Tractor enthusiast fuels his passion for machines

Morris McFall hopes his private vintage tractor collection has a future in Tauranga. Photo / John Borren

Morris McFall swings his 1996 Rolls Royce into his Mount Maunganui shed and parks it alongside his pieces of history.

Lined up around him are his four vintage cars and more than 20 restored tractors that map out the history of the machine.

Among the group sits one of the first models from 1926.

"Anything built before that can hardly be called a tractor. She's pretty basic this old girl," he said.

His private collection, McFall Museum, had been growing for the past seven years after his son took over the family business and Mr McFall found himself with the time to dedicate to his hobby.

"It was just a little interest I had," he said.

That "little interest" had seen his collection grow from two tractors, one which had been in his family since 1965, to his shed filled to the brim with projects.

Each tractor had come to him after its working life, in varying conditions, before he went to work restoring it to its former glory.

"They've all been in the long grass or the back of a shed for 50, 60, 70 years," he said.

"First it has to be pulled apart ... I use and restore the same parts and what's not up to standard, I make. That's part of the challenge."

He had put about three months of full-time work into restoring each machine, totalling close to 10,000 hours work for the full collection.

Vehicle enthusiast groups would often view the collection, by appointment, and he hoped it would continue to be enjoyed in the future.

"Ideally, I'd like to think it won't get broken up. Maybe even a local authority who would like to take it over and feature it in a museum for the city."

Collecting vintage tractors had been a hobby that had developed from his life growing up on a dairy farm but had become a history display that he loved.

"I guess it's the variation and the demonstration of technology as it's developed over the years."