odd tractors?

I'm stumped, never seen those before. Mrchic, PA has a lot of tractor bone yards from what I've seen on-line! There's one that's an hour north of me right outside of Baltimore and one down in Cullpepper VA south of me. Although, the people I e-mailed from Culpepper(no offense) didn't seem to know what they were talking about. They kept asking me what color hood I had on my tractor after I provided them with model and part numbers :hide:

My Dad's first lawn tractor was a Bonanza. I think he got it from Alden's(out of business also). It was something. The transmission was a big aluminum flywheel hooked to the engine by a belt. The shifter was a rubber edged wheel that ran on a shaft across that flywheel connected to the rear axle by a chain. When you pushed in the clutch, it lifted the little wheel and you slid the wheel on the square shaft via a shift handle , one side forward and the other side of the flywheel for reverse. Quite simple, but if it got wet or you lubed the shifting shaft to much (like I, a kid would do), it wouldn't go, until it burned off the fluid. The little drive wheel didn't last long and the chain would fall off often. The truck bed was cool though.

Hi guys, I'm a newbie on here and I have to chuckle cause this is my first post. I know something about that "Bonanza" tractor - the first tractor I ever drove was exactly the same model, except it was badged differently. The one I had was originally colored green, had the same exact decals on it except instead of "BONANZA" across the front it said "ELECTRA" and on the side it said "RAM ELECTRA GT-8" with a picture of a ram's head on it. It was indeed manufactured by General Appliance Manufacturing Company, and my Dad bought it new in the late '60s out of the Spiegel Catalog (yes, the one that your wife has now for new clothing specials!!)...

Like the pics on the other thread show, mine had a cigarette lighter, ammeter and fake wood grain on the dash (LOL). It actually had sealed-beam headlights! And that little pickup bed, although thats where the battery was on my tractor. I remember being able to kinda sit there, though, when I was a little kid and hang on to Dad as he drove around.

That little tractor was more like a go-kart - its 3rd gear was more like 4th or 5th on a comparable MTD. When we got a Simplicity 6008 to "replace" it, we kept the old one too and used to try and have races, but if you put the old "Ram" in 3rd gear the Simplicity could never keep up!!! The drive was a chain setup as opposed to a belt.

Unfortunately, the old "Ram" tractor was also about as durable as a go-Kart, which meant it **** near killed my dad and little bro when he had him on his lap and went down the hill in our backyard. That chain snapped and the brake couldn't hold it and the tractor went hurdling down the hill and they both fell off. Thank God that Daddy knew how to fall and no one was hurt!

I did keep that old "Ram" tractor for years, though, even later when I bought a 1986 MTD to do my yard work, I kept the old one hooked up with this big, clunky snowthrower attachment (that actually came with it, the other accessory being a 32" mower deck, no grass catcher or anything). Pieces of the **** thing used to fall off every time I used it in the snow, it was so fragile, and so rusty. But it did the job, and it was a staple in my garage for years. I finally disposed of it about 6 or 7 years ago when I bought a 2nd MTD used to match my other one, so that they could trade accessories, and I kept the one MTD as a "summer" machine, the other as a "winter" one.

So alas, my old "Ram Electra GT-8" is no more. I'll have to dig up a picture and post it for you guys when I get the chance. It does bring back memories because I was first addicted to tractors on the thing. My MTDs of today do a helluva lot more work, though, and seeing some of the beauties on this forum make me want to move up to a nice garden tractor to do my yard work. Seems like overkill on only half an acre, but it sure looks like fun!!!

Pete (PB)

This internet thing is a wonderful idea. We went from not knowing anything about these to getting a decent history on them. Thank you to all that shared on this, I now know about a machine I had never heard of before today, and I consider myself fairly aware of what is out there as I go to auctions and tractor shows pretty regularlly.