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Old Tractor Gets Companion
Thanks to the ingenuity and persistence of Commissioner Tim Finchem and the PGA Tour, Arnold Palmer's antique tractor of Pennzoil commercials fame has a worthy companion sitting by its side in the memorabilia warehouse at Latrobe Country Club. Seeking a unique gift for Palmer for his 76th birthday, Finchem launched a search for a duplicate of the 1922 Fordson tractor that Arnold's father, Deacon (Deke) Palmer, used to mow fairways in the early years at Latrobe CC. His son learned to drive before he was in his teens wrestling that vehicle around the club grounds.
The Tour's search party found their quarry in West Gardiner, Maine, a man by the name of Don Clough, who restores old tractors and other such machinery, and commissioned him to dress up and put into working order a 1922 Fordson that he had in his possession. The result was a spiffed up, bright and shiny red tractor with huge, wide steel wheels with more than a hundred 1 1/4-inch bolts embedded in the surfaces for traction. It crank-starts with gasoline, runs on kerosene and has no brakes. Finchem and his wife, Holly, surprised Arnold with the birthday tractor when they flew to Latrobe for an overnight visit with the Palmers.
The celebrated tractor that Arnold drove through so many Pennzoil commercials is a later-vintage (1947) Toro with rubber tires
Posted by dgiffin at September 28, 2005 02:02 PM