THRESHERMAN RESURRECTION
This story began when Yorkshireman Malcolm Norris faced the arduous task of clearing his late father’s yard and realised he had to move a sad-looking derelict David Brown from its resting place to make some space.
Wreck
The rusty old Thresherman tractor had been standing for a few decades, and the years had not been kind. Had this been just any old tractor Malcolm might have taken the easy option and found a buyer for the rusting hulk, but this was his late father’s tractor, and it’s never easy to get rid of something that has featured so largely in a loved one’s life.
Before that, Malcolm gave it a steam clean first, to see if he could get it going. It was a dream to hope that the tractor might just fire up, but sometimes tractors can look a lot more derelict than they actually are. Some real wrecks will fire up with minimum fettling, so there’s nothing wrong with a bit of optimism. However, the Thresherman would not wake from its slumber that easily, as Malcolm soon discovered.
“After about a month of pouring different freeing agents down the plug holes, and repeatedly trying the starting handle, I concluded that the engine just would not move,” recalls Malcolm.
