The pictures above are after the repaint in Summer of 2000
The pictures above were taken in Winter 1991. This was what it looked like when I got it.
The Lady Farmall, Named Babe, after Paul Bunyan's Ox
This is the first tractor I owned. I bought it from a fellow I worked with. I got him to deliver it from Machias, WA, about 80 miles away. His wife is still giving him grief for selling it. Since I have owned it about all it has needed it two new front tires and a governor rebuild. When I rebuilt the governor, I decided to clean and repaint it. It came with the front dozer blade shown in the 1991 picture, a pull type disc, a partly complete mounted plow, a couple sections of springtooth harrow and a sickle bar mower, which I have not taken delivery of. It was originally equipped with electrical system and exhaust lift.
The year was 1941, World War II was on the horizon and America's young men were being called to the service of their country. A man named Isaac Hinkel was employed by International Harvester company as a marketing manager. Isaac decided that it made sense to market the company's product to farm wives, as they would be operating the farms while their husbands were away at war. The problem then was, "How to make a utilitarian machine like a farm tractor appeal to women?" The answer hit him in a flash of brilliance. He received approval from the board of directors to go ahead with a test marketing plan that would see several "Lady Farmall" tractors built and marketed quietly in a small test market in rural South Dakota. Unfortunately the marketing strategy was a complete failure, since the women realized that when the war was over, they would have to remain in the field if they bought a Lady Farmall, as no man would want to be seen on one. This Farmall B is one of those test market tractors. A small amount of lavender paint was found when I removed the PTO assembly, and so I decided to repaint in the original Lady Farmall colors, of which lavender was one of the three choices.
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The pictures above are after the repaint in Summer of 2000
The pictures above were taken in Winter 1991. This was what it looked like when I got it.
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