Bill Wileman on his ford 6000 tractor

An innovative flop: Remembering the Ford 6000 tractor

How the cutting-edge tractor and its failure-prone transmission became a marketing nightmare for the brand

The tractors were available with either a 223-cubic inch gasoline or a 242-cubic inch diesel engine — but a groundbreaking innovation for its time, the Select-O-Speed powershift transmission behind those engines, turned out to be the tractors’ early downfall.

Vintage John Deere Combine

VIDEO: Sask. farmers gather to run vintage combines

Every fall a group of local farmers get together in a field near Milden, Saskatchewan, to have some fun running vintage combines from the 1950s and 1960s. This year the event included a recently restored Roto-thresh combine along with an assortment of other machines including models from John Deere, Massey-Ferguson and Case. There was also a […] Read more



This 1976 Roto Thresh was the 33rd machine built by the company. It used a 66-inch diameter rotating drum as a separating system. It has been restored to fully operational condition.

Farmers refresh a Roto Thresh

West-central Saskatchewan farmers find and restore a rare classic combine

It isn’t often I get to follow up on a machinery article more than a decade later. But in the case of Mervin Lloyd’s Roto Thresh combines, that’s exactly what happened. Back in 2011 I spoke to Mervin Lloyd of Fiske in west-central Saskatchewan about his thoughts on the unique Roto Thresh combines he owned […] Read more


Alberta farmer Bob Taylor has never met a tractor he didn’t like. He was in his early teens when he began dealing tractors and now has more than 100 at Tractor Haven – a refuge for tractors and other farm machinery and equipment at Taylor’s farm homestead south of Calgary.

Alberta farmer is a collector of tractors and preserver of history

Bob Taylor’s Tractor Haven is where old tractors and all kinds of other collectibles go to be remembered — and every piece has a story to tell

It might be fair to say that southern Alberta farmer Bob Taylor never met a tractor he didn’t like. You don’t have to spend much time touring around the farm homestead about an hour south of Calgary to figure that out. Taylor still owns a large collection of farm tractors he’s met over the years. […] Read more