John,
When it comes to family tractors for me I guess the closest thing I can claim as a family tractor is a Massey-Harris GP. I kinda gave this one a nick name, " The Miracle Tractor", as it is truely a Miracle that I lived long enough to actually hear it and see it run. Back in 1968 my dad was trolling the dealer lots and came across a Massey-Harris GP SN 302742-76 in Holman, Wisconsin. I don't know why but the tractor had a brand new set of tires on it and the engine was locked up really bad. So bad that two of the cylinder walls were broken with a hole you could stick your fingers through. When dad took it apart he also noticed the clutch drive coupler ring was very badly broken into pieces. All the engine parts were moved to the old barn at home as there was a small work area in there. The rest of the tractor sat in the other shed waiting to be reunited with its engine again someday. As a young boy I must have put well over 4,000 miles on this tractor and it never left the shed and the engine was in the old barn in pieces.
My dad worked as a machinist at Di Acro in Lake City, MN and would always take little projects to work with him like this broken clutch drive coupling. He had the broken drive coupling in the house in his office and for some reason had never gotten around to taking it to work with him. In December of 1976 three days after Christmas our three story house burnt to the ground. We spent the next six months sifting through all the rubble and ashes by hand to salvage and find whatever we could. At the time dad said we have to find all the pieces to the clutch drive coupler as this was the only pattern if there was ever going to be one made. We found all the pieces, we did such a good job sifting through the burnt mess, we even found mom's wedding ring she had sitting on her dresser the night of the fire.
The GP engine parts were in the old barn since 1968 and over the years the barn slowly rotted down and collapsed into a pile of mulch. For many years I tried to buy the tractor from dad with no avail. For some unknown reason in June of 2002 just days before my 36th B-day he thought I should have this tractor. I spent several days digging through all the rotton boards and years of leaves and rubbish and found every single part except for the air cleaner stack that I don't think was ever on the tractor as there was none to be found. I took the engine block to a friend in town and he bored it out and pressed all new dry sleeves in the block. With a new set of valves and some work the engine was all back together. Now just needed a clutch drive coupler. Thanks to Rodger Brough of Aspers, PA I was good to go as he had the final piece to the puzzle.
Over the years two of the four tires went bad, I put on what I had at the time for tires but it now could use a new set all the way around as they are now in very poor shape. New tires are on the list for this summer, I guess it's time it's been 57 years since the last new set. The tractor now runs like a charm, a true "Miracle"!
Joe