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Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Mike and Judy Trotter’s first antique tractor came into view in 2005, when they spotted a 1954 Ford Jubilee on the way home to Dalton, Georgia. Their grandson Walker was smitten; Judy suggested they return the next morning to ask the price. That discovery grew into a collection spanning Ford, Farmall and Massey Harris tractors—and a family hobby built on Mike’s years of working on cars, the help of friends and club members, and a new generation’s projects.
How the Trotters found their first tractor
Before they owned a tractor, Mike and Judy had already joined the Peach State Antique Tractor and Engine Club. Their son-in-law invited them to join, and members would later offer advice and encouragement as the couple got started.
In 2005, Mike, Judy and their grandson Walker were traveling home to Dalton when they saw a 1954 Ford Jubilee at a business near Ringgold, Georgia. Walker fell in love with it. Judy proposed coming back the next morning to ask what it cost. As Mike recalled, “That’s how we ended up with our first Ford.”
The Jubilee remained a favorite for parades and tractor rides. The story of its purchase also set the pattern for the hobby: a family discovery, a machine that caught their imagination, and a community of people willing to share what they knew.
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What is in the Trotters’ collection?
In a December 11, 2024, feature by Tharran Gaines for Successful Farming, the collection included machines from three makes, ranging from working restorations to tractors still awaiting their turn. Gaines reported that about half had been fully restored.
| Machine | Detail reported in the feature |
|---|---|
| 1954 Ford Jubilee | The couple’s first tractor, found near Ringgold in 2005; a favorite for parades and rides. |
| 1953 Ford Golden Jubilee | Found in a deteriorating, overgrown barn on land near Pikeville, Tennessee. |
| 1952 Ford 8N propane model | One of the Ford tractors in the collection. |
| Ford LGT 120 | A garden tractor. |
| Ford 2N | One of the Ford tractors in the collection. |
| Ford 8N gas model | One of the Ford tractors in the collection. |
| 1948 Farmall Cub | Equipped with a mounted planter; Mike later found its planter and seed hoppers at a yard sale. |
| 1952 Massey Harris Pony | Bought with a seized engine that Mike and a friend managed to free. |
How earlier car work prepared Mike for tractor restoration
Mike’s restoration experience began with cars and commercial vehicles. Early in his married life, he and a friend owned an auto body shop in Ringgold, where they painted cars and semi-tractors. That work gave him practical experience with repairing and painting machines long before antique tractors became part of the picture.
He later spent 22 years at Coca-Cola, first as a route driver and eventually as a district sales representative. After the local distribution center closed, he took an office job with a local trucking company and stayed for 26 years. At the time of Gaines’s December 2024 feature, Mike had retired about two years earlier but continued buying, repairing, painting and reselling cars in his spare time.
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Judy calculated that the couple had worked on or restored more than 300 cars by the previous year, according to Mike as quoted by Gaines. That is the Trotters’ estimate, not an independently audited count.
Friends, trades and persistence brought particular tractors home
The Golden Jubilee from a barn
Mike’s friend Johnny Hicks acquired land near Pikeville, Tennessee, where a badly deteriorated, overgrown barn held a Ford Golden Jubilee and a Ford 8N. Hicks kept the 8N; the Trotters took the 1953 Golden Jubilee.
The Farmall Cub through a trade
Mike had long wanted a Farmall Cub. Collector Carter Boyd traded him three tractors; Mike sold two and agreed to repaint a trailer. Boyd gave him the Cub, and Mike later found the mounted planter and seed hoppers at a yard sale, adding the equipment that made the tractor especially distinctive.
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The Massey Harris Pony with a seized engine
The 1952 Massey Harris Pony had a seized engine. Mike offered half the asking price up front, with the rest due if he could get it running. A friend helped free the piston. Once the tractor ran, Mike returned and paid the balance.
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Tractor collecting has become more than a project for Mike and Judy. Mike said his stepson Alan is restoring a Ford 8N that belonged to Alan’s grandfather. The plan is for the tractor eventually to go to Walker—the grandson whose enthusiasm helped bring the Trotters their first Ford.
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Mike also had another large project in mind: a 1955 Mack semi-truck tractor he had recently bought. It ran, though its air-driven starter could make it difficult to start. Mike hoped to restore it and use it to haul tractors to shows. His approach was practical: “But if you don’t have a plan, you’ll never get it done.”
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The people behind the collection
From the son-in-law who invited them into the club to friends who helped free an engine, the Trotters’ story is as much about shared know-how as machinery. Mike put it this way: “We certainly owe a debt of gratitude to all the friends, family, and members of the Peach State tractor club who helped us get started.”
The family details, tractor inventory, work history and car estimate in this account come from Tharran Gaines’s Successful Farming feature, published December 11, 2024. The car total is attributed to Mike as the couple’s estimate.
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