The Trotter Family’s Winding Road

Mike Trotter says he didn’t even own a tractor when he and his wife, Judy, joined the Peach State Antique Tractor and Engine Club nearly 20 years ago. In fact, it was his oldest son-in-law who invited them to join the group. Consequently, he’s quick to credit his fellow tractor club members for getting him hooked on tractors and providing tips and advice when needed.

“We certainly owe a debt of gratitude to all the friends, family, and members of the Peach State tractor club who helped us get started,” Mike says. “We can’t thank them enough.”

He also credits his grandson, Walker Brown, who was 2 years old at the time, for helping him find his first tractor. As Mike explains, he and Judy, along with their grandson, were returning to their home in Dalton, Georgia, when they spotted a 1954 Ford Jubilee, along with a few other tractors, sitting in front of a business in nearby Ringgold, Georgia, in 2005.

Love at First Sight

“We stopped to take a look and Walker just fell in love with that tractor,” Mike says. “My wife said, ‘I guess we need to go back in the morning when they’re open and see how much they want for it.’ So, that’s how we ended up with our first Ford.”

You might say that was enough to “break the ice” on the Trotters’ new hobby. Since that first tractor, they’ve added a 1953 Ford Golden Jubilee; a 1952 Ford 8N propane model; a Ford LGT 120 garden tractor; a Ford 2N; an 8N gas model; a 1948 Farmall Cub equipped with a mounted planter; and a 1952 Massey Harris Pony — about half of which have been fully restored.

Ironically, tractor restoration was already one of Mike’s talents, even if he didn’t grow up on a farm. Early in his married life, he and a friend owned a body shop in Ringgold, Georgia, where they often painted as many semi-tractors as they did cars.

After a few years in that partnership, Mike took a job with Coca-Cola, where he worked for the next 22 years, moving up the ranks from route driver to district sales rep. When Coke closed the local distribution center, he took an office job with a local trucking company where he spent the next 26 years before retiring two years ago. Even then, Mike continued to buy cars that he would repair and repaint in his spare time before reselling them. Soon, friends were asking him to work on their cars, as well.

Over 300 Cars Later

“Just last year, Judy figured out that we have worked on or restored over 300 cars just on our own,” Mike says. Consequently, restoring a tractor has never been a major challenge for the former Coke representative. In fact, he even rebuilt and painted a “people carrier” to pull behind one of his tractors at the local shows. Of course, Mike seems to have a story behind every tractor in his collection.

The Ford Golden Jubilee, for example, was found in a barn in Pikeville, Tennessee. Mike says a good friend of his, Johnny Hicks, had purchased some land north of Chattanooga that had a barn that came with the property.

“The barn was in pretty bad shape and all but hidden in weeds when I went with him to take a look,” Mike says. “Anyway, when we finally found our way into the barn, here was the Golden Jubilee and a Ford 8N. So, I got the Jubilee from him, and he kept the 8N.”

Similarly, the Farmall Cub came about when Mike took in three tractors from a collector named Carter Boyd with the promise to repaint and sell them. Mike says he always wanted a Cub.

So, after he sold two of the tractors and agreed to repaint a trailer for the same collector, the guy ended up giving him the Cub in exchange. He says he found the mounted planter and seed hoppers later at a yard sale.

“That’s all the expense I have invested in that tractor,” Mike says. “And I think the planter adds so much to it. It really fits together well and makes the whole deal so much more interesting.”

Mike had a similar story about a Ford 2N that sits out behind his shed. It seems he bought four tractors from a collector’s estate, which included three Ford tractors and an Allis-Chalmers model. Later, he sold the Allis-Chalmers and one of the Ford models, while keeping the 2N and an 8N with the hope of getting them restored. It comes as no surprise then that Mike even made his own unique offer on the Massey Harris Pony. 

Freeing up a Seized Pony 

“The Pony had belonged to the stepson of another large collector in the area named Lamar Duvall, who was actually my wife’s kin,” Mike says. “The guy had given a restored Pony to each of his two stepsons before he died. Anyway, this one had sat for a while and the engine had seized up on it. I told Wes Mullens, the stepson who owned this one, I’d give him half of what he was asking and if I could get it running, I’d come back and give him the other half.”

True to his word, Mike got the piston broke loose with the help of a friend, got the tractor running, and went back and paid the rest of the bill. Just as others have helped him, Mike helps others, including Alan Brown, his stepson, who is restoring a Ford 8N that previously belonged to his grandfather, C. L. Brown.

“Alan had used the tractor many times himself on his grandfather’s farm,” Mike explains. “Eventually, it will be handed down to my grandson, Walker, who picked out the Jubilee as my first tractor. So, the irony is that he will eventually own his great grandpa’s tractor.”

One of Mike’s most recent purchases, however, isn’t a farm tractor but rather a 1955 Mack semi-truck tractor. His idea is to restore it, locate a trailer for it, and use it to haul tractors to antique tractor shows, even though his youngest son, Jason, currently helps him transport tractors to the shows. Still, who wouldn’t appreciate a 1950s-era semi hauling a couple ’50s-era tractors, just like a dealer might have done 70 years ago. 

“It already runs,” Mike says, “although it’s sometimes a little hard to start, since it has an air-driven starter. I know I’m getting older every year and don’t get as much done on projects as I’d like. But if you don’t have a plan, you’ll never get it done.”