Wanaka businessman's tale of tractor attraction

Allan Dippie with his 1958 Fordson Super Major which has a V8 engine - a tractor hot rod. Photo / Yvonne O'Hara

Businessman Allan Dippie has more than 100 tractors in his collection at his Wanaka shed, and each has a story.

Each tractor goes, and each will be driven during a parade at the inaugural Wheels at Wanaka festival at Easter.

''We have a call out for volunteers to drive a tractor in an 'adopt a tractor' for the weekend programme, and we have had a good response so far,'' he said.

''For people who can't bring their own tractors or who used to work with them, it will be a great chance for them to get behind the levers.''

Allan Dippie and brother Martin had an identical Oliver OC-3 crawler when they first started out in business while still at school. Photo / Yvonne O'Hara

Dippie said he started collecting the tractors - dating from the early years to the mid-1960s - about two-and-a-half years ago.

''Every tractor here has got a tractor tale and when I get them I find out as much as I can about its history,'' he said.

''You meet some interesting people [with tractors] and some quite hard cases.''

He said he had a list in his mind about what he would like to add to his collection.

''They need to be significant in the development of the tractor.''

There is the 1929 Caterpillar 15 that went to the Antarctic with Admiral Richard Byrd in the 1930s and 1940s.

He has a 1958 Fordson Super Major with a V8 engine tractor - a tractor hot rod - which he said was ''quite a bit of fun''.

This Hart-Parr tractor is one of several of the same make tractor enthusiast Allan Dippie has in his collection in a shed at Wanaka. Photo / Yvonne O'Hara

There is the Oliver OC-3, the same model that he and brother Martin took to an isolated spot in the Catlins when they first started out in business cutting ponga logs, while they were still at school.

They broke both it and their father's trailer and had to leave them there, but intend to go back to retrieve them at some point, 38 years later.

To start his 1949 Field Marshall Series 11, he uses a lit cigarette in the cylinder head, and then whacks a cartridge shell.

He has examples of Fergusons, Massey Fergusons, Massey Harrises, Hart-Parrs, John Deeres, Lanz Bulldogs, International Harvesters and a Wallis 22.

His 1919 Saunderson Universal G, called ''Eric'', is only one of four in New Zealand.

He has Nuffields, an Oliver Orchard 70, Ransomes, Normags, Vickers, Minneapolis-Molines, Rumleys, Olives, and a Hungarian Hofherr-Schrantz-Clayton-Shuttleworth AG (HSCS) L25, which is one of the rarest in the collection.

Tractor collector Allan Dippie has a 1929 Caterpillar 15 that went on two expeditions to the Antarctic with Admiral Richard Byrd in the 1930s and 1940s. Photo / Yvonne O'Hara

''It was one of the most useless.

''They didn't work very well.''

He said the 1929 Irish Fordson F Model was the Apple iPhone of its time.

Henry Ford built the Fordson, then halved the price and halved it again, eventually putting 200 tractor manufacturers out of business as they could not compete on price, much like the iPhone did.

He employs Ron Muir to take care of the tractors and to carry out maintenance and restoration.

''He is pretty good at fixing them.

''Each tractor is different and they all have their own personality and style.

''There are so many different styles and mechanical configurations and that makes it quite interesting and quite challenging to work out how they go.''

Some were donated by families while others he has bought from overseas or when owners were no longer able to look after them, and they have visiting rights.

He said his collection was about preserving a piece of farming history.

''There is something nice about tractors.''