One "B" Led To 33, And Then Even More

One B Led To 33 And Then Even More TRACTORS Collectors As Gene Kelling approached retirement from the Aitkin Minn Highway Department he often wondered how he’d occupy his days and weeks without a fulltime job In the fall of 1999 after paying a neighbor $100 for a long-ignored Deere B he found his answer     “Restoring tractors wasn’t really on my retirement radar ” Kelling says “but after I sawed down trees to cut that old B out of the wind break and started cleaning it up I really enjoyed it ” Later that year another neighbor’s B was damaged in a fire so Kelling bought it He stripped it to the frame restored all the parts painted it and put on new rubber     “I did two tractors that first year and that gave me the bug ” he says     Kelling also did some research and found that Deere B tractors were made from 1935 to 1952 That information gave his restoration projects a new mission: finding B’s made in every production year After that the hobby grew like corn on a hot summer day     After three completed tractors Kelling outgrew his garage workspace so he built a 40 by 80-ft shed Over the next 10 years Kelling bought and restored two and sometimes three model B’s every year By 2011 he had 33 B’s in his collection along with a couple Farmalls an 8N Ford and a Massey When he’s not working on tractors he restores canoes and has 8 of those in storage too     Kelling said finding tractors from every production year was a challenge but his current collection is complete with at least one and sometimes two models for every year from 1935 to 1952 Serial numbers verify the year every tractor was built     He has purchased B’s from Iowa the Dakotas and Minnesota in various stages of repair “All of them needed parts paint and TLC especially the one I brought home in three large boxes ” Kelling says with a laugh “My collection is basically complete though I’d like to get a nicer B from 1947 put new rubber on a few tractors and paint a few others ” Kelling says     In the past few years Kelling has expanded his green and yellow hobby to include a 1939 H a 1939 L with a single bottom plow and a 2-row cultivator with a hand lift for a 1939 B “There’s really no end to this collecting and restoration once a person gets going ” Kelling says “My shed is full but a neighbor offered me storage so that’s not an excuse anymore ”     Every tractor in his collection is a good runner and Kelling takes at least three different ones each year to the Aitkin County Fair     Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Gene Kelling 44999 310th St Aitkin Minn 56431 ph 218 927-3084

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