"The wheels were frozen to the ground..." 1926 McCormick Deering 10-20 Tractor
- vintagehighwaysblog
- Feb 18, 2023
- 3 min read
Updated: Feb 23, 2023
By Shari
When I was young I use to spend summers at the diary farm with my grandparents in rural western Pennsylvania (no, I'm not a Arizona native). My grandpa had a few tractor models I always wanted to play with, one was a tractor with metal wheels, I never saw one in real life, all the farm tractors had rubber wheels. Apparently the dairy did have one, and supposedly it was still in the "junk yard" back in the woods. I do not remember ever going back in there as a kid but my older siblings have. Grandpa had told a story about this old metal wheeled McCormick and an extremely cold icy winter. The wheels had froze to the ground and when grandpa tried jerking it to break the wheels loose he had popped the clutch a tad too hard and the front end lifted up almost dumping him to the ground. My young mind, hell, even now, I'm picturing my grandpa on this rearing tractor, must've been a sight, he was probably smiling and trying to do it again, LOL.
This story had come to my mind when I took Kim to her first antique tractor show in Glendale, AZ. The Early Day Gas Engine & Tractor Assoc. holds 2 events a year, one in Glendale and one in Apache Junction. I have also seen the gas engines displayed at the Watson Lake Swap Meet and Car Show in Prescott, AZ. They always make me want to ship my old little Wheel-horse garden tractor to Phoenix so I can join this club, lol.
Anyway, back to my Grandpa's story, while at this show I saw a steel wheeled tractor, then I realized it was like the tractor grandpa had and got frozen to the ground. Of course I do not remember the exact model he had but still triggered this memory and I had to tell
Kim the story. Also at the show they hold tractor pulls to measure the strength of the tractor and amount of work it can farm. We watched the pulls with the many various tractors and were about to leave when this rusted, faded old steel wheeled machine got in line and I had to watch it. Kim was shocked it ran and couldn't believe it was going to pull, she thought it was just some old relic that was for display, not a working tractor. Nope, it still ran, and pulled that sled all the way to the end of the track without a kilter. I bet that old man still farms with it, lol. Funny, how the simple things will bring up memories from a childhood, that generally would never been thought of until then.
Some history, the McCormick-Deering 10-20 was built by International Harvester from 1923-1939. It was a much smaller tractor than their previous 15-30 model, with only a 2-plow ratio. They were powered by a simple 284ci 4-cylinder kerosene fueled engine coupled with a 3-speed transmission. In the day I would imagine, costing less than $800, new, it would have been the 'row-crop' tractor of the day, best for small farms, growing and cultivating crops in a row. In 1924, IH introduced the Farmall Works division that made these universal machines tailored for row-crop farms.
The roots of International Harvester (IH) began in the 1830s, when inventor Cyrus Hall McCormick, from Virginia, perfected his version of a horse-drawn reaper and in1847 to McCormick Harvesting Machine Company was founded. By 1902, McCormick, Deering and 3 other small machine companies merged to create International Harvester, produced out of Illinois. Bad leadership with poor sales and recessions played parts in the demise of IH and Case bought them out, by 1985 the Farmall Works had dissolved.
IH did not just make farm tractors and farm-related equipment. They produced lawn and garden machines, home appliances and also competed in early automobiles as well, and in the 60's started a light-duty truck division, IH made light trucks from 1907 to 1975, beginning with the Model A Auto Wagon also known as the "Auto Buggy," In 1910 it was renamed the Motor Truck which became the forerunner to the successful modern pickup truck. in 1961, IH introduced the their SUV, the Scout, competition to the Jeep. IH also produced large commercial trucks, many still dawning the International brand.
June 18, 2021, Mecum sold and unrestored McCormick-Deering double rear wheeled 10-20 from The David J. Sniader Estate for $1,785usd.
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