Lane Ranger 11,439 #1 Posted Friday at 05:02 PM (edited) This receipt for a Wheel Horse purchase in 1960 was posted on Red Square several days ago! i was up in Lake County. Indiana at my mom and brother’s and stopped by Terpstras. This was the Wheel Horse ( now Toro and other outdoor equipment) dealer we used when i was a kid. The Terpstra’s place was only about a mile from our house and it was a feed , seed and farm store before they accepted their first Wheel Horse but they were an early dealer! If you search Tersptras in the Red Square search box more old posts will come up! Anyway Tuesday i stopped i to the store and showed Don Terpstra , the son of William Terpstra, the original owner, the 1960 receipt photo. I emailed it to Don and he was pleased to see it! Don showed me a photo of his dad William on a wagon with a four horse team ( 4 Wheel Horses linked together) . He told me Wheel Horse in the early days loaned this four horse rig to dealers to promote Wheel Horse sales! I have seen several over the years and i always thought they were homemade rigs set up for parades. But Don indicated at least one set was made by Wheel Horse and this was probably before they had their factory building on Ireland Road in ghe south side of South Bend . The RJ picture is the one they still have displayed in the store ( the original feed and seed part of the building). It was sold by Tersptras in 1959 and traded back in later. The Terpstra family restored it in the early 1990s and Don said they just used what extra decals they had at the time! Edited Sunday at 11:19 AM by Lane Ranger 8 7 3 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
parsonsponyz 221 #2 Posted Friday at 05:17 PM I love hearing history like this. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ed Kennell 42,141 #3 Posted Friday at 05:39 PM Great piece of history Lane. Thanks for sharing. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
T-Mo-(Moderator) 4,613 #4 Posted Saturday at 10:13 AM Is this dealer included in our "Dealer's List", which is the second topic in this section? https://www.wheelhorseforum.com/topic/64506-dealer-list/ 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Retired Wrencher 5,836 #5 Posted Saturday at 10:42 AM Lane that’s some great family history there. Glad to see that they’re still in business. Do they still fix and repair? Thanks for sharing. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ed Kennell 42,141 #6 Posted Saturday at 10:48 AM $411 for a tractor and $300 for the sow plow just doesn't seem right. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rjg854 12,243 #7 Posted Saturday at 01:04 PM 2 hours ago, Ed Kennell said: $411 for a tractor and $300 for the sow plow just doesn't seem right. Looks like he put $300 as a down payment, and had a balance of $111.50, with subsequent payments after that. That's the way I read the receipt, anyways. 4 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
squonk 43,939 #8 Posted Saturday at 03:12 PM looks like next to the $300 he wrote "cash" (And I had to stay after school in 1st grade for sloppy writing so I can read stuff like that. Helped out in college when a Prof. writing was worse than mine!) 2 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Racinbob 11,989 #9 Posted Saturday at 03:56 PM Yea, the 300.00 was a cash down payment. $411.50 for the tractor and snowblade. I think the mower deck was standard equipment at the time which it was not line itemed. 1 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kpinnc 14,705 #10 Posted Saturday at 05:55 PM 1 hour ago, Racinbob said: $411.50 for the tractor and snowblade. Approximately $3700.00 in today's value. That is/was an investment! Great story. Imagine buying a piece of equipment today that could potentially last 60 years. No really, you have to think really hard... Yeah, I can't think of one either. That tractor and dealership could be a great article in a tractor magazine. Wrong decals or not, it looks awesome! 1 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ed Kennell 42,141 #11 Posted Saturday at 06:08 PM I passed the Petersons Penmanship course in grade school and was good in math, but wasn't so good reading if the book wasn't about fishing, hunting, or baseball reading, writing, rithmatic....2 fer 3 ain't too bad 2 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Racinbob 11,989 #12 Posted Saturday at 07:51 PM (edited) 2 hours ago, kpinnc said: Approximately $3700.00 in today's value. That is/was an investment! Great story. Imagine buying a piece of equipment today that could potentially last 60 years. No really, you have to think really hard... Yeah, I can't think of one either. That tractor and dealership could be a great article in a tractor magazine. Wrong decals or not, it looks awesome! Here's the tractor that came with the receipt. Griffith is only about an hour away. I'll bet he'd get a kick seeing the actual receipt. Pics of the tractor too. Edited Saturday at 07:56 PM by Racinbob 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lane Ranger 11,439 #13 Posted Saturday at 08:01 PM 9 hours ago, T-Mo said: Is this dealer included in our "Dealer's List", which is the second topic in this section? https://www.wheelhorseforum.com/topic/64506-dealer-list/ I think do ! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lane Ranger 11,439 #14 Posted Saturday at 08:05 PM Next time i am in Terpstras i will get s picture of the picture on their wall with the four horse tractor team that Wheel Horse lent dealers ! 1 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
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