Not if I beat you to it !!!!! That’s a cool old tool right there !! Reminds me of something you would of seen in the road warrior !!
My great grandad had one of these that was referred to around here as a "doodlebug". Gramp was born in 1890. He had been a horseman for forty years and didn't like tractors. My uncles were in high school ag class where they were learning about modern ways of farming. They convinced gramp that they needed a tractor. Lacking the cash to buy, they built one. They used a stripped Model A chassis and motor/trans linked to a second transmission and a big truck rear end. That little doodlebug increased profits on the farm such that they were able to buy a new tractor a few years later. This was the way many farmers in this area became mechanized. This was a poor area with a lot of poor ground where my uncle said, "you couldn't raise hell with a pint of whiskey." Most farmers had a few cattle and were able to make some cash from cream or milk, but it was a hardscrabble existence. Tractors, even home built ones, allowed them to grow more feed for more stock and branch out into cash crops they were unable to produce before. When I think about gramp changing from horses to tractors, it reminds me much of what is going on now with the popularity of electric cars. I am hearing rumblings of some states considering banning internal combustion vehicles sometime in the future. I am not against electric cars, but I don't want one. I am reasonably sure that at 65 Y/O I won't see a ban in my lifetime and hope I'm right. But, when I think of gramp and the love he had for his horses, I think I know how he felt.
Hey hey, I’m new here, first post, been lurking for a bit. Figured since Doodle-bugs were mentioned maybe a good first post is to post my Aunt’s Doodle-bug. It hasn’t worked in some time, but she’d love to have it back running for nostalgia.
Not home made, but it was cool! That's me at 12 in 1966 driving it. For those who have never seen one, it's an old aircraft tug. Dad bought it from a seminar/boys school/golf course, where it had been used to pull huge gang mowers. Had an old Dodge flathead 6 and a truck 4 speed. Frame rails were 1 inch plate a foot tall. Rear axle was from a truck of some sort, bolted solid to the frame. Front axle had parallel leaf springs, about 18 inches long and oh my god amounts of leafs. Only had rear brakes. Body was 1/8 inch steel. Dad figured with 2 boys, 12 and 16, that he'd cut down most of the hay fields around the place into lawn, get some gang mowers, and viola, my older brother and I would have lawn to mow. As it was there was 8 acres of lawn to mow so far... Took a day and a half minimum to cut it all! Never did get the gang mowers, thank god! Oh and that garage going up was 24x60 4 bays. I'll never have a better garage than that was. Sorry for the poor quality of the picture. I'm not good at computer stuff...
The Jalopy Journal
