Next generation readies prize tractor

PENFIELD, Ill. — The next generation of classic farm equipment restoration enthusiasts used his time and talent to prepare the grand prize in this year’s I&I Antique Tractor and Gas Engine Club drawing.

Dylan Knight wrapped up painting the 1955 Oliver tractor in early June. It’s the top prize in this year’s drawing during Historic Farm Days.

The second prize is $300 in cash, third is $200 and fourth is $100. The drawing will be held at 2 p.m. July 13.

A maximum of 400 tickets were to be sold.

Knight, grandson of antique tractor restorer and collector Kenny Knight, has worked on restoring cars and trucks, but mainly enjoys tractor restorations, including helping his grandfather in the body shop.

“Grandpa kind of got me started. He’s been painting old tractors of his own and for some of his friends for years. I grew up around it and kind of took over the painting for him and then started doing some of my own on the side,” Knight said.

He worked on the 1955 Oliver when time allowed over the past three months.

“That was right during planting season and a busy time. So, it probably took a month and a half to get one done if I’m not super busy. I work full-time on grandpa’s farm and I paint at my house on weekends, after work, or whenever I get a chance,” he said.

His grandfather’s interest in restoring classic tractors dates back to one of the first Historic Farm Days when it was held at Middle Fork River Forest Preserve north of Penfield in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

At the time, Kenny noticed no Minneapolis-Moline tractors at the show, the brand that his family used on the farm in his youth.

“Those tractors we farmed with were still in a sealed-up shed over at Bismarck where I grew up. Daddy had three of them,” said Kenny Knight in a 2021 interview with AgriNews.

“I have all three of them now. I have two in the museum here on the farm and the other in another building. That’s how I got started.”

Since those first efforts of refurbishing classic tractors, his interest rapidly grew — and now his grandson has taken up the hobby.

“Grandpa has a variety of everything. He was raised on Minneapolis-Moline. That’s what they farmed with. He has quite a few of those, along with some older John Deeres and Olivers. Just a variety. On the farm side with the more modern stuff, we have all green, but he has a variety of the old stuff,” Dylan said.