I have a 1000 that I grew up on in Illinois. I used to work for a neighbor maintaining their 2 acre lot at their home. They had a son that died in a car accident and they had no other children. They treated me and my brother like family. They had a 122 and a 1000 that were both bought new. The 122 had a front blade and the 1000 had a 44" mower deck. We would mow with the 1000 and pull a Parker sweeper with the 122. We started there when we were in junior high and worked summers through high school. Weekends in college were spent there too. I spent my formative years on those tractors in the 1980s. The 122 was also used to clear the driveway which we thought was fun.
I was on the 122 once and it stopped running. The starter turned over fast and I knew it was bad. We towed it back with the 1000. It turns out that the rod shattered. They were going to scrap it but I talked them into letting me rebuild the engine. It was the first one I did by myself. Unfortunately one spring years later when I was in college the 122 wouldn't start and they sold it for a song. I wish I could find it today. They bought a crappy MTD riding mower because the deck on the 1000 was showing it's age.
They gave me the 1000 around the year 2000. My job took me to California in 1998 and I visited less and less often. I bought my first house and later got married. I didn't go back as much as I should have because my parents had given the 1000 to my youngest brother who is a threat to all machines he comes in contact with.
In 2013 we moved to a place on 2 acres just outside of Santa Cruz, CA. I had some things shipped out from Illinois and was underweight. The 1000 and 44" mower deck came to their new west coast home - they rode out here for free. I found a 1450 basket case that came with a box scraper and #2 tiller. When the 1000 came to me it wasn't running and had quite a bit of damage from abuse and neglect. A couple of weekends in the garage and some UPS deliveries got it running again. The clutch needs work and it blows more smoke than I remember but it's running. The seat isn't original. About 1988 a neighbor found a seat to replace the torn up original. He welded it to the brackets. I'll probably never replace it because it reminds me of Mr. Novak who put it on there. He was a retired boilermaker and could fix anything. He drove me crazy and I thought he hated me because he criticized me while I worked but when I went to college he gave me an envelope with some spending money in it. Later I carried his coffin at his funeral. He really influenced me as a young man and I think of him often, especially when I sit on that seat.
I got a rear hitch for the 1000 and use the scraper with it. The mower deck keeps the weeds down. Neighbors comment on my machines and enjoy seeing me use them. I don't think anyone knows the history behind my 1000 - really until now. When I work on it or use it I always think of Bob and Sherry Loncar. Bob died in 2012 and Sherry is in her last days. When I get on the 1000 I'm 16 again and I think of them as if it were yesterday.
Thanks for reading this.
Bob
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