This 1942 Case DI (industrial version of the model D) was one of our earlier museum restoration projects. Bill’s very good friend Ed Payne, owner Yucca Moving & Storage in the 1990s, had been asked to move this dilapidated tractor out of someone’s field when they moved. He had it stored for them at his business for several years and decided he needed to get rid of the abandoned 6,000 pound pile of iron. Knowing that Bill restored old tractors, he made arrangements to have it taken to Bill’s shop on Valley Drive. But beware of people gifting you a tractor! It can turn out to be very expensive to restore, especially if new tires are needed. The engine was stuck, but soaking the cylinders for several months in a special mixture of Marvel Mystery Oil and transmission fluid, Bill was able to unstick it. It was more or less painted in varying shades of yellow. Complete sandblasting took care of that. Interestingly, the final coat of paint revealed before the bare metal was olive drab - it turns out the serial number of this tractor indicates it was made in December, 1941. You may remember another event that occurred in that same month. It may have been on the assembly line during the attack on Pearl Harbor. All of the Case output was then immediately re-purposed for wartime production. The industrial units then in production were painted olive drab and sent to various Army Air Force bases for duty as bomb cart pullers. In the decades after the war, several owners painted over the original paint. Now it is painted in the correct “Flambeau Red” which was Case’s paint name for orange in those days. Later, the museum received another Case DI donation, which had a serial number just a few units different from this one. Both would have been on the assembly line at the same time.