My dad bought a 1x7 in supposedly rusty-and-rotten-tired, but runnable condition. At first, he wasn't really all that interested in it, called me to ask me wether it had any parts-value to me (mine are all WF's). He figured I'd go get it, and either clean it up, or part it out, but the tide has started to change.
{Dad's always been 'interested' in old outboard motors and little homemade hydroplanes... he built (and crashed) quite a few out of the PM magazines of the '40's and '50's. }
Never a proponent of ride-on mowing equipment, he had two back-to-back occasions at his previous (pronounced "hilly") residence to reinforce his dislike.
In the course of recent history, Dad and Mom retired, radically renovated their summer home (just up the street from me) and moved out here permanently. The yard is not nearly as aggressive, Dad decided to buy himself a tractor... a brand-spankin' new 'green' tractor.
Not long after, Dad bought a Gravely 1136 from a neighbor's estate. It's a cheezy tin thing with 11hp Briggs and a Peerless rearend. It's a cantankerous machine, and best fits operators with 16" long arms and a 45" inseam. It weighs in at a whopping 170lbs (full of gas), and can pull just about anything, as long as it's under 60lbs, on wheels, and on a paved, level surface. Why it was fitted with a blade and a 'creeper' is beyond us. The little Grave-ly is Mom's personal pet, usually pulling a yard-cart full of flowers around.
But one of Dad's other hobbies is to buy, rehab, and sell old houses... about one every three years or so. He bought one recently, and decided it was too much of a PITA to trailer his green tractor up there each time the yard needed mowing, so he bought a used Snapper lawn-tractor at an estate sale. A good mowin' machine, but like the green tractor, and the orange tractor, just ain't heavy enough to PULL anything... it's just a mower.
Well, Dad drove my 109 the day I dragged it out of the neighbor's barn and gave it a whack with my moto-defibrillator. He wasn't impressed by much of it, except for it's extreme road-ratio. Later, after I got some of the bugs worked out of it, the smoke under control, and the steering, brakes, etc., all in a better state-of-tune, he started to respect it. Actually, it was after he saw me chew down a big pile of gravel with the blade, peel up asphalt, and push snow... and the time I chained on an 800lb bridge timber and dragged it several hundred yards across a field...
Today, he helped me push Loader-Mutt up onto the trailer. I had him drive the 109, while I guided LM (hydraulic steering ain't done yet). This time, he was outwardly impressed (and he doesn't do that too often) about how dexterously-strong the 109 was about pushin' LM up them ramps.
Then, he asked me about the 1x7's. I didn't know alot, mind you (haven't ever had one within touchin' range, but I've read up on 'em)... and now he's thinkin' that the Grave-ly will end up with a Best-Offer sign on it, and Mom might be drivin' a yeller-tractor here really soon... that is... if Dad lets her have it. I know one thing... after WFM, I'll likely be too busy resurrecting HIS 1x7 to get much done on Loader-Mutt!
