Ford mechanic turns career into tractor, truck collection

PENFIELD, Ill. — John Bensyl has worked with Ford tractors for a major part of his life.

“I’ve always piddled with mechanical stuff and after I got out of high school, there was an opening for a mechanic at the Urbana dealership and the rest is history,” Bensyl said. “I spent 32 years working at that dealership and it stuck.”

Bensyl has seven restored tractors including a Fordson.

“The Fordsons were prior to the Ford tractors and I was able to acquire one and it mushroomed from there,” he said. “Stuff just kept following me home.”

In addition to the tractors, his collection includes a couple of Ford trucks.

“I have a 1950 Ford F1 truck that is the same kind I had when I started working at the dealership,” Bensyl said.

“And the same lady who had the truck also had a Model T that she was going to make into a yard ornament,” he said. “I said you can’t do that so she sold the Model T to me also.”

Bensyl will display several items from his collection at the Historic Farm Days event, July 7-10 at Penfield. Organized by the I&I Antique Tractor & Gas Engine Club, the show is featuring Ford tractors, equipment and trucks.

“I’ll probably take five or six tractors, my trucks and we hope to get a few cars, too,” said Bensyl, who is also a director for the club. “Some of the Model Ts were converted to tractors by taking the back wheels off and we have one of those on display at the Penfield museum.”

When the Fordson tractors were first introduced, Bensyl said, the price was based on the cost of a team of horses and the 10 acres of ground for hay.

“They were under $500 when they came out,” Bensyl said.

“Henry Ford designed the length of the Fordson so eight of them could fit in a boxcar to transport them,” he said. “That carried through into the later models of 9Ns and 8Ns.”

In 1939, Ford started producing the 9N tractors.”

“The war models that were produced starting in 1942 were called 2Ns,” he said. “In 1948, they went to the 8Ns, so we have to explain those numbers to people.”

Bensyl has a 1939 Ford 9N tractor in his collection.

“That was the first tractor with a hydraulic three-point hitch,” he said. “I also have a 1943 war time tractor, that’s the same age as I am. Tractor production dropped a lot during the war because of the materials.”

Tractors made during World War II were on steel wheels and they did not have an electrical system.

“There were kits available after the war to add generators, lights and to put on rubber tires,” Bensyl said. “So, not many survived in their original state like mine.”

“I have a 1952 Ford 8N and that is the last of the 8Ns before they went to overhead valve engines,” said Bensyl, who is also a director for the Ford Fordson Collectors Association. “I also have a couple of tractors in their work clothes that I might have at the show and I have a cement mixer to mount on one of my tractors.”

Bensyl enjoys restoring the tractors in his collection.

“I just finished a couple of mine during the pandemic,” he said. “And I restored some for friends including Internationals to keep me occupied.”