Deere Tractor Turned Into Toy Display

Deere Tractor Turned Into Toy Display TRACTORS Conversions An interesting idea in a recent issue of Lawn And Garden Collector Magazine www lawnandgardencollector com caught our eye Andrew Meier with the help of friends figured out a clever way to display a part of his collection of 4 000 farm toys He made a display case out of a Deere 112 garden tractor Meier 23 “graduated” in recent years from toys to collecting Deere 110 and 112 lawn tractors He’s managed to collect 40 of them from every year between 1965 and 1974 He picked up a non-running 112 mostly for parts and it was taking up valuable shop space He needed to trash it or do something with it One sleepless night he came up with the idea to remove the engine and make the hood area a display case Meier’s restoration buddies Steve Schulz Todd Carter and Dale Daigger liked the idea and offered their talents to make it happen Schulz fabricated parts and Carter did the painting in Daigger’s well-equipped shop They used a Dremel rotary tool to cut openings on the hood to view a 2 1/2 by 3-ft wide display area which holds about 20 1/16-scale Patio Series garden tractors on three shelves Side plexiglas panels are secured with window sealer and H-gaskets The top piece sets on the frame under the hood Warming it slightly and bending it on a pvc pipe shaped the front plexiglas “grille” Simply raising the hood and pulling out the grille provides access to the toys “We used lots of Bondo ” says Meier noting the body was in poor shape People who see the finished “Toy Hauler” would never guess that the tractor was a junker It’s been a hit at the shows Meier has taken it to “People really like it and say they never thought of doing something like this ” he notes When he took it to a show in Illinois a collector asked if he could put the tractor in his museum during the show The Toy Hauler tractor spent most of the winter at a Deere dealership near Meier’s Monroe Wis home But he plans to haul it with other tractors in his collection to several shows this summer including the Little G show in Dyersville Iowa the first weekend in August Contact: FARM SHOW Followup; Andrew Meier N2117 Steiner Rd Monroe Wis 53566 ph 608 558-4224; bjakmeier@tds net

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