"Heated" Tractor Seats

"Heated" Tactor Seats TRACTORS Seats 22-6-22 A "heated" tractor seat is one of the most prized possessions in the collection of more than 700 antique implement seats owned by Willmar Tiede, LeCenter, Minn. The aluminum seat was manufactured in the 1930's by the Tractor Warm Seat Co., Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It had a reservoir at the center to allow heated coolant and water to circulate through it via lines connected to the tractor's radiator and block. The bottom of the seat was also fitted with a control valve to allow the driver to regulate flow. Because the seat was constructed of aluminum, it quickly dissipated heat over the entire surface of the seat to warm one's derriere while harvesting corn with a mounted corn picker or spreading manure in winter. Production of the seats ended in the early 1940's when aluminum was channeled into the war effort. Tiede acquired the seat, which had never been installed on a tractor, from another col-lector in Stoughton, Wis. He paid $50 for the rare piece. "It's probably worth 10 times that these days because so few were produced and be-cause aluminum is valuable as a recyclable commodity," he says. He'd be pleased to hear from anyone else who knows more about these unique seats. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Willmar Tiede, Rt. 2, Box 229, Le Center, Minn. 56057 (ph 507 357-4815).

To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click here to register with your account number.