Antique tractors, cars, engines draw visitors to annual show
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Jim and Lisa Buckner of Kingston look over their restored 1941 Dodge military truck on display at the Smoky Mountain Antique Engine and Tractor Show at Anderson County High School. They restored it in 1999, they said. - G. Chambers Williams III
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Members of the Smoky Mountain Model A Ford Club brought some of their cars to the 42nd-annual Smoky Mountain Antique Engine and Tractor Show at Anderson County High School. - G. Chambers Williams III
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Pat Hausser drives a vintage McCormick Farmall tractor pullinga trail- er with bench seats on it shuttling visitors from the parking lot to the show area during last Saturday’s antique tractor show at Anderson County High School. Riding in the back are Tom Metcalfe, left, and Carl Metcalfe, both of Halls. - G. Chambers Williams III
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Tommy Warwick, left, of Andersonville rests a foot on a front tire of his vintage 1961 Case 430 farm tractor parked in a row of old tractors as Nicholaus Sowder of West Knoxville looks on, during last Saturday’s tractor show in Clinton. Sowder’s hand is on a 1953 Ford tractor. - G. Chambers Williams III
Antique farm tractors, engines, classic cars and even some semi-trucks drew crowds of visitors to the area in front of Anderson County High School for the recent 42nd-annual Smoky Mountain Antique Engine and Tractor Show.
The tractors were the stars of the show, coming in all sizes, shapes and vintages, made by such manufacturers as Case, Allis-Chalmers, John Deere, Farmall, Ford and Oliver.
Held the second weekend in June every year, the show is the biggest event of the year for the Clinton-based Smoky Mountain Antique Engine and Tractor Association.
There were 83 vintage tractors on hand for this year’s show, along with the old engines, classic cars and semi-trucks, event coordinator Carl Chesney said at the site on Saturday morning.
“We have 60 to 70 more exhibitors this year than we had last year,” he said. “The weather is great, and this is a perfect location for us to have a show.”
Chesney said he has six old tractors of his own, which he keeps at his home in Maynardville.
His grandson Harlan Maple, 15, of Halls was also on hand both days to help out with the show.
“I’ve been around tractors all my life, and I’ve been working on them since I was 6,” he said.
Mira Hausser of Halls, who produces the club’s newsletter, was also on hand to help conduct the weekend show. She was staffing the club’s information table.
Hausser, who works at the Museum of Appalachia, said the Smoky Mountain Tractor group also participates in other events throughout each year, including “tractor drives, the TVA Fair, the Dandridge Hot Air Balloon Festival and more.”
Besides the tractor group, the Smoky Mountain Model A Ford Club also participates in the annual Clinton event, and club members had some of their cars on display at the show.
Pat Hausser, visiting from Cape Girardeau, Missouri, operated a parking lot shuttle both days of the show, pulling a wagon with three bench seats using a vintage Farmall tractor.
“I’ve been driving tractors since I was about 10 years old, growing up in West Virginia,” she said.
The tractor group was founded in 1982 by a group of people who wanted to “provide historical education for members, [the] public, and schools; assist each other in solving problems and obtaining parts for old engines, tractors, and equipment; work toward the preservation of old engines, tractors, and equipment; and hold shows and demonstrations of old engines, tractors, and equipment,” according to the website (smaeta.org).
It has about 100 members, and “the equipment owned and displayed by the membership is varied and includes many rare and unusual items,” the association says.
For more information, check out the group’s website or Facebook page.