OLD TRACTOR BUG `BITES' COLLECTORS; EGYPT MILLS CLUB GROWS TO OVER 60

EGYPT MILLS -- There are some people who collect stamps, some dabble in dolls or some get a charge out of collecting spark plugs.

But in Egypt Mills, there's a group of area men who collect antique tractors. Not the little toys you played with as a child, but huge, fully operational diesel and steam-powered tractors.

"Once you get bitten by this bug, you're doomed," said Dwayne Kirchhoff, president of the Egypt Mills Antique Tractor Club. "It's like a sickness."

Kirchhoff and a few other men founded the club in a friend's machine shop 12 years ago.

"Informally we had gotten together for a number of years before we actually signed the charter," said Mike Engelmann, one of the club's charter members. "We were all raised up together and had been tinkering with our tractors for years.

"Most of the tractors had been in our families for years," he continued. "Guys pulled them out of ditches, from the back corners of old sheds or found them abandoned in fields."

Since then, the club has grown to about 60 members throughout Southeast Missouri.

So what does one do in an antique tractor club?

"We have our meetings on the third Thursday of every month," Kirchhoff said. "We also host and attend several tractor pulls throughout the summer.

"During our season, we're busy almost every weekend," he said.

The club has purchased property adjacent to the East County Fire Station. They meet in a gray shed, which overlooks the field where the tractor pulls are held.

The group has named their "arena" the Chuck Maevers Memorial Field, in honor of one of the charter members, who died suddenly at age 29.

To be in the club, all one needs is an old tractor ready to be restored and $10 for the annual membership fee.

"A tractor built before 1939 is considered to be an antique," Kirchhoff explained. "Our club goes all the way to 1952. A tractor built between 1940 and 1952 is called a classic."

Kirchhoff has five tractors he's restored and repainted.

"Some club members still use their tractors for farm work - I use one of mine for mowing - but the majority are just kept for showing and pulling," he said.

"At first, my wife thought that I spent too much time working on the tractors and going to the shows," he said. "But now it's become a family thing, and everyone's very much in support of it."

But Kirchhoff's collection is no match for some tractor-fanatics who own more than 30.

"When I first got started, it really wasn't an expensive hobby," Kirchhoff said. "But now that there are more people getting into tractor collection, it is getting to be expensive.

"Some parts are impossible to find," he continued. "A lot of them have to be rebuilt or handmade to fit the tractor."

But Kirchhoff said that a lot of problems in finding parts can be solved from within the group or through club connections.

"One of our members makes hoods for tractors," he said. "There's a manufacturer in Indiana who still makes body parts for some of the older models."

When the tractors are ready for show, they are hauled to the site of that weekend's event for sled-pulling competitions or simply to be judged on their aesthetic qualities.

"The shows are a lot of fun," Kirchhoff said.

Winners receive trophies or, in some classes, cash awards. The sled used by the Egypt Mills club was built by its members and is hauled behind large tractors donated by area dealers during the events.

Every year, the club hosts a major pull in August called the Egypt Fest.

"Some of our members will go all the way down to Kentucky to compete," Kirchhoff said. "Some of our members have even brought home trophies from the (Missouri) State Fair.

"All and all, everyone is there to have fun," he continued.

Engelmann has only one tractor, but participates as much as possible in club activities.

"I'll show my tractor two or three times a year," Engelmann said.

Engelmann and his father restored an Oliver tractor, which has been in his family for years.

"I was raised up on tractors and really enjoy running them," Engelmann said.

Another member, who also enjoys the sound of a running engine, is John Hall.

Although sheepish at the outset, Hall will tell you about the history behind each and every one of his beloved engines, which number well into the 50s.

"I just like to start them up and hear them run," Hall said. He has renovated an old barn to house six huge engines from factories, mills and other buildings which have long since been destroyed or renovated throughout Cape Girardeau.

One steam-engine, which he got from an old textile factory near the Mississippi River bridge, he paid a penny a pound for.

"I gave them $200 and hauled it out of there, piece by piece," Hall said. "When I weighed it later, I found out that it was only `worth' $160. They never gave me the $40 back."

As his fellow club members will attest to, Hall is an expert on old tractors.

"He looked at one of mine once he walked around it several times, saying `something's missing' and then realized that I was missing a section of the exhaust part," Kirchhoff said. "He can also fashion parts out of wood, and then have them cast in steel to replace parts that are missing.

"He can just envision things," he said.

Hall has been collecting tractors and engines since 1959. He now receives mail and requests from collectors in Belgium, Korea, Canada and several other countries.

"It's just a hobby," Hall said. "Something to do to pass the time."

Anyone interested in joining the Egypt Mills Antique Tractor Club is urged to call Dwayne Kirchhoff at 334-5898.