When Gary Baker and Louie Parker join forces, the fun can take all kinds of turns from riding in a parade on their antique John Deere tractors to nearly setting the barn on fire.
Located along the Laclede-Pulaski County line, the son-in-law and father-in-law team, stand proudly, and rightly so, in front of their beautifully restored 1936B and 1951MT John Deere tractors, respectively, on an unseasonably warm autumn day in the Ozarks.
Louie was born at Hazelgreen, Mo., and grew up on a 1,000-plus acre farm there, just a short distance down the highway. He agreed that there is more than a little adventure involved in their restoration projects at times.
“When we brought this one home, it had been sitting in an old barn for quite some time,” Louie said pointing to one of his restored John Deeres. “It didn’t even look like a tractor anymore, just a whole lot of parts. Of course, when we got it into our barn, we found the squirrels had stored acorns in the exhaust and it hadn’t been started in years. We started it and the next thing you know, you could hear it running and a-poppin’ to the point it backfired so hard it blew the muffler off and spit fire. I thought, forget the tractor! We got to make sure we don’t burn the barn down!”
He and Gary both laugh now at a situation that was more than a bit nerve-wracking at the time.
When he is not working on tractors, Gary Baker helps his father-in-law with his farm in Pulaski County and also farms his own 160 acres farther up the road, in Laclede County, running a commercial herd of 50 Charolais-Angus cross commercial cattle. After years in housing and barn construction, Gary now shares his construction skills, working for MOCA (Missouri Ozarks Community Action), weatherizing houses for area low income residents.
Louie Parker started farming in 1966 with a cow/calf operation of Limousin cattle. He worked for the Department of the Army for many years, processed deer for many hunting seasons and even served as a guide on the nearby Gasconade River, beginning in high school.
“There used to be three or four outfitters on the Gasconade that did that, providing guided river tours for doctors and others coming out of Kansas City or St. Louis, but not anymore,” he sighed.
In recent years, however, Gary and Louie have shown off these two beautiful green machines in nearby Missouri communities, including Richland, Waynesville, Rolla, Licking, Lebanon, Laquey and even the Missouri State Fair. Louie’s 1936B also made the trip to parade down the street in Washington, Mo., as well.
“I met a lady while in Sedalia who works for John Deere and her job is literally to show international visitors around at the John Deere factory in Illinois and to acquaint them with the company’s products,” Louie said “A lot of the John Deere tractors are sold overseas. Different tractors originally had different purposes. This one (referring back to his 1936 tractor) was designed for orchards and vineyards, which is what makes it so popular overseas.”
And certainly, Louie and Gary have discovered that there is a world of places one may have to travel to find the needed parts for their beloved tractors.
“This model came with fenders that got in the way in daily use so most farmers simply took them off and pitched them aside.” Gary said as he pointed to his 1951 tractor, complete with the pesky fenders. “Finding a pair of them that wasn’t rusted through, pitched in a fence row somewhere or didn’t cost hundreds of dollars was not easy. Several of the places we contacted had them but they were in terrible shape, having laid out in the weather for years. Others wanted over $600 for the pair.”
They were finally referred to a man who lives only 20 miles from them, far out in the countryside where he literally hosts his own tractor graveyard.
“He doesn’t restore them,” Gary said of the previous fender owner. “He just sort of collects them, but he certainly has the parts and pieces. And if he doesn’t, he knows where he can lay hands on them pretty quick.” And Gary further noted that the fenders he bought there “didn’t have a rust spot on them.”
In addition to these two beauties, Gary and Louie have also purchased a 1945 model John Deere LA, a WD 45 Allis Chalmers and an 800 Ford, all of which are waiting for their special touch.
“The 1945 one is for my wife, Charla, and I really thought she might want me to paint it Breast Cancer (Awareness) pink,” he said, referring to great battle that Charla and the whole family have overcome in recent years. “She told me, no. She likes that John Deere green the best and the next one can be pink. She did tell me, whatever the color is, it needs to be real, real shiny,” Gary concluded with a laugh.
Both Gary and Louie have been asked to sell their restored machines, but Louie’s answer is always the same.
“My daughter would not be happy.” Big smiles and antique tractors go hand-in-hand for these two gentlemen. Louie summed it all up for both of them. “There’s nothin’ like the sound of an old tractor.”
