When my father published the very first issue of his market letter in 1970, he borrowed the name Cabot from the farm where we lived. His father had bought the farm in 1941 (the full story is on the Cabot website) and in 1948 he bought a new tractor to replace the horses used on the farm.
The tractor was a Ford Model 8N, perhaps the most popular tractor ever sold. Approximately 524,000 were produced from 1947 through 1952.
Here’s a picture of me and my brother Rob sitting on it. I’m the kid with the curly hair.
Designed for the small-time farmer, the Ford Model 8N had four cylinders, displacing 120 cubic inches. It generated 27 horsepower and—more importantly for farmers—92 foot-pounds of torque at 1500 rpm.
At Cabot Farm we used the tractor for grading the dirt road, for hauling things and people in the wagon and above all for mowing the fields … not to get a hay crop but just to keep the property clear. If you don’t mow a field, you eventually end up with a forest.
Here’s a picture of me and Rob and our father on the tractor in 1996.
This photo was taken by a professional photographer hired by Summit Technology, which used it in their corporate annual report. In brief, we had discovered the stock of the company, which was a pioneer in the laser eye surgery industry, in 1989. The three of us had our eyes lasered … successfully. And subscribers who followed our investment advice did very well, selling for a profit of 443% in 1996. Much later, Summit was acquired by eye-care giant Alcon.
But back to the tractor.
In 1996, when the picture was taken for Summit, the tractor was still being used for those chores. Sometimes it sat idle for weeks. Sometimes, in mowing season, it was used hard several days in succession. A few years ago, it was given a major overhaul, and in the current mowing season it’s been working as hard as ever. Like any 62-year-old vehicle, it requires pampering. The brakes are almost useless. It overheats on hot days. And it would rather go downhill than up. But when it breaks down, mechanically talented family members fix it up. And in the end, it gets the job done.
Now here’s the funny thing. Even though we live on Cabot Farm, we Luttses are not really farmers, and we don’t know any real farmers. As a result, none of us has ever driven a tractor newer than our 1948 Ford! In a way, to us, they don’t exist. When it comes to farming equipment, we’re stuck in a time warp.
We replace our cars like average people, but we keep on using the same old 1948 Ford tractor.
Partly it’s tradition. Partly it’s parsimony. And partly it’s lack of exposure to the modern-day alternatives.
Now, I know the 1948 Ford won’t last forever, but I also know that when it is replaced, we’ll have lost one of the traditions that binds us to the farm, to our past, and to each other.
So here’s a question for my readers who are also farmers.
Should we keep on using the old 8N, which serves as a reminder of where we’ve come from? Or should we look at the modern-day alternatives, perhaps lightly used?
Send me your answers by replying to this email and if I get enough, I’ll print them in my next issue.
I just ran across your blog from a Google alert I have set up for “Ford Tractors”. I urge you not to let the 1948 Ford 8N sit idly by! There are thousands of these tractors still working on property like yours and some still farming. In fact, I’m a bit jealous, because working here at the antique tractor parts store, this is the tractor I’ve fallen for. It’s the one I want. I want one way more than I want any new machine! That hydraulic pump can be repaired, the brakes can be replaced. We look at keeping these old machines as part nostalgia and part preserving America’s agricultural heritage.
I vote to keep it going! (and if you need any parts for it, I’d be happy to help you find them!)