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Made In Iowa Wooden Toy Tractor Collection
Leo Franzen of West Union, Iowa, recently completed an ambitious project. He carved a toy-sized wood model of every tractor ever built in Iowa before 1950 of which a record still exists.
Franzen has 30 tractors in the collection. At least 18 more were manufactured in Iowa but he could not find photos or details o
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Made In Iowa Wooden Toy Tractor Collection AG WORLD Ag World 20-5-21 Leo Franzen of West Union, Iowa, recently completed an ambitious project. He carved a toy-sized wood model of every tractor ever built in Iowa before 1950 of which a record still exists.
Franzen has 30 tractors in the collection. At least 18 more were manufactured in Iowa but he could not find photos or details on any of the other 18.
Each tractor model is about 12 in. long. Many of them have working parts, but none contain any metal fittings, screws, or nails. All parts are wood pieces glued together.
"As far as I know there's not another collection like it in the world. People stop in from all over North America to see it," says Franzen, who shows his collection off at toy shows, community celebrations, live-stock conventions, etc. "It took me two years to make all of them. I don't work from any blueprints or plans but instead use photos that I find in the Encylopedia of American Farm Tractors as my guide. I just look at the photos, read the description, and make the parts to fit. I don't build them to scale."
His oldest tractor is the Froelich, made in the town of the same name in the late 1800's. The newest is the Thieman built in Albert City, Iowa, up until the first years of World War II. Other tractors include the Waterloo Boy, built from 1914 to 1916, and the Hart-Parr G, built from 1926 to 1927. There isn't a single John Deere in his collection. "The John Deere company started in Illinois, not Iowa, although thousands of the tractors have been built in Iowa since 1950."
He made two sets of each of his first ten models, then started making three sets of each model. "I keep one set in my van for going to shows and one set in the shop next to my barbershop. I keep the rest at home."
In addition to tractors, Franzen has also built wooden wagons (complete with functioning running gears), threshing machines, corn pickers, grain elevators, hay loaders, self-unloading forage wagons, modern 4-WD tractors, a pair of buffalo, and even an old-fashioned barnyard set. The threshing machine is made up of 169 different pieces.
He says he'd be willing to sell one set of his toy tractors for the right price.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Leo Franzen, 108 N. Wells St., West Union, Iowa 52175 (ph 319 422-3834).
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