Speedex

Okay, I'm probably a little old to say this is a mid-life crisis. And it's certainly not a Corvette. But, truth be known, I've often thought of buying a vintage vehicle and I've often looked at tractors on eBay and craigslist. On Saturday, for the grand sum of $450 I was able to satisfy both urges.

This red beauty is a Speedex garden tractor, model S24. In 1935 Harold Pond founded the Pond Tractor Company and built Speedex tractors. The first tractor was a Model B, which was the first four wheel garden tractor in America (what happened to Model A?). In 1949 Pond officially changed the name of his company to Speedex Tractor Company. The S series was introduced in 1959; the S24 was the last of the series. I'm guessing mine was probably built in 1968 or 1969. The company was later sold several times and finally went out of business in 1997. In its heyday, the company built about 1,500 tractors per year.

Driving home with my new purchase riding happily in the back of the truck, most drivers were oblivious to the bit of tractor history they were passing. But several people did double-takes and at least two people got pretty excited: One guy did a fist-pump and another gave me a big thumbs-up.

I'll let you drive it the next time you visit!

Speedex tractors have a totally unique drive system. They use belts. But unlike any other tractor, the engine slides forward when the pedal (far left of the picture, below) is pressed. As the engine moves forward, it increases tension on the belt. Voila!

And, the engine! It's a 10hp Briggs & Stratton. Big, heavy (cast iron), and in this model it's a manual start that uses the old wrap-the-rope-around-the-starter-and-pull method. Hard work, but effective.