Centaur Tractor Engine

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Centaur Tractor Corp

c. 1930

Overview

This is the engine from an unknown model of Centaur tractor that was restored by Museum volunteer John Harbeck.

Historical information

The Central Ohio Tractor Co. was founded in Greenwich, Ohio, in 1919 and by 1921 it was selling the first Centaur tractors. Early models were geared for smaller operations and had a sulky-type design so the farmer could attach tools as well as providing some distance from the engine noise and fumes. The Central Ohio Tractor Co. became the Centaur Tractor Corp. in 1928 and it continued producing tractors using the sales slogan, “Not better than other tractors, but as a replacement for the horse.” The company survived the depression but ceased making tractors during WWII, when it produced tank parts, after which it faced financial hardship and was taken over by Le Roi who had produced the engines for all the Centaur tractors.

Details

Registration number

cwa-org-124-2023.61

Item type

Material

Themes

Contextual Information

John Harbeck fondly remembered the day in 1943 when he went to Nannup with his father, Carter Harbeck, to pick up the second-hand tractor. “When Dad started that tractor, my brother Ron took off down the hill and straight home, it frightened him that much!” Until 1945 this tractor was used at Acton Park for cutting hay and general use around the Cuthbert farm which the Harbeck’s were working. After which the tractor was dismantled and the engine put to use driving a docking saw for the Harbeck Brothers timber mill across the road from the farm. After the timber mill closed John Harbeck rescued the engine and used it himself until his father, Carter Harbeck, donated it to the Busselton Museum. Only the wheels and engine survive of the original tractor but these are the parts that were used when it was mounted in the mill. John Harbeck then spent more than six months lovingly restoring the engine into working condition.

Keywords

Busselton

Tractor

Farm Machinery

Place made

Greenwich
Ohio
United States

Year

c. 1930

Comparative significance criteria

Well provenanced

Related Objects

Parent records