They Think Their Tractors Are Sexy — And So Do Parade Crowds

The Centennial Antique Engine & Tractor Club is a fun little group whose members, from southeastern Wyoming and northern Colorado, have one thing in common. They all have tractors, and those tractors, they believe, are all sexy little beasts.

It doesn’t matter whether they're driving a John Deere G, an Empire, a Minneapolis Moline, Farmall, or something else. All of these tractors have been fixed up like they’re someone’s precious vintage Corvette ready for a car show. 

They’ve got fresh and shiny paint jobs, and little plaques identifying their makes, models, and owners. Sometimes there are flags, too, or other fun accessories. 

But unlike a cherry, fully-restored 1963 Corvette Stingray, which can hit speeds north of 150 mph, these beauties are significantly slower, if no less shiny. The max speed for the typical tractor in this club is 12-15 mph.

A couple of tractors in the bunch aren't so typical. They go faster, like the bright red Empires with Jeep-looking headlights.

“Those will go 40 mph,” club member Roger White told Cowboy State Daily. “They’ll do what a regular Jeep will do, because it’s (on) a regular Jeep, three-speed transmission and differential.”

Empire tractors were built between 1946 and 1950 with surplus World War II parts that were used to build Willys Jeeps.

“There was this businessman in Philadelphia, and he had a wharf in Philly and they made a victory ship, a cargo ship,” White said. “And then he had a munitions factory, too. 

"So, at the end of the war, he approached the government about using leftover Jeeps to make tractors to use up the leftover surplus.”

The tractors weren’t supposed to be sold in the United States, though. They were all set to be sold under the Marshall Plan, which was America’s approach to helping its allies recover from the devastation of World War II.

“So, they started making them in 1947 and 1948, and one of their big contracts was with the dictator in Argentina, (Juan) Peron,” White said. “They had a contract for like 4,000 of them, and then they reneged on the contract, which forced the company into receivership.”

After the bankruptcy, there were 1,500 tractors that had been put together from the parts still on the wharf, which were all sold in the United States. 

“There’s about 300 Empire tractors that have been located across the U.S. and around the world,” White said. “They’ve found them in Argentina, South Africa, Greece, and other countries.”

White and his wife Ann both also belong to the Empire Tractor Club, which is dedicated to preserving the history of these unique tractors. 

Say The Magic Word

Say the word “parade” and you’ll get a glimpse of what this group is really all about. 

They will show up at all kinds of events and celebrations to show off their rigs, with engines humming like bees and colorful flags waving in the breeze. 

Even when they’re not doing an official parade, they still look like one going down the street, single file, with flags waving in the breeze. 

They turned heads as they rolled out from Burns this year for their annual tractor drive to tour Burnette Enterprises, a 6,300-cow mega dairy in southeastern Wyoming.

“We do a lot of parades and get-togethers,” Ann told Cowboy State Daily. “We really just have a lot of fun. We get involved and do lots of things together.”

It’s not just parades and parties for this group, though. They also recently helped with a school heritage day for more than 100 homeschooled kids as well.

There were old water pumps on display, and the kids learned old-time farm skills, like how to make ropes. There was a petting zoo, where the kids could touch goats and sheep, and the antique tractors.

They got to touch the tractors, too. In fact, one of the tractors was available for students to sit on and learn to steer. 

“A lot of the men (in the club) grew up on farms. A lot of the women grew up on farms,” White said. “And the first thing they learned how to drive was (a tractor).

"So, this is just a connection back to our history and our families and the generation that we are.”

Sharing that with others is all the more fun the more people there are, White added.

“We’re anxious to get a lot of younger people involved,” he said. “So, it’s just a nice hobby and everything else, in a nice social group to be with.”

Finding A Treasure

White found his Empire tractor at Woods Landing when he was looking for something he could use to move his collection of “hit-and-miss” engines.

