restore or not to restore that is the question

[MJB1]

bit of a canumdrum of some members tractors which want to be restored .

i have a 168 that needs a few pannels,  a few dents to be attended to & some welding & no paint left on the top of the bonnet , my decision is to do a part restoration one day.

kev has a 35 which is totaly original , all pannels in place no dents , pretty well perfect condition but lack of paint . my opinion ? keep as is

marky has a reasonably rare 240 in very good condition ,all there but just needs a clean up

with a some members looking to see a full restoration , some to keep it original.

my thought is this  we see lots of fully restored classic tractors , nice to look at , but we see very few totally original tractors in good untouched condition which is a shame.

two pics to compare

please discuss

[MJB1]

pic 1

[MJB1]

pic 2

[MJB1]

ok getting a few votes in here but nobodys explaining the reason for the vote they've made 

[marshman]

i would ceritainly restore pic 2 due to it being very rough, as for pic 1 i would leave it as it is probley as there is loads of restored 135s . As for Markys i would probley do it up because you dont see  many of them restored or oringnal.

[jcb4cxkid]

restore pic 1 because its a bit of a mess but probably would be expensive. pic 2  dosent really need a lot of work just a good clean

[BC]

Well number one is the one to restore in my opinion Marcus because she is  battered and bruised and not very tidy or original. Number two is covered in cow shix but on the face of it looks fairly whole and straight. For number two a good power wash and a rub over the tin with a diesel rag would do the business for me ;)

[MJB1]

i would ceritainly restore pic 2 due to it being very rough, as for pic 1 i would leave it as it is probley as there is loads of restored 135s . As for Markys i would probley do it up because you dont see  many of them restored or oringnal.

have got yer pics mixed up ad 

[BC]

Maybe Adam has been talking too much to his uncle Marky and just got MF fog in his head  ;)

[MJB1]

Maybe Adam has been talking too much to his uncle Marky and just got MF fog in his head    ;)

certainly brings a whole new meaning to 'seeing red' bill 

[archtech]

I would restore 1 and just clean up no 2 as it looks to be in good nick.

[jdc]

I'd restore 1 and leave 2 on the face of it, you could polish all day and the glass wouldn't reappear or dents vanish 

One comment I'd like to make is that if you have rusty tractor and it's working every day, well and good, it gets hot and dries out. If it is sitting for long periods without being started, as many collectors machine do, it will just continue to deteriorate even in a 'dry' shed. Scraper tractors and forklifts survive for a long time as although they're in the do-do every day, they are warm & working..... 

[BC]

It is nice to see tractors in their working clothes and being worked. Four of my five have been restored and sprayed but the problem with that is I don't really want to use them at working days since they are too good to scratch and damage at this point in time. With my fifth one it has been mechanical restored and only painted in red oxide on the engine,steering box,radiator bottom and axles which have been refurbished. The plus point with this one is I can have hours of fun playing at "working" with it and I'm not scared to damage the paintwork ;)

[marshman]

oh Damm, im getting mixed up here, worrying that im goind red  Numpty i spose 

[archtech]

One comment I'd like to make is that if you have rusty tractor and it's working every day, well and good, it gets hot and dries out. If it is sitting for long periods without being started, as many collectors machine do, it will just continue to deteriorate even in a 'dry' shed. Scraper tractors and forklifts survive for a long time as although they're in the do-do every day, they are warm & working..... 

you learn something new everyday

[Lord Ferguson]

Umm... well... what a question... I am genuinely perplexed at this one...

I've plumped for 1 only...

My rationale...

As Adam (wise young man) so rightly said there are so many immaculate 135's about... the second one could be left alone...

HOWEVER

I think the definition of restoration needs questioning here... if we are talking about making a tractor 'concourse' condition then that's one thing... would you class 'tinkering' and replacement of broken items (lets say check chains, top links, light switches and other ancillary equipment) as a restoration of some kind

If the answer is yes... then I say restore the pair of them... I'd prefer to see my tractor back as 'nature intended' to working condition than to have to 'put up' with annoying faults...

Although the jury is very much still out on Mavis... I have ordered some parts such as (the afore mentioned)... Light Switch, check chain, wheel bolts, fuse box cover, headlights, radiator cap, ( the red one), rear cab cover, wing mirror, ploughing lamp... Now is that restoration or is that just making her 'right' for work 

It's not an easy call this one... but as above... I'd restore the first one (no option really) and 'tinker' with pic 2 to make her as good as you can without doing the paintwork..

