thank my husband for all of his hard work and thank you for letting me share my story. Whether I win a t-shirt or not it felt good to share the story of my tractor.

Terri Reece
Temple, Georgia