John:

Looking at this pictue just sparked my memory of something I was always going to try to see if it was even possible...

About 2 years ago I stopped into the old Local Massey Dealership in Redwing, MN it had dropped the Massey line back in the 80s and is now a chainsaw and small engine shop. The owner Lavern Fanslow was there sitting there in his Lazy Boy chair and we were reminiscing about old Masseys. I got on the subject of the Massey Harris GPs and he started laughing and told me he knew very little about them as he did not start selling Masseys until the 50s.

He did however tell me the one thing that really stuck in his mind was when he was a very young boy his dad took him to the Goodhue County Fair and they were demonstrating the new Massey Harris GP and it's great flexibility.

The man demonstrating it took 2 full Coca Cola bottles and placed one under the right front steel lug and the other under the left rear steel lug standing them in the upright posistion then got on the tractor and drove it ahead about a foot and the tractor climbed up the bottles and he stopped the tractor at just the right time and it was possed just as your picture looks except it was standing on top of Coca Cola bottles.

At first I laughed and said NO way but he assured me he was not Bsing me and it really happened and that is why he remembered it so well...

Lavern passed away about a year ago but at that time he told me this story he also said that the man who was demonstrating the GP was selling them out of a blacksmith shop just down the road about 1 mile and he thought the barn was still there. There were 3 barns still there but I don't know what one he was referring to, they have Goats in them now.

I got to thinking this could be very possible to do but I have never tried it yet and I bet I would break a couple cases of bottles trying to master this trick.

What do you think??? Fact Or FIction?? I guess we will have to try it someday...

Joe

John,

I thought your Maple Leaf GP demonstrated some of that same great flexibity!! (I just had to say that!!)

It is nice they keep their flexibity compared to us old farts who can't move, let alone climb on top of something!!

Joe, that is a good story about the Coca Cola bottles.  The first knee jerk reaction is always no way.  But upon second thought, I would say that it could be a possibility with the right conditions.  First all of the force would have to be straight down.  Since it wasn't pulling anything or needing traction, I would think this could be accomplished.  Second, I would hope there is a creeper gear or some very slow gear to "crawl" up also helping with the downward force.  Third, you could argue the fact that having the axles at such an angle the lower wheel on the ground would be carrying more of the tractor weight than the wheel in the air.  Therefore the bottles don't have to support a 1/4 of the weight of the tractor.  Fourth, if all of the above is true, then one would need to know the static crush force of the glass bottle.  The cylindrical design plus the "hour glass" shape in the middle of the bottle would only help the structural integrity of the bottle distribute the downward wheel force to the ground.

I am not going to bet my mechanical engineering degree on it, but I would say it could be possible under perfect conditions.

Joe, you bring your GP, I will bring the coke and we can settle this at the next show!!

Drew

I have personally witnessed a john deere B with engine running and wheels turning on three coke bottles before so the theory of a coke bottle holding the weight is true. Now whether or not it will hold a 4wd trying to move is a different deal I would think.

Joe,

I think it is all fesible and that you should have a demo at some event.  But practice first!!

After all we have jugglers and acrobats who regularly prance around upside down on bottles etc.

I think you should try it on hard earth (soil) and not concrete and maybe put a slice of thick rubber (tyre or something like that) over the mouth of the bottle.  That way both ends would be protected from splintering from the hard impact of concrete or steel.

Good luck - we eagerly await the results and a comparable photo.  You might also wish to experiment with modern day bottles comapred with old ones?

John

Joe,

It has just occured to me - try it first with one of your tractors with rubber tyres - then progress to steels.

John

I will have to give it a go sometime this summer to see if I can master it. Maybe I should see if the great people at Coca Cola would sponser me???

Does anyone out there know what ever happened to this tractor or where it went to? It was a 48 inch tractor with kay Brunner wheels on it. It was for sale several years back out east, I have not seen it surface since.

Joe

John:

Once I master balancing a GP on pop bottles I need to find an airplane wing to see if I can drive over it... I wonder how they managed this with bare steel wheels on aluminum without sliding off or going too far and nosediving it and catapaulting them over the front of the tractor??

I wonder if this tractor still exists? Has anyone out there seen a GP with these wide wheels on like this? I know I have pictures of one like this in an airport, maybe it is the same tractor?

Joe

Joe,

It's not a joke to suggest getting sponsorship from Coca Cola for the GP bottle balancing act.  You should also consider AGCO because:-

I have just read that  AGCO are to be the main sponsors of three MF 5600 series tractors to go to the south pole in 2014.  This will emulate the epic trip to the south pole by Sir Edmund Hilary using three grey Ferguson tractors from the UK in 1958.  The lead drive will apparently be a Dutch lady explorer Marion Ossevoort known as Tractor Girl.

But what a SOFT trip it will be in HEATED cabs etc etc etc!!!!!!!!!!  It will be interesting to read of the comparative performances of the old and new

So there you have it Joe - get you sponsorship application in jointly to Coca Cola and MF/AGCO.

John

It occurs to me to ask, maybe of JWB, how might AGCO/MF have to modify these tractor engines (if at all) to cope with the high altitude of Antarctica and the South Pole.  A possible post for the high altitude tractor thread John??

John