Derek Holm received his restoration tractor for his 40th birthday. Photo / Catherine Fry
Derek Holm received his restoration tractor for his 40th birthday. Photo / Catherine Fry
Cambridge vintage tractor enthusiast Derek Holm didn’t gain his love of farm machinery from a farming background but from his father, who sold Ford and David Browne tractors during the 1970s.
“When I was a child, we spent a lot of time at Aotea Harbour and I loved the David Browne tractor they used to launch their boats,” Holm said.
Holm has the perfect father-in-law in Paul Moroney, a retired electronics engineering lecturer and “very mechanically and electronically minded”, with his own collection of vintage machinery.
Holm saw a fully restored Massey Ferguson 135 and that got him thinking about restoring his own tractor.
He started looking around to see what he could get, adamant it wasn’t going to have holes in its bodywork because he wasn’t confident with panel work.
“For me, it was more about taking it apart and getting it ready for a professional to paint.”
Holm acquired his first tractor in the sweetest way, when his wife Gillian, with assistance from her dad, Paul, bought him one from the internet, sight unseen, for his 40th birthday.
He laughs at the memory of receiving the 1958 McCormick International B250, a diesel four-cylinder 30hp tractor.
It was painted in Ford colours of blue and black and had dubious panelwork.
The B250 was considered quite ahead of its time, with a top speed of 26km/h, a five-speed gearbox, and disc brakes.
They were imported to New Zealand from the UK for general farm work.
“Paul and I put our heads together to see how we could tackle the project,” Holm said.
“My son, Travis, who was 6 at the time, was also very excited to get started.”
Travis Holm was only six when the B250 restoration was started in 2013.
The family used to drive the tractor, and this enabled Travis to learn to drive a manual transmission until it started falling apart and something needed to be done.
A 10-year, three-generation project began.
“Previously, it has been used to launch boats and hadn’t been washed down and cleaned.”
They found saltwater in the gearbox housing, sand in the starter motor and generator, and big rust holes in the metalwork.
It wasn’t too hard to get parts, but they did have to fabricate a new steering wheel and new panel steel was welded in.
Moroney then sprayed the tractor in its proper International red.
The tractor is the family’s boat launching tractor and Oliver, Holm’s other son, enjoys driving it, but Travis now has a 1951 Allis Chalmers EB lined up as the next family project.
