Once upon a time, tractors and other farm implements came with a wrench that fit all the nuts and bolts on the machinery. Farmers being the clever and parsimonious people they are, they never paid for ten wrenches when just one would do the job! I used to find these things laying all over the place in Uncle Irving’s junkyard; now they are collector’s items.
Jeff Antonucci, who is fairly well known and respected in the EV world, has restored a New Idea EGT-150, which is a clone of the GE Elec-Trak E15, and has it up for sale.
Jeff describes his restoration (photo-documented at the Elec-Trak Owner’s Club Forum):
Fully disassembled, sand blasted, powder coated, all new hardware, all new contactors and relays, all motors rebuilt with new bearings and the brushes were replaced where necessary. All new Cole Hersee control switches. Transaxle rebuilt as well. New Carlisle tires. Charger upgraded to include a Landis controller in addition to the timer and a switch to choose between the two. Includes fully restored mower deck.
By incorporating lots of tried-and-true small improvements (like the Landis controller, late model electrics, heavier springs and bearings here and there, etc.) Jeff’s made the machine better than the original, and the original was actually pretty good – although only about 3000 of them were made, there are still some in service after 40 years of continuous use.
I would happily buy this machine, if I didn’t already have an original I-5!