Feature

Perkins gets cranked up on vintage tractors

"Lightning Larry", the racer who has become a household name at the wheel of his Castrol Commodores, has assembled an unique collection of vintage tractors from Victoria’s Mallee region where he grew up.

Beside the hangar at Melbourne’s Moorabbin Airport that is the home of Perkins Engineering, a new structure is going up to house the tractor collection which is believed the first of its kind in Australia.

"I’ve got nine tractors already, and another seven I’ve got to pick up on my semi-trailer when I’ve got a spare Sunday or two," said Perkins.

Tractors have been his life-long passion. Having learnt to drive a 1936 McCormick Deering W40 tractor at the age of 10, he ploughed the fields of farming neighbours at Cowangie in the Mallee, sometimes until 2am and for $1 an hour.

Among the collection Perkins now has is a W40 identical to that on which he did his `apprenticeship’, several other McCormick Deering machines, and a Case tractor "that always starts first time". Two came from the Perkins family farm, a couple from auctions and others "just through people I know or word-of-mouth".

"They’re all early American tractors that were used in the Mallee and the Wimmera region," said Perkins. "They were already vintage when I started driving tractors - they’re from the 1920s and 30s."

One, a Hart Parr, sat idle in the Mallee for 54 years. The owner had rejected many other offers but happily handed it over to Perkins because he knew it would get a good home.

Yet another of the tractors had not been started for 30 years. "The engine was covered in grease, but I steam-cleaned it, cleaned the plugs and cranked it into action," said Perkins.

The new `shed’ that will house the collection measures 35 metres by 27 metres. Perkins said it would be much easier to restore and display the tractors there than in the Mallee.

"I don’t think that will matter too much - they don’t just show Picasso paintings in Spain," he said.

"The first thing I want to do is stop the decay and get them all going. There’s plenty of rust and flat tyres on them. Some haven’t even got rubber tyres - they’ve got the old steel wheels, but that doesn’t change the handling much !

"There’s a bit of work to be done, but I’ve already got quite a few spare parts and the restoration won’t be finicky like it is with cars. These tractors will be original, not chrome-plated ! I’m not out to make them what they were not - I’m going to make them what they were.

"They’ll be on public display but I just want them all going so I can have a little drive out the back. I’ll have to be a bit cautious though and duck (because of the planes taking off and landing at Moorabbin Airport)."

While Perkins admitted the tractor project was taking a good deal of his time, he said it was a "very pleasant diversion" from the serious business of motor racing.

"It’s not interfering - my teammate, Russell Ingall, and I are getting better results than we normally do early in the season," he said.

Ingall and Perkins scored one/two placings in both V8 Supercar support events at the Melbourne and Gold Coast Grands Prix.

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