The tractor after rebuilding by Bicton College students. Pictured with them are L-R Richard Sivil of Vapormatic, David Henley, Principal of Bicton College, Chris
Jaworski and Bill Vellacott
24 Hour Tractor Rebuild
Marathon 2010
This article first appeared in June's edition of Tractor & Machinery
ONE - DAY CHALLENGE
Bill Vellacott, chairman of BOAT, writes: “Well here we go once again and I want to say a very big thank you on behalf of the charity not only to all of the sponsors who make our annual tractor raffle possible but also
to everyone who buys tickets.
“This will be our eighth tractor to raise funds for BOAT and the previous
seven have raised over £105,000 which
has allowed us to work with over
100 trainers working in sustainable agriculture both here in the UK and also in-country. Our next training programme started in mid-April with our six trainers coming from The Gambia, Kenya and Uganda.
This year, as those of you who attended Tractor World 2010 will have seen, T&M has given us a 1963 Massey Ferguson 35X Multi-Power, Vapormatic has put over£5,000-worth of parts into the project and Firestone has supplied a new set of tyres all round. Having just seen the rebuild I can say “it’s a cracker.”
What a great show Tractor World was and a chance to catch up with many old friends and BOAT supporters, not least Ferguson Heritage member Richard Morley who not only went away with £100-worth of tickets (watch out Ashbourne Vintage Club) but also brought a cheque for £200 from Kirk Langley Church from whom we have had tremendous previous support.
We had record sales of 725 tickets at the show - and on the West Midlands Vintage Club stand next to ours was the very happy winner of last year’s tractor, Les Perkins with his David Brown 880.
THE REBUILD
Students at Bicton College have been assessing the MF 35X both externally and
internally in preparation for a full restoration of it within a 24-hour period. Is such a thing possible? Yes, I can confirm it is as I was there for the whole time (without any sleep), writes Chris Jaworski.
The parts and tyres were delivered to the college during the week preceding the rebuild and checked against the parts list that had been produced during the previous detailed inspection of the tractor. The workshop area was cleared of tractors and machines and the necessary tools and equipment laid out in preparation for the event.
