The Big Red Tour

It was a glorious autumn day when I finally met up with John and Susan Hansen who are a vital part of making the Big Red Tour a reality. Naturally they are IHaholics. A handsome Arizona Blue 1953 R-112, nicknamed “Cornelia”, albeit with part of its engine on the bench, was in the garage being brought back to life. Jim Hadfield, Mister Oldihc himself, had driven for five hours to meet up. It was the first time I had seen him since the NATS in 2002. We were all getting together for the first time to discuss strategy, the marketing plan for the tour and for me to meet another Binder nut.

The principal reason for making The Big Red Tour is to visit people I have met, initially on the Internet through Oldihc.org and that share my passion for IH. I had in fact come across Mike Schmudlach on the Oldihc forum and then in Springfield at the NATS, but had no idea of his fantastic knowledge of IH or the size of his collection.

We all drove out to his farm a few miles from Madison. In the warm afternoon sunshine he took us on a tour of his Binders. First it was tractors. I lost count of how many he had, for the most part under cover – and working. I noticed a number of trucks partly hidden in the verges around the yard and fields nearby. When I asked Mike the size of his collection he said, ‘If I knew how many Binders I have I wouldn’t be a collector.’ I stopped counting at forty trucks outside. Everywhere he had containers full of spares, workshops, trucks to be broken, trucks to be fixed; yet it was only when he took us into one of his giant barns that I realised the extent of his passion. As the lamps came on, emerging from the gloom where trucks representing more than fifty years of IH production, all in working order, regularly driven and I lusted after all of them.

Mike then took us to visit a neighbour, Tom Thayer who had a barn just as big with another magnificent collection of at least twenty Binders, for the most part in immaculate or concourse condition. Big Red’s sister was there, a red ’48 KB2. Beautifully restored and in rather better shape than my old truck.

However, Mike had an even bigger treat in store for us, including my wife Julia who joined us the following day to visit the Madison Historical Archive to look at the McCormick collection. When not doing his day job working as a contractor and looking after the farm, Mike hangs out at the Historical Society where he is a Trustee. He has a deep and forensic knowledge of IH and American history.

McCormick invented the reaper in the middle of the nineteenth century. This revolutionised agriculture. There were many imitators and innovations over the following years; the birth of IHC in 1902 and the archive documents these, giving a fascinating social history of America over more than 120 years. First IH and then Navistar, who now make International trucks, decided to give their archive to the Wisconsin Historical Society – arguably the most important archive in the US outside the Library of Congress. Navistar International provides vital funds to the archive to enable it to be properly maintained and documented. Archivist Lee Grady gave us the tour. He showed us lithograph promotional posters from the middle of the nineteenth century which are remarkable works of art in their own right and provide a unique insight into American social history of the period. McCormick and subsequently IH built factories and set up dealerships and distributors all over the world. The International Harvester Company was the first truly global brand and the IH logo a first too.

This visit excited me because I learned that IH is so much more than just being about making trucks and agricultural machinery. It was and still is a company that tells us a story about the making of the US that goes back more than 150 years. Mike’s knowledge and passion for the subject made me realise that the Big Red Tour promises many meetings with remarkable people across the country. Most Americans I meet have a passionate interest in their own local history and the part their neck of the woods plays in the bigger American story. From this journey back to the heartland of the US I realised that the tour itself is certain to take me into the lives of some extraordinary people. It is their stories I want to hear, because through them I will gain a genuine insight into what the real America is.

We have some of the pictures that we took during our stay posted here.

Big red is a ’49 KB2 pick-up.  I bought her from a friend in NC in 1999.  He had bought her 14 years previously as a Valentine gift for his wife.  In that time BR had been gathering dust in a barn in the Appalachians! Annie, never drove it!  I spent the next couple of years renovating her and in the process got to know Jim and a lot of fellow ihaholics, many with the same truck and all through the Internet.  Big Red made it into the Springfield press for the centenary of IHC and I attended NATS where I met many great folks who, until then had been just names in my emails.

Anyway, it struck me as a great project to bring Big Red back to the US and embark on a tour through the US, starting in Charleston in the spring, the port from which she was exported, and journeying west, north and then east meeting up with all those people I had gotten to know through oldihc that shared my passion for this great vehicle and the IHC brand.  I have a map in my office (photo to follow) with flags marking the places and names of lots of you already and maybe many who maybe are no longer tuning in to OldIHC.  I reckon the journey is about 10,000 miles and would take about 8 months, probably done in sections, missing the height of summer in the mid-west but making it to the NATS and finally back to Charleston by the late autumn.

Jim and I discussed the logistics and how we could build this in to an event which could attract sponsorship to cover the costs.  Coming from a media background I can see that we could build some momentum behind the trip – which for me is a journey of discovery into the true heart of America.  We are all so different yet we are part of a virtual community with a real common interest.  The pick-up is an icon of American identity.  As an outsider who has a deep affection for America and strong family ties – I have a number of relatives dotted across the land including a cousin in Carmel who will be 102 this year, I believe this journey and what it reveals about the America I find could make a compelling film, a book and a very cool web-based entity, where I can upload video, keep a blog and diary and interact with not only petrol-heads and ihaholics, but who knows who else we happen to meet on the road.

If, and it’s still a big If, I can make this happen with all your help and support, then I would imagine kicking off from Charleston early in 2011.  I need to re-connect with the folk I was originally going to see and, hopefully, find more kindred spirits across the nation to meet and get to know.

The timing is good for me now.  I am winding up my media business to give myself time to do the things I want to do in life because I don’t plan to have to do anything anymore – life is too short.  I am sixty next year and I can stop working for a while to do this.

Please feel free to email me if you are interested in me adding you to the route.  I want to meet as many ihaholics as possible.  Any thoughts about sponsorship will be greatly appreciated.  I will want to make the most of the media on this journey so talking to local press, TV and radio are all part of the strategy.

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