These are old-fashioned internal combustion engines produced at the turn of the 20th century. The nickname comes from their distinctive sound, which are a cycle of whooshes where the engine is just coasting, followed by a “pop” when the speed has slowed and the engine fires to kick the speed back up.

Hit-and-miss engines could be hooked up to all kinds of things on the farm. Pumps for cultivation, saws for cutting wood, washing machines, and even tractors. 

White figured the Empire was the perfect setup to move his hit-and-miss engines around, plus he just likes the World War II history behind the tractor.

“That’s not a typical-geared farm tractor, but it’s got a unique piece of American history,” White said. “It’s just a unique tractor, a different tractor. And ranchers like these tractors to pull hay rakes with because of the gearing.”

A Stylish Moline, Perfect For UW Parades

Dale and Lynn Hiatt also have an Empire, but it’s not necessarily the tractor they’re best known for.

Their most well-known tractor is a Minneapolis Moline that’s been restored to its original brown-and-gold colors. The couple typically drives it in the University of Wyoming Homecoming Parade every year, and people even call it the UW Tractor.

Getting the tractor was unabashedly Lynn’s idea, but her husband was all in too. Tractors are something they do together, from start to finish.

“I saw one and I liked the design of it,” Lynn said. “I liked the style of it. So, we went looking for one and we found one.”

The Hiatts restored their new tractor together. 

“I scraped grease, sanded, you name it,” she said. “We stripped it down, and the original colors for that model were brown and gold, so we put it back to original.”

Molines are known for being powerful and good in the field, Lynn added. But they also look great.

“It’s very stylistic,” she said.

The tractor is a 1963 Minneapolis Moline Jet Star Two that will run about 20 mph, making it the second fastest in the group after Empires.

It is one of 16 tractors the couple has at home in all.

“We have some that are really rare,” Lynn said. “We have one that was built in a machine shop in Wheatland called a Drube. We have another that’s called a Holstrom, which was built in a guy’s garage to be used around grain elevators.”

Passing The Torch

One of the younger members of the group is Susan Phillips, who moved to Cheyenne with her husband, who is an airman at F. E. Warren Air Force Base.

When Phillips moved, the nonnegotiable thing that had to come with was her tractor, a John Deere G, which she hauled to Wyoming all the way from Illinois.

It now has a place of honor in the couple’s garage, where it is safe from Wyoming’s infamous hail and wind. 

John Deere tractors are a popular brand with a lot of people, but Phillips has a special reason why she likes her John Deere G above all others.

“I grew up on a small farm in Georgia, and that was the tractor that my dad taught me to drive on, was a John Deere G,” Phillips said. “It was his pride and joy out of all the tractors. We had 27 tractors on the farm, and that was the one that drew him and me (together).”

Phillips and her father were very close.

“When I was 4 years old, I have a picture of me, and he put me on his tractor and taught me how to drive it,” she said. “After that, I was all about the John Deere Gs.”

When got out on her own, she realized she missed that tractor. So, she found one at an auction.

“We restored it, and it’s been with me ever since,” Phillips said. 

Her beloved tractor has been through several moves since she found it in Illinois. Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Nebraska, and now Wyoming.

Philips and her family bought her husband a tractor for Christmas one year, which Phillips restored for him as a surprise. That one is back home at the family’s ranch because it’s old and valuable and they don’t want to move it cross-country.

She’s also recently bought her 9-year-old son what she calls a starter tractor, a 112 John Deere mower that they have restored and painted.

“You always start a kid out on something small, like a mower or something,” Phillips said. “You don’t slam them straight into a big tractor. So, this is his starter, and he will gradually go up as he gets older.”

Still, at 9, her son is likely to be graduating from the starter tractor to something bigger soon. No doubt you’ll see him then riding beside his mom’s John Deere G in the next Cheyenne Frontier Days parade with a big grin on his face.

It’s another example of an agricultural legacy passed down from one generation to the next in Wyoming, thanks to a fun club that treats its tractors like Corvettes.

Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.