Bonnie & Steve Crites B-52

~Here is the story and the pictures of the restoration of Bonnie & Steve Crites' "B-52", (no, no, no.....not the bomber), but an Allis Chalmers ~antique farm tractor. Year: 1952, (the "52" part), Model: B, (the "B" part...... or maybe because it is supposed to be Bonnie's tractor).

~The story starts a year or so ago when I got a call from a former club member, John Crisman. John knew a lady over in "The Fort" who had ~an old tractor which had been sitting in a shed for a few years ever since her husband had passed away. She had decided that she would ~like to clear out some "stuff" and the Allis was among those chosen things. We went to look at it. It was a two owner tractor that, in 1952 or ~1953, her father-in-law had purchased new and it had passed down to her husband when the father-in-law had passed away. She had a ~folder full of bills for the repairs that had been done to the tractor over the years and she had two original manuals that came with the ~tractor. After giving it the once over, I thought that even though this tractor had not run in a few years, because of the shape it was in and ~because of the documented history it had, this was going to be "a good one". I offered to try to sell it for her and she agreed to let me try to ~do that. I advertised it on our website and also on the ytmag.com website. Then, the Chinese unleashed their Wuhan Virus on the world ~and everything came to a screeching whoa. We got a few bites on the ads but the people who did answer the ad(s) thought it was too far to ~travel to take a look at and so, it sat for many, many months. Mrs. King lowered the price but still, no interest. Finally, I told her that if I could ~not sell it, I would buy it. (I DID NOT tell Jan about that conversation.) Finally, a month or so ago, I had the situation brought up at a club ~meeting to see if the club would like to buy it for either a display in our soon to be built museum or as a "Fix It Up & Sell It' money raiser. The ~club was not interested but club member, Steve Crites was and so a few weeks later Steve Crites, Leo Ryman, Brandon Wilkins, Jim Stup ~and I, headed over the mountain to Fort Valley to extricate and load "B-52". Within a few hours, "The Motley Crew" had Allis out of the shed, ~up the hill, loaded on to Steve's trailer, strapped down and it was on its' way to its' new home in WVA. Steve and I, "The Motley Crew ~Photographer" took pictures on that day and I asked Steve to take pictures of the restoration along the way. What you will see here are the ~pictures of this whole rescue and restoration starting from the day that John Crisman, Jan and I went to look at it the first time. Yes, the ~tractor is running, yes it has good oil pressure and NO, it does not smoke. It turned out to be as I suspected,...."A Good One". Enjoy the ~pictures and I'm sure that there will be more coming as the restoration goes on.

Yep, it's running and,.. No smoke!

These pictures were taken on October 03. 2020 at the Wholesome Foods Customer Appreciation Day in Edinburg, ~Virginia. Pictured are two shots of "B-52" alone and two with Steve Crites, Mrs. King and Bonnie Crites.