Model "A" Truck Turned Into "Doodlebug"

Model "A" Truck Turned Into "Doodlebug" TRACTORS Conversions 22-6-22 There's a bit of unusual history to this "Doodlebug" tractor, which actually started out as a Model A truck, says owner Harry Coldiron of Lucasville, Ohio. It all started in 1937 when Fred Richards of Xenia, Ohio, converted a 1930 or 1931 Model A truck into a tractor. He replaced the front axle with one from a Model A car and kept the original rear axle, 20-in. wheels, and frame. The 16-in. white sidewall front tires came off a 1935 Ford car. The radiator came from a 1930 Ford Model A car and the seat from a Ford 8N tractor. The rig had the truck's original 4-speed transmission in the rear, with a 3-speed car transmission in front of it. Richards ended up trading the rig to some-one for a horse. Later it was traded again for a mule. Finally, in 1969, Harry Coldiron obtained the tractor from a coin collector by trading some Mercury dimes and a 2-headed quarter. In 1990 the tractor was rebuilt. Harry is a member of the Old Timers Club and has been bringing the tractor to the Xenia Antique Power Show for the past few years. "A lot of older people still remember using these kinds of tractors in the 1940s, a time when horses were being phased out," says Harry. "During World War II you could hardly get a tractor, and young men coming back from the war had no money or gas for cars because it was being rationed. However, they could buy gas for tractors. So they started building a lot of æDoodlebug' tractors by cutting down old trucks or cars. The modified rigs could be used to pull a horse-drawn disk, mower, wagon, wheat drill, or corn planter - most anything you could do with two horses you could do with these tractors without having to give them a break." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Harry Coldiron, 3211 Houston Hollow Rd., Lucasville, Ohio 45648 (ph 740 456-4342).

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