Friday, March 6, 2009

Finally Found the Perfect Tractor

In George Taber's excellent book 'Judgement of Paris' there is a photograph of Warren Winarski, founder of Stag's Leap Wine Cellars on a Ford tractor working in a vineyard. I decided early on that I wanted a Ford tractor for the exhibit. I looked everywhere...in California, in Texas....on tractor club websites. Nothing like I was looking for seemed to be available. I was really starting to worry that I might have to opt for something else. That wouldn't be so bad...but I wanted a Ford, circa 1968 - 1976.

Then one day....I was driving from Houston to The George Bush Library in College Station and as I was coming into Navasota I passed a corner lot that had a beautiful Ford tractor sitting near the barbed wire fence with a 'for sale' sign on it. I turned around went back and wrote down the telephone number on the sign. It ended up being about a week later before I could make contact with the owner and work out a price....but now I had my tractor, a 1969 Ford 2000....perfect for the exhibit.

Shown in the photo is George Bush Library - facility manager Robert Spacek as we unloaded it at my College Station storage area.