A friend of mine just sent me this pic he bought on ebay. He's already succumbed to T tractor conversions and what-not and has a nice conversion or two that he shows.
He has given consent to post this photograph. :-)



These fellows are momentarily parked next to a Pioneer 30 tractor built in Winona, MN.
The sign on the hood says
the
PIONEER
30
The Pioneer 30 has a four cylinder opposed engine and they sound real nice. The drive gears say cling-clang. Dubba deeba, dubba deeba, dubba deeba.
Nine foot rear wheels and TWO SPEED steering! I've long since forgotten the bore and stroke but these engines run at about 500 rpm.
Another interesting thing about this photo is that the two exhaust stacks are not shown out/above the hood like the one we know.

We both know a fellow that has one of these and it's shown regularly. I commented it'd be cool to re-do this pic.
He agreed and that was the intention of our text conversation, among other T related things. :-)
The tractor we know is one of 12 left in existence and was out plowing the day of/or the day before the current owner picked it up. Huh? Yep.
So the story goes. My babbling sure does extend the questions coming up . Huh?

The re-do may not be a brass, lowered column T but cool just the same.
The notion is that these were Pioneer tractor salesmen just doing their thing.
I lipped off the T being an 11 or 12 Torpedo but well, I do not know the early T's well at all!

Can you/would you give me/us feedback about the model T in this photograph?
Hell, if you know Pioneer tractors, post about it. :-)

Pioneer Tractors were built in Winona, Mn. There was also a Pioneer 45, which had a 6-cyl engine. In 1986, I went to Reynolds (before the museum) in Westaskwin, Alberta. They had a Pioneer 30. Rear wheels were approx 96" diameter and fronts were approx. 48" diameter. The tractor was so big, there was a board "catwalk" along the left side of the hood, which had two opening hatches, the front hatch opened to check the front two cylinders and the rear hatch opened to check the rear cylinders. I believe they have this tractor fully restored now. Extremely impressive machine and hard to realize the size until you stand next to one.

Thanks Les! You're right about the catwalk on the side. It's either missing/too early to have one or not seen in the pic. :-)

Can't offer anything but the word WOW !! Would love to see/hear one in operation. Thanks for posting your friends newly acquired photo.

I might add the Pioneer 30 tractor's engine had a 7 in bore and 8 inch stroke. They sold for $2,700 in 1911. I have a book which indicates the Pioneer's engine was so smooth running that one advertising photo showed a running Pioneer which had a coin balanced on the frame while the photographer took a 1-minute time exposure.

What a great picture.
Nice to see it.
Rich

OK, was it already common to lower the column at the time?
The column is in the fellows lap hence why I ask about the T in the photo.
:-)
Thanks :-)

Duey, the column looks rather long. It could be a torpedo column, that would explain the lowering too.

Duey C, A very interesting era for speedsters and racing cars. A lot of things were tried, sometimes extreme, sometimes silly. Somewhere in the Studebaker research stuff I had (maybe I still have it?) is a copy of an original era photo of an EMF speedster that was driven on a known cross country trial. Therefore, the picture can be dated. The steering wheel is SO low in that car, I can't see how the fellow could hardly get into the seat. On the other hand, I have seen many early speedsters with the steering column left in its factory position. I would NOT want to drive one like that much.
I consider the one in this photo to be very well placed. Nice speedster. Thank you.

It is probably an 1911 made in 1910 and a torpedo or open runabout. The head lights are 1910 style as used on early in the 1911 model year.

We done the bearings in one of the Pioneer tractors a few years ago for a Guy who's last name was Shaft, his company makes windows in Ill.

They have really big engines, and cranks.

Dennis P. knows a lot about them. Tells use what you know Dennis!


Herm.

Aha, Dennis still plays with old tractors. I'm glad for that. :-) He doesn't post here much.
Herm, the folks up in Fargo at Larson do some serious repair work also. That was the last time I saw Mr P, at a spring meet there, several years ago. He would know where the next similar picture will be taken but that's another story. :-)
Herm, you ever do any work for a Kelch? Met him once. Nice fellow. He likes his IH's.
:-)

Duey, are you talking about Wendell Kelch? He's in Ohio and specializes in restoring the large prairie tractors for folks with alot more money than I have. He does a lot of posts showing his restorations, which are spectacular. To see some of his work, you can go to: www.smokstak.com and then go to "lugs, cleats, and steel wheels" in the forum section. He posts under his name. Well worth checking out....

Thanks guys! Much appreciated.
Yep. He likes the machines to be correct and up to snuff as if new! And they are. :-)
He lipped off (back then) about some of the machinery in this area as it's in worn out condition, running but still wore out. :-)
Les, I'm going to do that! It's been a bunch of years since I've been seen in those worlds, amateurish as I may seem to be and will remain. :-)
Thanks for the link. YouTube bites on this computer...
Much to learn. :-)