Peter Turner owned a machinery and car dealership in Meningie, SA, for many years and during that time he got to know where the old tractors were so he started collecting them. Peter says he was always one step ahead of the scrap metal dealers. The only downside was that Meningie is near the coast and, as most of them were stored in the open they rusted badly, but at least they survived.

Around 1995, I started restoring tractors for Peter, and then in 2001, when the Meningie Cheese Factory Museum opened, undercover storage became available for the restored tractors. The collection of wrecks would sit in the yard awaiting their restoration upon completion of the one we were working on. 

Peter is well into his 90s now so we decided our last restoration would be his 1928 18-36 Hart-Parr Australian Special.

Peter had bought the Hart-Parr in the late 1970s from Rob and Sue Hodge on their property called Gundooee, east of Meningie, in an area known as Field. They had never used the tractor, as they believed the engine had seized during the time of the previous owner, Percy Burnett. 

Peter had had the Hart-Parr sandblasted and painted in 1980, and luckily at this time, he removed the Madison Kipp lubricator and put it in a shed, while the tractor was stored in his yard until 2001, before it was moved to the yard of the Meningie Cheese Factory Museum. In January 2018, it was moved again, this time into Peter’s workshop to start the huge job of restoring it.

Over the 25-year period that I have restored tractors for Peter, the Hart-Parr was in the worst condition of all the wrecks, but the decision was made to undertake the restoration when I found the Madison Kipp lubricator in the shed, and it was still in good condition. 

It took a couple of days to replace a broken pipe and unblock the others but Peter had another Hart-Parr wreck in the yard that still had a lot of useful parts on it.

So began the job of dismantling it. Every single part was seized so lots of heat quenching with cold water was applied. This worked well, however, some nuts were half rusted away so they had to be carefully burned off with the oxy, all the while being careful not to damage the stud thread. The valve springs and some push rods and tubes were also rusted away so I had to get new valve springs made, and fabricate new push rods and tubes. The valves had been made of a material that did not rust so they were in perfect condition.

A short history of the Hart-Parr Company

Charles W. Hart and Charles H. Parr met at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, in Madison, Wisconsin, USA, where following their graduation in 1897, they formed the Hart-Parr Gasoline Engine Company.

In 1901, the company was relocated to Charles City, Iowa, and registered as the Hart-Parr Company on 12th June of that same year, and from where they sold their first tractor in 1902. As a sidenote, the word ‘tractor’, now a generic term for all similar machines in the industry, is credited with having first being coined in 1906 by the then Hart-Parr Sales Manager, W.H. Williams.

The large, oil-cooled machines built between 1908 and 1919, were phased out from 1918, as a new 12-25 water-cooled, smaller tractor came into production. The days of the old adage, “to have horsepower you must have a large machine”, were fading.

In 1929, Hart-Parr and three other companies merged to form the new Oliver Farm Equipment Company, relegating the Hart-Parr name to the pages of history.

Removing the cylinder head, I found the bores had handfuls of rust in them. I then moved onto separating the cylinders from the crankcase, but when it came to disconnecting the con rods, I found the crankshaft was also seized. Loosening the main bearings caps allowed the crank to turn so I could get the con rods out. 

I placed the cylinder on blocks of wood and another block of wood on the 7” piston and drove both pistons out with a 14lb sledgehammer. They came out a lot easier than I thought they would. Unfortunately, the bores were too badly damaged with rust and the spare parts wreck was the same. The 25kg pistons were good and, with careful perseverance, I managed to unseize the piston rings without breaking them. The cylinders were sent away to be sleeved. 

Some water had worked its way into the main bearings, which was why the crank had seized. Fortunately, the rust was minor and was cleaned up using emery tape. This was achieved by only removing the caps, allowing the crank to remain in the crank case.

The linkages on the over-centre clutch were all seized so heat and water were applied to every pin, followed by some CRC, which finally worked.

Every steering joint was seized, including the top bush on the steering column, so more heat and water was used until I could finally turn the steering wheel.

I then removed the rusted out fuel tank and mudguards, pushed the tractor out into the yard, and with degreaser and a water hose, I gave it a good clean.

I had had a new head gasket made and I cut new paper ones before I assembled the bottom end. The magneto was missing so we purchased one from the Maggy Man. I timed and fitted that, after which I fitted the lubricator. 

By now, I had finally received the re-sleeved cylinders back from Simon Huntington of Mount Compass, so I lowered the pistons into each cylinder with an endless chain, and then carefully slung the cylinder and pistons into place. I then fitted the cylinder head and adjusted the tappets.

The carburettor had a cork float, so I had a new one made. I also had to fabricate a new butterfly on the throttle shaft as it was half rusted away. To remove the throttle linkages, I had to cut every linkage as the ball joints were all seized up and I did not want to break the balls off. Once unseized, I was able to weld the linkages back together and fit them.

In August 2019, I hooked up a temporary fuel tank, and the Hart-Parr was ready for a start. I found it very hard to crank as I am not as strong as I used to be.

The impulse magneto worked well – not many pulls and it came to life. It was very noisy as it had no exhaust, but I was very pleased with the way it ran, though as there was no water, I could only run it for a few minutes. 

Now we knew at least that it was a goer. So, we asked a young local fabricator, Paul Brumfield, to make a pair of mudguards and put a new bottom half in the main fuel tank.

The fan drive cone that goes against the flywheel was worn out, so I made a new cone out of conveyer belting as leather was too hard to find. When I had the belting bolted up in the cone, a friend machined the angle off in a lathe which worked out well.

The radiator on the wreck had better fins on it, so I unbolted the tanks once again and found handfuls of rust in the tanks. I cleaned up the core and found it had some holes in the tubes. It should have been replaced but to save money, I blocked off several tubes with silicon and bolted the tanks back on again. It still leaked, so I unbolted the tanks again, blocked off some more tubes, reassembled it again and found that this time, the leaks were not too bad. I then repaired the front grille which is unique to the Australian Special. Once painted, it was fitted it to the tractor.

The galvanised water piping was also rusted out. It took some time to find replacement fittings and to cut and thread the new pipes and fit them to the tractor. Then came the test – I filled the radiator with water and, to my delight, there were no leaks.

The new mudguards were finished and Paul had done an amazing job of making them look like the originals. I had to fit them to the tractor by drilling all the mounting holes. The old mudguards were removed along with the temporary fuel tank. At this point, I also had to make a new petrol starting tank. 

Now came the time to paint it so we chose John Deere green enamel with a hardener mixed in it, along with red wheels.

I refitted the mudguards again, being careful not to scratch the new paint.

It had taken two years of work, though  of course, there were long breaks when no work was done at all, but it was the biggest restoration I had done for Peter over the 25-year period, and a good tractor to finish up on. 

When I can arrange transport, it will be moved back to the Meningie Museum.

1928 Hart-Parr 18-36 Specifications

Engine: 2-cylinder, gasoline, water-cooled

Bore/Stroke: 6.75 x 7.00 inches (171 x 178mm)

Capacity: 501 cu. inch (8.2 litres)

Horsepower: 18hp on drawbar, 36hp on the belt pulley

Ignition: High tension Robert Bosch magneto

Lubrication: Madison-Kipp force feed oiler

Transmission: 3 forward, 1 reverse

*Peter W. Saint