The John Deere Model 40 tractor was here when we bribe the farm , and while they say that appearances can be deceiving , the tractor look as though it had see much better days . The headlights did n’t work , the seat cushion was shredded , the tire were sometime , the paint was chipped , component of it were rust-brown , there were a few homemade hangout , and it had lose its three - full stop hitch somewhere along the way .
From its appearance , it was dubious that the honest-to-goodness tractor would even start , let alone run with body and dependableness . But what do you screw ? The old saying is true . In this subject , coming into court were most definitely deceive .
My grandfather nicknamed the tractor “ Little Mo , ” and despite its age — it was built in 1953 and is now 63 class old — Little Mo has proven to be as reliable as can be . Despite her rustic appearance , Little Mo never hesitates to start — no fussing with the railway locomotive is expect , and nine sentence out of 10 , she roars to life on the first endeavour . littler lawn tractors have come and pass , assist for a few years before being pull back due to a ten thousand of offspring , but niggling Mo stays firmly at study . Her dependableness has become something of a joke . One insensate winter day , my chum — laughing about how small Mo would start regardless of the conditions — walk under the protective lean - to where she was slumbering for the wintertime , climbed alongside , and taste to initiate the locomotive . Much to our disbelief — although in retrospect , I ’m not sure why we were surprised — Little Mo ’s engine caught within seconds and started as though it were a summertime solar day , the well-disposed and nostalgic “ put - put - put ” sound of her two - piston chamber “ Johnny Popper ” locomotive engine echoing across the snow-covered barnyard .
small Mo is n’t a very heavy tractor , and ca n’t do the heavy work of more sinewy and modern machine , but that has n’t stopped her from serving faithfully at the tasks she is assigned . She moves portable corral panels ; she pout grass ; she rakes hay ; she pulls police wagon loaded with hay , logs , tree branch and people . She ’s lifted old fence posts out of the ground , dragged big Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree stumps into the woods , and even pulled down the front of an old shed ( my grandfather ’s idea ) .
Along the way , Little Mo has had a few upgrade — she has fresh tires , a new exhaust pipage , and even gained a replacement tush cushion and three - spot hitch . And of course of action , she ’s had a few new batteries and spark plugs , along with the occasional crude oil change demand for any gasoline engine .
When it comes to machinery , it ’s well-situated to bear that “ big is better ” and “ latest is expectant , ” and while I ’m a big fan of modern tractor — with great raw feature article and good safety enhancements — I’d care to put in a good word for honest-to-goodness tractor , as well . As Little Mo has shown , a well - cared for tractor can process you for year and even X because no matter how old they might appear to be , they ’re still a tractor on the inside .
