Found this browsing local craigslist. Does this qualify as a doodlebug?? http://tulsa.craigslist.org/grd/3942423382.html
I'd say yes. Doodlebugs were cars made into tractors. Usually a Model A with rubber tires, but I think that one qualifies. She's an early model...lol.
One old guy told me a doodlebug was a shortened model A or T used around the farm like a make do tractor. I guess if someone pays $1900 for this they should be able to call it whatever they like.
Seems to be a Form-A-Tractor kit made for a T? I know these kits were made for other cars besides Ford, but not sure which brands, but this one looks Ford-type kit. Look at the front wheel, it looks to be totally cast iron? and is that front hub cap a "Ford" logo?
yep , had two of them on my place in michigan , they both ran when I sold the place . handy peices of homemade equipment ,one was ment to run backwards ( cab forward) for more gear reduction you sat on the cowl and drove it with the wheel between the legs and when the implement got in some tough stuff it pulled the tires down into the ground instead of pulling the front end up in the air , one was a a model t the other was a old late 40's buick with a dual wheel truck rear . they cut the body off at the cowl . but left the windsheild .
I think some of us would be shocked to see what those front wheels might add to the price of a factory built "Form-A-Tractor" kit. I can't recall ever hearing about the cast iron front wheels , let alone seeing those before. The tractor collecters probably laugh at what rodders pay for a "ditch find" rotted smashed 32 5w body
Yes, and that's high money for one that far gone unless those tractor wheels are rare and collectible. For that kind of money, a doodlebug/jitterbug should at least be running. A very NICE and finished one can go for close to $4000 to the right buyer but usually the ones in this kind of shape seem to go for anywhere from $100 to just under $1000. I look for them on CL all the time, unless you want a doodlebug or the parts off of it for a project, I'd leave it alone.
Yes, but more of a tractor than most were. Generally, doodlebugs had automotive wheels and tires, so you could also drive them on road. Gary See: http://clubs.hemmings.com/doodlebugs/
That thing is cool, its a doodlebug... I maybe wrong but I was told a doodlebug is a car turned into a tractor when a farmer didn't have the money to buy a tractor. It doesn't matter what make, just was usually a Model A or T because they were more popular. I used to see these in the corner of a lot of fields or woods when I was younger... since scrap went up they all are gone. If you want one the price is not bad. Where else are you going to buy one? lol
I thought those were tractor conversions and a doodle bug is when you weld a truck bed into the back of your coupe. Done so you counted as a truck during the gas crisis so you could get fuel more often as trucks were work vehicles.
Doodlebugs around the Northeast were simpler converts w/a plowframe, maybe a pto out the back, and truck rear diff. That one must have some Lincoln-Zepher or '32 pieces!
If you cut the frame back short and solid-mount the rear axle, it's a doodlebug. The variations possible on that theme are as many as there were builders of these things. I'm sure you could in time part that out for the $1900.
Doodle bugs where I came from were usually A's with 2 transmissions in line for more pulling power and were rubber tired with snow chains even in summer time.
Here in Maine we call them Home Made Tractors. That though looks like it might have one of the tractor conversion kits sold back in the 30's + or - to convert a Model T to a tractor. Sears Roebuck and I believe maybe Montgomery Ward sold these kits. People that couldn't afford a real tractor could take their old Model T and make a very useable tractor out of it. When I was a kid most people had a home made tractor primarily used for hauling firewood out of the woods in 4-foot lengths. Most were made from Model A trucks and as one poster mentioned some had two 4 speed truck transmissions . Put both in reverse and the tractor creeped forward. This was used for creeping out of the woods where the going got tough. South of here in New Hampshire they call them Doodle Bugs. Who the hell came up with a sissy name like that ?
Appears to the front of a 1928 chev (not 1924) with earlier T firewall. May still have the 28 twin port motor. $190 perhaps
It's a conversion tractor kit. Specifically, a Shaw Conversion Tractor - made by the Shaw Manufacturing Company of Galesburg, Kansas. Shaw made them for the Model T, the Model A and Chevrolets. I'm restoring one made from a 1925 Model T right now. The rear wheels on this one are really nice (better than mine), the price is insane - completely nuts. Badshifter, if you know of a set of Shaw front wheels, I'd be interested - I'm on Ford wood and steel.
Now see... maybe the price is not really "nuts". You said his rears are better, and now you are asking for help finding those cast fronts. I am in CT and went to a lot of tractor shows as my son was growing up and into tractors. Not that I was looking, but I can't "remember" seeing those before. Maybe I have, (at my age), but they must be quite rare. I'll ask a very old friend who knows more than Kreskin...he might know of some for sale. I will PM if he does know.
Of course, you guys also have to realize that when you post anything for sale anywhere online, you have to ask way more than it's worth so the idiots who come and want to offer half what you're asking either don't bother, or when they come they actually offer what you want to sell it for.
The Jalopy Journal
