Max Armstrong is selling his tractor. The old 1953 International Harvester Super M tractor’s glistening was found beat up near Morris, Ill., and immaculately restored to its former glory on Sundays by members of the International Harvester Collectors Club Northern Illinois, Chapter 2. It’s been repainted twice since then and has gone through three sets of tires.
More than a machine, the old two-wheel-drive Super M’s glistening red paint is infused with decades of memory.
“We spent so much time in the field with these machines back in the day. When the planting season stretched over three months; the harvest season could go on week after week after week, sometimes in very cold weather,” says Armstrong, resting a hand on its wheel. “I think of a very brisk fall night when Dad and I were rolling toward that house, and you could see the light on in the kitchen. Mom had supper for us ready. Those things just stay with you,” he says.
ICONIC MACHINE: The 1953 International Harvester Super M, restored by the IH Collectors Club and repainted twice over 27 years, represents a golden era of American farming machinery.
Behind him, Farm Progress Show visitors browsed vintage machines at BigIron’s annual auction. By the show’s end, the Super M will have changed hands. It’s a bittersweet sale for Armstrong. He lives in North Carolina these days and can’t get to northern Illinois, where it resides, as often as he’d like.
“I don’t have room for it in my shed in North Carolina,” he says. “It’s time to let it go.”
Infused memories
Over the years, Armstrong’s Super M has pulled a three-bottom plow through fertile ground, rumbled along parades in northern Illinois, and graced the pages of the Classic Tractor Calendar’s December issue.
Case IH displayed the machine at its Racine, Wis., Experience Center for three months. Years back, Armstrong recalls driving it through the old Farm Oil plant in Rock Island, Ill. before its demolition — a memorable experience because that’s where the old machine was manufactured 71 years ago.
Manufactured by International Harvester from 1952 to 1954, the original Super M’s hood contour was designed by Raymond Loewy, a French-American industrial designer who created the Coca-Cola bottle and the streamlined locomotive profile.
INTRICATE DETAILS: The original Super M was designed by Raymond Loewy — the same industrial designer behind the Coca-Cola bottle and streamlined locomotives.
The machine’s 264 cubic-inch, four-cylinder gasoline engine outputs 44 hp. Armstrong’s, however, is special. In 2001, the tractor was tested on an M&W dynamometer. He opens up the rear toolbox, where his signature adorns the steel and a sticker denotes the machine’s 56 hp rating.
“The Super M was rated through the Nebraska test lab at about 44 hp. On that day in 2001, it was 12 horsepower [more],” Armstrong recalls. “I still remember seeing them up there around the carburetor and other guys, Terry Heifers, my buddy, said, ‘Yeah. [The Schnell brothers from Dixon, Ill.] were up there tweaking that carburetor for quite some time to get 12 more horsepower out of it.’”
In demonstration, Armstrong climbs atop the seat and turns it over. The vehicle rumbles to life.
“I hope somebody has as much enjoyment of it or even half as much enjoyment with it as I have had over the years. And it just brings back memories of special people and gather around, you know, tractor rides,” Armstrong says. “There’s a tendency to gather around the drawbar and spin tails. There’s something neat about that.”
Armstrong’s 1953 International Harvester Super M is on display at BigIron’s booth at the Farm Progress Show in Decatur, Ill. It’s scheduled to be sold at auction on today.
FINAL RIDE: Max Armstrong has witnessed countless parades, farm shows and special events, including its return to the Rock Island factory where it was built, from the seat of his Super M.