Give Adam Humbarger the right paint, a place to work and a couple of weeks, and he can perform tractor magic. The Allis-Chalmers WD-45 that he restored in just two weeks this summer is proof that he can take a tired tractor and make it look new again.

Doug Walker, vo-ag teacher and FFA advisor at Delphi High School, says Humbarger learned the fine points about preparing tractors for painting in ag classes over the past couple of years. In the past seven years, Delphi ag students have restored 25 tractors. Some required both mechanical work and body work. Every one of them required repainting.

LIKE NEW AGAIN: This WD-45 was just a solid, older tractor in need of restoring two weeks before this picture was taken.

Humbarger restored his family’s Oliver 88 during the school year. This summer, Doug Walker’s dad, Bill, a retired local farmer, challenged Humbarger to get his Allis-Chalmers WD-45 in restored condition for the local county fair. That only gave him a two-week window to work.

It wasn’t excellent facilities that helped him meet the deadline. “I actually painted this one inside an old hog barn,” Humbarger says. The paint booth at the Delphi ag shop was already occupied by another tractor that was torn down and ready for repainting.

The tractor Humbarger repainted is a 1953 model. Bill Walker likes to work with the students, and has assisted them in finishing up some of the tractors they have restored as class projects. One of his specialties is making sure an older tractor is rewired properly, and that all electrical systems are in operating order before the tractor leaves the shop. His son, Doug, says it’s a good learning experience for the students to be able to work with someone like Bill who understands electrical wiring systems on older tractors.