Students from Dubiski Career High School in Grand Prairie recently spent more than 1,500 hours restoring a 70-year-old tractor for a national competition.
The tractor, a 1949 Farmall M, was reportedly in poor condition as a result of being left uncovered in open-air weather. The students took apart and reassembled the machine.
“Coming from an urban area we had never worked on a tractor,” said Dubiski junior Jose Pedroza. “But once the opportunity came to restore a tractor, we were all ready to get into it and make it run again.”
The students said they spent a considerable amount of time working on the tractor. Some said that many nights they stayed until 10 p.m. or later.
The students followed the International Harvester service, parts, and owner’s manual. By using this text, they worked to get the tractor as close as possible to its original condition and construction.
The newly restored tractor has been entered into the Chevron Tractor Restoration Competition (TRC). Voting for the competition closed on October 21.
The Chevron TRC began 25 years ago as a means to recognize and reward the creativity, technical aptitude, and business knowledge of high school-aged students from around the country.
While not only teaching and honing technical and mechanical skills, restoring these machines allowed students to develop project management, teamwork, planning, and marketing skills.
This national program is open to U.S. high school students. The competition awards prizes totaling up to $20,000 with the recognition of a Grand Champion, Reserve Champion, and Third Place, as well as ancillary competition awards.
In order to choose a winner, a panel of experts will narrow the initial entries down to 12 finalists. The pre-judges consider the “quality of the restoration effort, documentation, and safety precautions.”
Finalists are invited to the National Finals Competition, which will take place along with the National Future Farmers of America (FFA) Convention & Expo in Indianapolis, Indiana. Six finalists will orally present their project (tractors are not brought to the finals) to a panel of four tractor restoration specialists who will select the winners.
Winners will be announced at an awards ceremony on Thursday night during the week of the FFA Convention, which will be held October 26-29.
Four of the 12 finalists from last year’s competition were from Texas.
Interested students can learn how to enter future Chevron TRCs here.