Sask. farmer restores vintage combine with help from grandsons

Wayne Mantyka has the story of a Saskatchewan farmer who restored a vintage combine with help from his grandsons.

A Saskatchewan farmer who bought a vintage combine at an auction has restored the equipment with help from his son and grandsons, making it a real family affair.

Larry Verhelst recently bought a Massey Ferguson Super 92 for $1,500 at an auction, which brought back memories of his father, who had owned one just like it.

“He bought it in 1962, and I remember him telling me that the price was the same as the number, 9,200 bucks,” he recalled.

Larry said that the combine he bought had been stored in a steel building for the last 45 years with a seized motor.

Ross Verhelst, Larry’s son, said the restoration was a lot of work, but they had plenty of help.

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“Take the wheels off and a bunch of shields and it was a lot of work to get this engine out, me and the hired man and my nephews and brother. It took a couple of days of get it out, a couple off days to get it back in so,” Ross explained.

After adding a bit of oil, the combine was ready to go.

“Using spray cans, I put in half of jug of oil and just used it and sprayed all the bearings and just held it there for a while and everything got lubricated and took all the noise out of it and it’s pretty good,” Larry said.

Of course, the old combine is a lot smaller than the machines used today.

“I could do maybe 50, 60 acres in a day. Now with a new machine you can do it in how long? Two, three hours, you can do 46 acres,” Larry said.

It’s like driving a classic convertible with the top down. The old combine is not practical for today’s farming, but the family says it has never seen their father happier.