Navy Massey Harris I-330 Only one!!

[swbradley1]

Masseyh,

Well, according to your dates the tractor was at Miramar the time as me. Unfortunately I have no contacts at the base. It went from an NAS to an MCAS and the Marines only let me on the base once (I think out of pity) right before 9/11. Haven't been back since.

 

[MasseyH]

Hi SW,

So what did they (and you) do at Miramar while it was NAS? That might help tell a little bit of the story of how it was used. Are there others you worked with that might have a clue as to its use? You are the "warmest body" I have tallked to that might have been at Miramar!!!

Feel free to email me at MasseyH@aol.com

Thanks

Gary

 

[emr]

Thanks for this GREAT post !!!!!!!!!!

 

[MasseyH]

Thanks emr, Just looking for some additional information. It would be nice to tell the story about the tractor's use and propose if we can figure it.

Gary

 

[R Racing]

Beautiful tractor !! you did a wonderful job !!

 

[dozer1]

Was the gray paint under the yellow-black pre-resto paint or how did you find out how to restore it? Very cool post and I hope the right people get wind of your story to get you the history of that great MV. I'm betting you will find that history before too long.

 

[waayfast]

Hey Jim,

That story is one in the same!! When Kruse got to $3100.00 he started asking for $31000.00 and I said no. First time I was ever at an auction and the crowd started booing the auctioneer!! To say the least, I really had to pay for("really stupid high") it the second time. The only person I was bidding against was the auctioneer. He got his money back. It was an ugly story but I finally did get the tractor.

So where are you from and why were you in Yuma for the auction!?!?!?

Feel free to email me at MasseyH@aol.com

Gary

PS Massey only made 3 different tractors for the military and I have all three of them - I-330 for the Navy ( 1 of 6 only one left), I-162 for the Army (1 of 26 1 of only 7 known) & I-244 one of 272 for the Air Force and Navy.

Gary, I am from central Idaho. I ended up going to that auction for an M2 Medium High Speed tractor built by Cletrac.

I was going to stay home and bid per Kruse' online program then found out at the last minute the "boneyard" bidding wasn't going to be online!!! I had just enough time to make it down (about 900 miles!), get a room for the nite and get to the site on the day of bidding.

My item was literally the LAST thing auctioned that day!! The procession passed by it several times but always went a different direction!! There was no interest in it by the majority of folks---they were all for the farm tractors and did not even know what it was.

BUT! There ended up four people bidding on the Cletrac and three of those had more money than me to spend that day!! It was a nice machine mostly complete and of course no rust.I think for about an hours work a guy could have started it and drove it onto a trailer! Needless to say it went "stupid high" like everything else.

There is a member on here from Queen's Creek AZ that has posted pics of an M2 and I am about 99.9% sure his is THAT machine!

The last picture is one of two of those electric trucks--thought I'd just throw that one in.

Jim

 

[MasseyH]

HI Waayfast,

Thanks for the pics. Seeing the suit coats in the back of yellow Escalade still brings a chuckle to the fiasco weekend. I watched a guy from Texas buy $150,000 tractors at 2 AM on Sautday morning just bidding away without another bidder in the building. That was the beginning of the end for the Dean Kruse era of auctioneering. I have noticed a son or nephew is at it now. Not an auctioneering outfit I would travel to again. Great people at the auction but I can not say the same for the auctioneer (and he is from INDIANA)!!!! Sad mess he left the family in. I don't think they ever got all of their money.

Sorry you didn't get the M2 Clectrac. Looks like a bunch of iron there!! Has the guy restored it?

I still laugh that you were a witness to the craziness. Small, but memorable, world!!

 

[swbradley1]

I got there in '75.

It was the West Coast Navy Fighter Squadron base. Mira Mesa, CA butts up against the northern side of the base and I-15 runs along the east side. The runway ran east to west and they almost always took off towards the west to head out over the beach to the AO.

I am almost positive when I was there we had a railhead that came into the supply buildings. Makes sense since Miramar was founded around a railroad.

None of the building remain from when I was there except the main hangars. If you do a Google satellite view I want to say the rail line went to buildings south of Miramar Way the is the main road cutting through the base.

If I ever get my pictures out I'll see what I have but we were never suppose to photograph that side of the base.

 

[quickfarms]

Neat

it is also cool that you have the history

I noticed that you added dual rear tires, was that original?

was is used as a tractor or a tug?

 

[MasseyH]

Hi Quick Farms,

The duals were added by me but they were original to the tractor. I have the origianl parts manual showing the duals (rare considering there were only 6 tractors made)!! The Navy must have stipulated the duals in the build order. Not many duals were around in the early 50s!! We are still trying to find out exactly what and how it was used. I know it was shipped to Miramar but from there who knows where it might have gone. The story has it that 4 of the 6 tractors made were sent there. We know three were scraped. Another tractor went to Fallon, Nevada and one went to Weeksville - Elizabeth City NC. No one has ever seen the Nevada and NC tractors.

I am sure someone sat in that seat for some time. It would be great to find that person!!

Gary

 

[SimonG]

nice

 

[Robo McDuff]

Not really part of the thread, but somebody might be interested. Few years ago my Iowa friends, who know of my interest in old big machines, drove me along a tracktor graveyard. Several hundred tractors, most of them really old just standing around. Somewhere in mid/eastern Iowa I think it was.

 

[pa.rich]

Were the dual wheels original or did you add them to spice it up?

 

[SSG Rock]

Looks Good, Glad you were able to get it and save it, Hope you find out more about what the Navy used it for.

 

[MasseyH]

Hi Everyone!!

Thanks for the nice comments. There are a couple of "boneyards" in Iowa. There is a hugh one that just deals in combines. Another is a hugh field of tractors. They could be one in the same!!

As for the duals - the tractor had be bastardized by the Navy by cutting off the outside rims. When I got the tractor that was how it sat. I had an original parts manual and yes it was built from the factory with the duals so yes we fabricated the duals and put it back to "original". Very rare to see a factory built tractor with duals from the early 1950s!!

Thanks again.

Gary