# Why Masseys??????



## alleyyooper (Oct 23, 2004)

The year was 1949, dad had traded his old fordson in on a brand new red Massey Harris Pony. It was his first rubber tired tractor which he farmed his small 5 acre place with. In the spring he would low the single bottom plow and a small section of drag (harrow to some) and do gardens in the village for many then park the tractor for the night at a friends home.
:spinsmile Dad loved that pony so much that 36 years latter he told my wife about it many times. One time going home after a visit the wife said we should find a Pony for your dad and fix it up for him. I agreed, shopped around and saw the prices of them and told her that I thought a 44 would make him just as happy.
 That was an excuse to get a 44 I had been seeing sitting at a John Deer dealer so I could pull it in the antquie classes and dad could pull it in farm stock any year and stop bugging me about where to run my Ford.
I brought the 44 home, took a good look at what all I needed to get it in shape. 
One hub was home made, one was broken. one wheel was a 6" and one a 8" wide but were 38s. The pto shaft was gone so had to find one of those very important as all tractors in the antquie class that placed 3d or better had to dyno 19 HP for ever 1000 lbs.
Looking in scrap yards became a weekend fun thing. driving back roads glassing the fence rows were common place also. Then one late fall day Kare spotted a fender about a 100 yards off the road behind a barn down a lane. It took a couple of months of weekends to catch some one home. :devil: :devil: Lucky me a cold windy Saturday with snow flying and a wind chill in the below minus. The guy said to go look it over and make an offer, I was out there so long he thought I had gotten lost and came to look for me. He wanted to go in and talk price but ai kept looking at stuff and then made him an offer which he took just to get in the warm :friends: . Now I had all the parts I needed and I think by then At least three other Masseys, a 30 and a pony.
I got the 44 all together then painted. a few days latter dad took second place at the local tractor pull in farm stock 5000 class.
Dad owned other masseys beside the Pony and 44. He had a 20 and a 44 six with the continal engine. I have all those same models now plus.
 Al


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## guest2 (Dec 27, 2003)

Great story!! Thanks for sharing! Got any pics?


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## Ernie (Mar 18, 2004)

Alley, great story... As sixer asked any pictures...


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## Ingersoll444 (Sep 17, 2003)

Great story. You know noting like being out in the cold, looking at a big old pile of some thing, and KNOWING you will be taking it home, and what you will be doing with it, but STILL just standing there, trying to figure out the lowest price the guy will take.  [done it MANY times]


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## alleyyooper (Oct 23, 2004)

hmmmmm I find the hardest part trying to figure out what to offer that won't make the owner mad.
On the other hand, I had a fellow make me mad because we had agreed on a price. Then when I paid his wife because he wasn't home I asked her to sign a bill of sale I had typed up which included the tracors serial number and model. He called me on the phone that evening and was all hot and bothered because I had asked his wife to sign it which she had. I told him that was fine, I would have the tractor back there in the morning and I wanted the cash returned, I sure didn't want to upset them and I also didn't want a tractor with out a clean bill of sale. That changed his tune, The day I stopped and asked if they would consider selling it, his wife yelled from another part of the house to get rid of that eye sore.
It was a 1956 333.
Top tractor: 1952 Mustang Model 23 & son who has a son of his own now July 1991.
Bottom tractor is the 333 in the orchard where I bought it in Febuary of 1990.
 Al


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## alleyyooper (Oct 23, 2004)

The rescued 1951 gr 44 single front wheel. Dad making second place pull. 
We latter was able to get it down in the 4500 lb class and won 5 first place finishes 3 in farm stock with dad as the pilot and 2 in the 4500 lb Antique class with me. I mostly pulled my 30 in the 4500 lb Antique class and just enjoyed watching dad waxem.
 Al


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## alleyyooper (Oct 23, 2004)

mg: The club that was doing the tractor pulls finally go taken over by the if it isn't modified it aint worth doing bunch. They didn't last the summer and tried going back from it just has to look stock, to the 19 HP per 1000 pounds. It didn't work as most of the guys just dropped out and did shows and some pulls when the rules were for stock only tractors and most of them were % pulls. 
What fun is there in seeing a 1934 Case flying down the track with a sled like it was powered with a chevy V8. Or a Massey 44 with a Desota six with out the govener so it did fly. Who likes to keep getting waxed by a ford 8N with a Funk v8 kit and a 49 Mercury flat head v8 all built.
Sort of hard to keep a pulling club together when 5 or 6 guys are doing all the winning cause they have all the money and like to spend it on mods rather than saving our past.
My brother in laws 101 Sr HUMMMMM a 45 or 46 I think I remember. Also My 1965 ford gasser.
 Al


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## bontai Joe (Sep 16, 2003)

I'm in 100% agreement with you in that the stock machines are much more satisfying to watch. I remember about 15 years ago, going to the Flemington, NJ Ag FAir on Farmer's day to watch the local farmer's pull with their tractors. There was a weight class below 3000 pounds I think, and a few of the 10 acre "estate" crowd showed up with their various shiny new compact utility tractors to pull, and ALL got beat by 1930's vintage Deere 2 cylinder driven by a woman. Lots of rich guys heads hung in shame that day.


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## Ernie (Mar 18, 2004)

Alley, I have been to truck pull and have won a few but tractor pulls especially vintage such as yours are hard to beat... Great Pictures, again thanks for sharing them w/us...


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## Steve (Oct 20, 2004)

I have never been to a real tractor pull, only those with the 3000 hp kind. Thanks for the great stories. I cant wait to watch one. How would a 22 do in one of those?

steve:homereat:


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## alleyyooper (Oct 23, 2004)

How would a 22 do in a tractor pull?  Just guessing that if it were a 19 HP to every 1000 pounds of tractor weight pull you would add about 2 to 3 hundred pounds to the rear of the tractor with a narrow front to get in the 3000 pound class it would be very hard to beat. Kares 81 is the only one we pulled and it weighed in a 2748 with the lift attachment still on board and that thing is heavy and huge. The 81 pulled 67% of it's own weight but wasn't running well either due to some crappy gas we bought.
In a presentage pull if it were broken down by weight classes like the transfur seld pulls, again it would be hard to beat a 22. On the other hand if it was all classes thrown together and pulled for an over all presentage you would be like most people and get waxed by an Allis Chalmbers Model B. Those Allis B's seem to have every ounce of weight in just the right place and have the perfect balance of power.

 Al


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## alleyyooper (Oct 23, 2004)

In the above picture My brother in law is pulling a transfur sled with his 101 SR.
He did a lot of % pulls with it and was very good. At one pull his best friend( owner of a John Deer A with a power block) was standing with us as Darwin came up to pull. The last 8 tractors had been elimanated due to the sled being in a dip in the pulling area. The friend told every one to watch that Massey pull the sled out of that hole. It did not only pull it out of the hole but pulled it back in to get rid off the rest of them to win that night.
That 101 Sr has the right balance too. My 1947 44 six has the same engine but won't pull with the 101 due to an added gear in the transmission. That extra gear upset the balance of power. one gear is to low and causes spinning out, one gear higher and it is the oppsite and you stall out.
 Al


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## Ernie (Mar 18, 2004)

I think that is true on manual tranny's where hydo's have slippage to allow more torque multiplication to the wheel,s... But in the older tractors I have seen tire sizes make a difference..


ps. The pictures are great... thanks for sharing......


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