I am seriously considering this with Mavis to be honest... she only needs a few more 'tweaks' to make her the lady she once was - all bar the paintwork and dents which will remain until such time as I make my mind up (and convince Mrs F) what I should do  \

Getting back to Addy's comments.. I think he's hit the nail on the head here... a big part of the decision making process needs to be the make/model of the tractor and it's 'rarity value' - if the 135 in pic 2 was a petrol... then no question... get it restored fully... whistles and bells... if it's (and we know it is) a standard model... perhaps it would be best left alone (after a good clean)  \

A very difficult question to answer Marcus B.... very difficult indeed - I hate 'grey areas' ... I like things in their own pigeon holes in life... but this is not an easy question to answer... for me anyway  \

[Tractorman810]

this is a really tough call, if you restore no1 then you are replacing a good x % of the parts, possiblly with non massey parts ,so even if restored shes not origonal to a certain point, but restoring no 2 is mosty paint work and that as such is not really any more than tarting, your keeping a good 100% of the tractor origonal with hardly no non origonal mf parts ging on , but are loosing its history in doing this, as ,as it stands its in very good nick,, i guess with something like that. or markys, it is really a owner call, she for shows ect or for light work in ploughing comps ect???

as for yours marcus, i say go the whole hog, you need so many new pannels ect your beyond keeping her origoanl anyway

[marshman]

Thanks Marky mate, as for restoration, i class it as all the bits it needs. However courcors isnt really just a restoration, its got to be absoultely perfect even down to the dust caps i think. We did a 135 DL ground up restoration, it need wings etc. Now when we brought it, it has shell wings on, as it was a later tractor aprantly it should have had the square type ones on it. Anyway we put sqaure ones on because it needed new wings anway and we prefer the square ones. Although Dad did very good job the intenention was never to make it concours, its a tractor after all, when they come out the factory they arnt quite like cars even. Some of the coucours stuff is better than new really, as dad says when they had new tractors on the farm he lived on they somtimes had slightly diffent shade paint on the wings to the bonnet, but it was a tractor so thats what they exspected. It all comes down to what the owner wants to do really and how much you want to spend and what you want to used it for.  :) :)

[allis8550]

I think I'd be very tempted to restore both, obviously no 1 is going to need a lot more work and effort , but in the long run both tractors are going to be quite valuble when put into good condition. You've only got to see what a decent 135 makes these days, to realise the better looked after they are the better for you.

[Simon]

Have neither of those tractors been restored then.... I can never tell with Masseys....

In all seriousness I wouldn't bother doing too much to either, bit of a wash and brush up, fit any missing bits with genuine used original parts and leave it at that. As several of you have pointed out, there's loads of shiny restored tractors on the show field but they never turn me on, they're not original and they look too good to be true - or use.....

I like the old knackers with the 'patina' of many summers and a bit of mystique, every dent or rust patch or leak has a story, restoring these machines would be like fitting uPVC double glazing to Windsor Castle and laying a textured concrete driveway.... leave it with it's history and do your best to preserve it I say.....

Or melt them both down and turn them into Chinese bicycles....

[Eurodeere]

The second is all there, even if there is a bit of bovine excrement in many places. The first is missing many items and it is a case of restore or drive into the ground. Whether the first can be restored economically is another question. There are many better looking 135's around that could be restored for less money. If the 1st 135 is someones first drive etc, then that can influence the choice to restore or work into the ground.

[Massey Boy]

i can just amagine the title of this topic as the name of scooters next song

any way i ticked number 1 as i would like a challenge if i re stored a tractor and because i feel sorry for it

[sparrow legs]

i would tart the first tractor up, leave the other at the end of the day they are tractors! does a farmer buy a new one and only show it and never work it, no i had a grey fergi diesel, it was ok order, needed tyres and a few bits, wings etc, had a good quality re spray and i showed it but also worked it on the farm and at local working events, tractors are better for been run and earning there keep. I know i post on here i paint my jd up every year but its still a working tractor, it clocks 600 hrs a year and a drop of paint just helps keep it looking fresh

if i had a rare tractor like a county 1884 or a silver jubilee etc then yes wrap in cotton wool, a standard 135/240 ford 3000/5000 etc replace broken parts and use it thats just my opinion \

[nashmach]

Based on a pure economics mind I would be restoring number 2 - simply for the orginality like Sean outlined.

One thing I often wonder is that if you went a full restoration I guess the 2 would end up at the same cost.

[1/32collector]

i would restore no 1 as she needs it more, no 2 has a lot of days left in her still the way she is