Mad Max

Not Mad at all. in fact quite the reverse. Max called to say he had finished the tractor "repair". he had managed to find a second hand engine and though not quite the original model it fitted and like mine was a 3 cylinder. We won't go in to any details here suffice to say max suggested I start off from his place in top gear and simply don't touch the gear lever again until I got home..

He was right - 20km, up and down hills, loads of crossroads, roundabouts, train track crossings. Didn't change gear once. Perhaps I should be checking the newspapers to find out if there is a tractor pulling competition soon!

Thanks Max, great job. No more oil drops all over the yard, a motor that starts before you know it and although I probably will hardly need it, it now has a pre-glow unit. Max demonstrated it with the cover off - you could grill a T-bone steak on the flames .

In the Blip, Max with another project. A 1961 36hp Hatz TL38 tractor, Hatz is a less well known tractor builder - 243 examples of this model were made from 1960 to 1964.  Hatz though were and still today are very successful manufacturers of diesel motors.

Notice how spotless Max's workshop is. It's the familys former cow shed until they gave up farming. He now uses it for his hobby of fixing tractors. He has a "proper" job working for a company in the tractor business.