Marquette, Man. – It’s difficult to drive past Mike Ganczar’s pumpkin farm without slowing for a second or third look.
That’s because Ganczar cultivates seven acres of pumpkins with an Allis Chalmers Model G, an orange tractor that resembles a large, mechanical spider.
The Model G prompts a double take because it has a rear-mounted engine and a cultivator with four spades mounted under the steering wheel.
Ganczar, who runs a market garden in Headingly, Man., likes using the unusual tractor because it allows him to see where he’s cultivating, without having to look back every few seconds.
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According to Yesterday’s Tractor, a website dedicated to antiques, the Model G was made for vegetable and berry growers. Allis Chalmers manufactured 30,000 Model G’s from 1948 to 1955, but the 10 horsepower tractor faded away when farms got larger.
“At one time small market gardeners provided (most of the) produce for city folk,” said Ganczar, a retired teacher who typically produces 30,000 kilograms of pumpkins on his patch, located on Highway 26 between Poplar Point and St. Francois Xavier. Ganczar rents the seven acres from Gary Tully, a farmer in the area and co-owner of the Model G.
The Yesterday’s Tractor site noted that the Model G never caught on with grain farmers because it wasn’t suited for harvesting.
Although the belly-mounted implements were popular with vegetable farmers, Allis Chalmers also introduced a front-mounted hay rake and windrower, which were not such a hit. Unless the wind was at the operator’s back, the front implement churned up a cloud of choking dust and debris.
Nonetheless, Ganczar likes his Model G and if he ever wants to sell it he might get $4,000-$5,000, because the unique tractor is popular with collectors.
