Old timers: Drysdale’s Wilf Bufton with part of his collection of vintage machinery. Picture: Tommy Ritchie 56099
Andrew Mathieson
A VINTAGE Wilf Bufton answers the door barely uttering a word and reaches for his trusty sunhat on the patio before shuffling into his Drysdale backyard like a well-oiled machine.
There a treasure trove of timeless tractors, engines, even a self-described “funny machine” greets the eye at first glance.
But missing is one of the magnificent old contraptions that can only be matched by Wilf’s 87 years of life chugging along the same earth.
The 1923 International Titan tractor once took pride of place in his yard, which resembles a display from any of Wilf’s 40 previous Geelong Show appearances.
“I haven’t got it out any more,” Wilf mumbles, “I sold it to one of the other fellas at the show.”
Wilf’s head slumps a little and he sighs.
“It’ll find a good home,” he adds.
The favourite tractor may be gone but its memories are still fresh in Wilf’s ageing mind.
The first piece of his machinery jigsaw roused Wilf’s interest in collecting vintage machines back in 1968.
When he exhibited the classic Titan during that same year’s show, it created a bigger stir than the latest International Harvester models.
Bought from a scrap dealer in Warrnambool for next to a song, the tractor was missing a water tank and a carburettor.
“It had a two-cylinder and a chain through to the back wheel – that’s what you call old-style,” Wilf insists.
“Then there’s the drum – I put a 44-gallon drum in there where originally there was the tank.”
Almost like a museum curator, Wilf keeps his collection in tip-top shape while logging his hours worked on the vintage beasts.
He discovers that his 1925 McCormick-Deering tractor – now the oldest in his possession – took him 128 hours to restore to glory.
“My father had a couple of those, way back in the 1930s when I was a small boy,” Wilf recalls, “so I remember what they were like.”
He tracks down a list of the collection he has restored over four decades – seven tractors, 11 engines, two grain-crushers, one strawpress and as many as 23 water pumps.
“A pump pumping water all around attracts the attention at the show,” he nods.
Then there is the “funny machine”. The mention of its name brings out a sly chuckle of laughter from Wilf.
Even the machine’s accompanying sign saying ‘Designed by Professor Hex Nuts, built by Standard Steel Bolt’ never fails to amuse him.
“People ask what the funny machine does,” he says, “I tell them it doesn’t do anything but fascinate you.”
The fascination in Wilf’s boys’ toys peaked with open days at his own home for visiting groups.
Every tool or spare part is diligently laid out in a garage with no room for a car.
Leftover scraps are conspicuous next to a piece of the kitchen.
“Yeah, I have everything including the kitchen sink,” Wilf says, pointing to it standing smack in the middle of the yard.
“That’s for washing parts.”
Before the frivolity, a young Wilf’s first job was maintenance work on aeroplanes in the air force between 1941 and 1945.
“I liked working in the hangars, pushing a plane in a hangar and taking it to pieces bit by bit,” he says.
“But playing around with the tractors was more fun.”
Growing up in Bannockburn, Wilf later farmed sheep and crops like oats, barley and sometimes wheat in Balliang.
There he shared parcels of a 518-hectare farms with his brothers for 46 years until retirement.
But to many people closer to Geelong, the retired farmer is full of hot air and plenty of steam.
“Maybe you could say my life’s about pop and bang at times,” Wilf smiles.
