40-Year-Old Tractor Still Growing Strong

40-Year-Old Tractor Still Growing Strong TRACTORS Miscellaneous 27-2-14 Roy Lazenby Jr., Statesville, North Carolina, has a reputation as a quality manufacturer of steel parts for furniture makers. Lazenby works with steel in his spare time, too. One of his first projects ever was a garden tractor built in the 1960's. His son, Mike, thought it was worth a mention in FARM SHOW because after 40 years of use, the tractor is still hard at work. As a young family man and rural homeowner, Roy had about half an acre of lawn to maintain and a fairly good sized garden. "I needed a mower and something to work the garden," he says. "My funds were extremely limited, so I decided to make one." Lazenby gathered up parts at junkyards and went to work. He ended up with a 6-ft. long tractor equipped with a 9 hp Wisconsin engine and a couple of old car transmissions. The tractor has 16 forward speeds and three in reverse. Top speed is 26 mph. "I made all kinds of equipment for it including a 4-ft. floating finish mower, a garden cultivator, a 3-pt. mounted blade, a plow, and a 3 by 4-ft. cargo carrier that mounts on the 3 pt. and turns it into a little pickup truck." Lazenby figures the entire tractor cost him less than $150 when he first built it. The only major change he's made to the tractor since building it was replacing the original engine with a 21 hp Kawasaki. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Roy Lazenby Jr., 1145 Cool Springs Road, Statesville, N.C. 28625 (ph 704-871-1332).

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