Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, June 27, 1993                   TAG: 9306270074
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: CYNTHIA CATHER NORTHERN VIRGINIA DAILY
DATELINE: WOODSTOCK (AP)                                LENGTH: Medium

OLD TRACTORS PLOW A PLACE IN THEIR HEARTS

But the 98 members of the Massanutten Antique Tractor & Gasoline Engine Club would prefer to spend their spare time restoring a rusty John Deere tractor or reworking a cumbersome gasoline engine.

"It's an absolute addiction," said club president Kenny Wakeman, 39, of Edinburg. "And once it gets in your blood, you're hooked. You can't stop. You constantly find yourself tinkering on something."

Club members say restoring antique tractors and gasoline engines is an unusual but enjoyable hobby.

"There's nothing more gratifying than taking something that's junked and bringing it back to life," Wakeman said, the other members gathered in Shillingburg's Repair Shop in Woodstock nodding their heads in agreement.

Wakeman said that before the club was chartered in February 1990, those interested in the restoration of antique farm machinery had to travel to other counties and states to show off their handiwork.

"We didn't have our own club so we couldn't have a show," he said. "One of the primary purposes of a club is to host a show so its members and others can display their work."

William Green and his son, Billy, both of Edinburg, were instrumental in starting a local club because they had to travel long distances to display the gas engines they worked diligently to restore, he said.

Since the club's inception, it has held three shows at the Shenandoah County Fairgrounds and is now planning its fourth.

Nearly 100 tractors and more than 100 engines were displayed at last year's show, in addition to old rock crushers, hay loaders and antique cars. The shows, which are free to the public, include a variety of activities such as tractor pulls.

Club members also display their machinery at local festivals and participate in numerous parades, Wakeman said.

"We have so much fun doing this. It really makes us feel good, especially when older people walk up to us at shows and thank us for reminding them of a way of life long gone," said Lloyd Shirkey, vice president of the club.

"The younger generation doesn't have the slightest idea about some of this machinery because it's no longer in use, but the older generation does and they like to see it come back. Some of them get pretty sentimental when they see these things," Shirkey, 46, of Edinburg, said.

Wakeman said he has watched "old-timers walk up to some of the old tractors we've restored and - this is no joke - just stand there looking at it while their eyes well up with tears."

He said it's important to restore the machinery because it "preserves part of America's agricultural heritage. The younger generations should know how hard their ancestors worked to build this country and Shenandoah County."

Club members said when they aren't piecing together a tractor or engine, they're busy searching scrap yards, sheds and fields for more.

"The older the better," said Carroll Bowers Sr. of Toms Brook.