When I first see a piece of vintage machinery at a show or in a museum, I initially react to it in terms of its appearance. Maybe it is beautifully restored, or alternatively, it might be proudly wearing the rust and patina of age. Maybe it is very rare, or it might be yet another example of something that I have seen many times. However, those visible features of the machine are just one facet of its overall story. Vintage machinery is often more than just a piece of mechanical and engineering history; it often has a special place in the history of the local community and, sometimes, in the owner’s family as well.
This 1920 International Harvester Titan 10-20 tractor is a good example. I saw it in October 2013 at the Quairading Show in the West Australian wheatbelt, 165km east of Perth. At first glance, I noticed that it was immaculately restored, and was also a reminder of some other Titans I have seen in my travels.
However, when I had a chat with Russell Stacey, who restored the tractor, and who is also President of the Quairading Vintage Club, I found that this Titan has played an important role in both the agricultural history of Quairading and in Russell’s family for four generations. It is a bit of an heirloom and is still owned collectively by the family.
The tractor was built by the International Harvester Company in Chicago, USA in 1920 and exported to Australia. It was bought by James and Alice Stacey in the same year, and taken to their farm in Quairading. James and Alice were Russell’s great grandparents, and the Titan was the very first tractor to be used in the Quairading district. Coincidentally, 1920 was also the year of the first Quairading Show. So the tractor and the show were both 93 years old when I was talking with Russell.
He explained that, “The Titan was sold by the International tractor dealer in Guildford, on the east side of Perth, and transported to Quairading by train. It was initially used for ploughing, but was not especially good for that purpose, although it was still a big step up from a horse. Later it was used to power a chaffcutter.
In 1969, the tractor left the farm and was taken to the International Harvester dealer in Quairading and then on to Perth, where it was partially restored and then displayed at the Perth Royal Show. It was also displayed in the International Harvester stand at field days in the wheatbelt town of Dowerin in WA. After about 10 years, the Titan was returned to Quairading, and displayed at the premises of the local International Harvester dealer, where it remained for about 30 years.”
That might have been the end of the story, but about three years back, Russell found that he had some spare time and started going to the Quairading Vintage Club. The club asked the Stacey families if they could pay for the cost of having the Titan repainted. Russell inspected the tractor and saw that it would need to be disassembled, sandblasted, and repainted, and decided that it was time to to do a complete restoration on the historic Titan.
The restoration turned out to be a bigger project than he expected. He commented that, “It took me two years altogether; about 12 months to get the tractor going again, and then another 12 months to complete details such as the pin striping. About 80% of the work was done in the first 20% of the restoration time period”.
Russell added, “Before I started on this project, I wasn’t interested in old tractors. But the Titan became an interesting obsession. Once I got started on the restoration, I couldn’t stop and did some work on it virtually every day. I was very surprised at how much I enjoyed doing the whole restoration project; I was really hooked.”
The first step in the restoration was to have the tractor sandblasted in Perth. Russell is grateful to BTP (Best Tractor Parts), who paid for the sandblasting and paint job.
During the restoration, hundreds of parts were stripped down and refurbished, while some new and secondhand parts were obtained from wrecking yards and the US, including the crank handle, magneto, decal set and spark plugs. The brakes and clutch were fully restored, and the carburettor was given a new needle and seat. The inside of the motor was left untouched, but all other parts were rebuilt in some form or another.
The tractor still has its original engine, which produces 10hp at the drawbar and 20hp at the friction pulley. That’s where the 10-20 in the model name comes from. International Harvester produced the Titan 10-20 from 1915 to 1921, and also had a larger Titan model called the 15-30.
Russell explained that, “The engine has two cylinders, and the fuel pump works like a windmill to pump fuel up to the carburettor. There is a small starter tank with petrol for starting the tractor from cold, and then it ran on kerosene when it was warmed up. There is a starting crank handle, but I don’t use it, since the kickback could break your arm. Instead, I turn the flywheel by hand. The rear wheels are driven by a chain and if you don’t get the tension right the chain can break the cast cogs.
“Radiators as such weren’t invented in 1920, so the Titan has a water filled tank at the front to cool the engine. The engine lubrication system uses a force feed oiler that is driven off the flywheel. There are windows on the top of the oiler, so the driver can see that the oil is flowing. The oiler was built by the same company that made the ones used on Hart Parr tractors of the era. The tractor has three gears; high, low and reverse. There is a clutch on the side of the engine for the belt drive.
“During the restoration, I was grateful for the information that I got from forums on the internet. When I asked about the magneto, an enthusiast in Sydney helped out with locating one for me in the US. The magneto was sent to a magneto overhaul shop before being shipped to Australia.” Some stages of the restoration proved to be more difficult than expected, and Russell ruefully explained that sometimes he learned how to do things the hard way, by getting it wrong the first time, and having to do it over again. He explained that, “It took 12 months to get the power belt pulley off, since it had seized up. I had to drill out the white metal which had been poured into the shaft. There are no bearings; the white metal is porous and soaks up the oil. I replaced it with high tech plastic bearing, which I made myself on a lathe. It was fun; I hadn’t used a lathe since metalwork at school.
“I had to have two goes at putting the International Harvester decal on the front of the water tank. The first time, I started applying it from the right side of the decal, and finished up with a kink on the left side. Luckily I had a copy made in Perth, and successfully applied it, starting on the left side. The International Harvester symbol on the front of the tractor was also a problem. I hand painted it, but it is quite tricky. I kept getting it wrong and finished up with so many layers of paint that I had to strip it all off and start again. But I got it right after about six tries.”
The front wheels were yet another learning experience. Russell didn’t realise that the round angle iron rings that were riveted on were original. They looked like they had been added later, so he decided to remove them. He went to great effort in getting them off, and only later found that they were actually there for a purpose; they assist with cornering by preventing the flat steel wheels from going straight ahead when they are turned.
When the mechanical restoration of the Titan was complete, Russell repainted it in the correct original colour, which was charcoal. It had previously been repainted battle ship grey, but he found the original colour when disassembling the machine. Places that hadn’t seen daylight since the tractor was assembled at the factory in 1920 were charcoal, not battleship grey. He also painted the pin-striping on the wheels. The oak boards behind the driving seat had to be replaced, so he made new ones from Tasmanian oak.
The restoration was completed in 2013, and Russell had his tractor running in time for an event at the WA town of Corrigin in April. The restoration project cost about $10,000 and, as Russell said, “Since the tractor is 93 years old, that equals a cost of $107 per year or just 29 cents a day.” He is justifiably pleased with the end result and commented with a grin, “But I am already over trying to keep it spotlessly clean”.
*Keith Hall
