Color this calendar ‘Red’

Local farmer, IH tractors featured in publications nationally

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Farmers in the area might consider Vernon Smith the latest “Calendar Boy.”

Now featured for the third time on Farmall calendars produced by Octane Press in photographs taken by famous farm photographer Lee Klancher, Smith and his preserved tractors have had their picture taken hundreds of times in getting featured not only in calendars but books and magazines featuring Klancher photography. His latest photo appears as part of the 2021 Farmall Calendar that is marketed worldwide.

Smith, who farms about 600 acres just a couple miles north of West Liberty, said his 1984 Super 70 Series International Harvester tractors are rare breeds, owning the first one produced along with number 13 of the few number of 7488 model four-wheel drive tractors made that year before Farmall sold out to Tenneco, marketing a new Magnum model in years to follow.

Klancher latched on to Smith several years ago and came to West Liberty to do a photo shoot in the fall of 2017 – a session he is still taking photos from for publication use. He said at least 15 photos from that shoot have been published. Klancher said he selected Smith because of his rare tractors, noting it’s “very important,” especially to Case IH fans, that someone is documenting the machines.

Klancher recalled that it was a “beautiful evening” the day he shot Smith with his tractors, noting he likely shot between 600-1,500 photos that day, looking for the right light, noting timing was everything as the sun set that day. “The sunset was coming from behind us, so it was difficult to get it right,” he said.

Klancher said the cooperation he had from Smith and his wife, Evelyn, made the shoot easy, calling Smith a “great guy” who is very active in his classic Farmall tractor club.

Smith definitely is a “red” farmer, following his grandpa Delbert and father Alfred’s footsteps, not only boasting the fact he has the two rare 1984 models, but also owns many other antique models he tinkers with, many getting to special shows including the Red Power Round-Up that was part of the Iowa State Fair in 2017.

A proud member of the Iowa Chapter IH Collector’s Club as a third generation IH farmer, Smith says some of his tractors will also be featured in a special show at the Clinton County Fairgrounds in 2024 and says he puts his machines on display every year as well as at the Muscatine County Fair in West Liberty.

He said he bought the 7488 models about 12-15 years ago when needing a larger tractor in farming his fields, as well as something more reliable. He continues to use the machines today, noting there are advantages to having tractors that don’t have all the high tech gadgets, pointing out he’s able to do a lot of his own repairs, including overhauling an engine. He said it’s getting to be tougher and tougher to find parts for the tractors in today’s world, but he’s been fortunate enough to keep them running on the farm.

He said Klancher seems to seek him out when he’s at shows, including the Farm Progress Show in Boone, the Central Iowa Expo, where the photographer also took pictures. He said Klancher’s visit to his farm was pretty special.

One of Smith’s proudest moments was getting featured on the front cover of the 2018 Farmall calendar but is also delighted with the Farmall book, “Red Four Wheel Drive Tractors,” which came out in 2017, where Smith and his machines are featured on the inside front cover driving the tractor in the direction of the photographer and on the inside back cover driving away from the photographer.

The tractors are described as a higher horsepower evolution of the 2 + 2 tractors introduced in the late 1970's, bringing row-crop performance to a larger four-whee-drive platform. Roughly 6 of the 7288 and 7488 tractors were built shortly before the IH agriculture division was purchased by Tenneco and merged with J.I. Case. Case had recently built an all new four-wheel-drive tractor described as "solid performers without game-changing technology," and the new leadership at Case IH decided the Super 70 series would be discontinued. Because the models were sold off quickly, it limited availability.

Klancher, a Rice Lake, Wisconsin native is a writer and photographer specializing in testosterone-fueled topics. His writing and photography has appeared in more than 20 books, a dozen large-format calendars, and hundreds of feature magazine articles. Favorite subjects include dream garages, motorcycle racers, old farm tractors, and breweries. Assignments have taken him piranha fishing in the Bolivian Amazon, soaking up truck driver wisdom in Alaskan dive bars, and climbing Slovenia's Mount Triglav.

His work can be seen in his books and calendars, on social media (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram). You can also read Lee's work on the Fuel blog on the Octane Press website. He created Octane Press in 2006 to help market his books and calendars, which are available in most bookstores nationwide as well as many Case IH dealers.

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