You may have seen Gerry Wilson at a car show or tractor pull this summer, or any summer in the last decade. He’s been a regular at the Miniota Shirtsleeve Classic weekend since he attended his very first tractor pull there in 2011.
This July, Wilson used two Oliver tractors - a 990 (8,000 - 10,000 lb. class) and in the lightweight class with the 99 Oliver. He has trophies lined up in his basement, winning many of the contests he’s entered, but it wasn’t his day at the Miniota pull this year.
“Disaster struck! Really bad, really bad,” he fumes. “I blew a fuel line about 10 feet short (of maximizing the pull) … and then my 990, I had it in the wrong … gear. I don’t know what I was thinking of. All I made was a bunch of noise.”
Is he a perfectionist? You’d think so by looking at the vehicles he turns out – both classic show cars and tractors. One thing’s for sure, there’s a resilience about this good-natured retired farmer.
His tractors are unique and renowned for their smoke and noise. “You know, I get a kick out of the crowd. As I get up closer to that shed (at Miniota’s pulling track), people are sitting there, and they get that double explosion because the sound comes off of the shed….”
Raised at Outlook, Sask. Gerry and wife Linda worked the land just south of Decker, where they raised their two girls, farming the deep, fertile soil found in the Hamiota/Decker area. About 14 years ago the Wilsons rented out the farmland and moved to Hamiota where Gerry delved into a retirement pursuit.
“I just thought it would be something to do. I’d maybe pick up some odd ball tractors, low production ones (rarities). I ended up buying 30,” he chuckles.
Olivers, a green coloured tractor in the USA, or Cockshut, the same tractor but red in Canada, were his specialty. He fixed up and sold many of these, keeping a few to show and to pull with.
Gradually, the Olivers disappeared and that’s part of why Wilson enjoys collecting them. In 1969, Oliver, Minneapolis-Moline and Cockshutt were merged to form White Farm Equipment and in 1975 these three lines were folded into the White brand to become the silver Field Boss line.
He also sought out the models with a certain motor, the “Screamin’ Jimmies,” referring to the two-cycle Detroit diesel engines found in old GM trucks. “They’re loud! That’s just the way they are. They’re a two-cycle so every time it turns a revolution… it’s twice as much firing going on.
“So, when it’s running at 2500 rpms it’s the same as an engine like this,” he points to his White in the shown’n shine, “running at 5,000. It’s 2-cycle. Every stroke is a power stroke.”
He attributes his ability for restoration know-how to the 4H axiom: “Learn to do by doing.” The fact is, life as a farmer offered many opportunities to get handy with a wrench, and for Gerry and his brother Ed, it started when they were farm boys.
“When we were kids at home, it was the start of the mechanical age. My dad came out of the horse era. He couldn’t fix much. As kids, my brother and I were fairly curious. We were always taking stuff apart and seeing how it was made.”
Wilson is on the lookout for a certain tractor, a 2-150 White, a two-wheel drive with a V8 Caterpillar motor. “I have never found one. But I have a 2255 which was the precursor to that. It has a V8 Cat, … it’s quite rare.”
He has five pulling tractors. “I use a 2150 Cockshut, which is an odd ball. There was only 112 of those made, in total. And then I use my 2255 for pulling once in a while.” The other three are Olivers: the 99 in the under 8,000 lb weight range, the larger 990 and the largest, 1900 in the 10,000 – 12,000 lb category.
Like other hobbyists, Covid didn’t hold him back. “You know I have a couple of tractors that I did when Covid was on. We were locked down…. I couldn’t go anywhere. So, I ended up with a couple of pretty nice ones - a 2150, it was a Covid tractor, and I have a 1950 T (turbo charged 1969 model) that looks pretty shiny too.”
Wilson has yet another project waiting for winter. “I have a tractor out here I was going to restore this coming winter,” he nods toward the garage. “I have some pieces I painted in the spring. It needs some work on the motor. I’ll make sure it lasts all winter.”
For Gerry Wilson, retirement is a gift. “The best position I’ve been in for the last 14 years, is I don’t have any commitments. I can go out to the shop and if something goes astray, I just pack up and go away. When we were farming, we didn’t have that chance. We had to keep at it. To me that’s the best part of what I’ve been doing here, fixing these tractors up. No deadline.”
