NEAT club members brave cool weather for Tavistock breakfast stop

Laverne Gingerich proudly displays his restored Allis-Chalmers WC tractor while attending the NEAT Club breakfast gathering at Quehl’s in Tavistock last Thursday. Despite the cool weather, several members still made the trip aboard their antique tractors. Gary West photo

By Gary West

Cool, damp weather did not stop members of the NEAT (North Easthope Antique Tractor) Club from making their annual breakfast trip to Quehl’s in Tavistock last Thursday.

While some members arrived by vehicle because of the chilly conditions, several dedicated antique-tractor enthusiasts still made the trip aboard their vintage machines, bundled up in heavy coats, long underwear and even snowmobile suits.

Among them was longtime member Laverne Gingerich of Mornington, near New Hamburg, who arrived driving his restored Allis-Chalmers WC row-crop tractor.

The tractor, estimated to have around 30 belt horsepower, was a popular machine during and after the Second World War. Early models were equipped with steel wheels before rubber tires became more widely available following wartime rubber shortages.

Approximately 178,000 Allis-Chalmers WC tractors were built between 1933 and 1948 in West Allis, Wis., helping many farms recover and modernize following the Great Depression.

Gingerich said he grew up farming with Allis-Chalmers tractors including the WC, WD and WD-45 models and still enjoys driving the vintage machines to the various breakfast destinations visited by the club each week.

Now in his 80s, Gingerich remains one of the club’s enthusiastic regulars.