A Ray of Sunshine at the Steam & Vintage Show
On the 2nd and 3rd May 2009, The Steam and Vintage Show in Monmouth had a very cheerful addition to its exhibitors this year. A bright yellow Ferguson T20 called Daffodil rolled into the showground and new visitors to the show were more than intrigued by its colour.
On the 2nd and 3rd May 2009, The Steam and Vintage Show in Monmouth had a very cheerful addition to its exhibitors this year. A bright yellow Ferguson T20 called Daffodil rolled into the showground and new visitors to the show were more than intrigued by its colour.
Daffodil is the brainchild of John and Lynne Collingborn and Wyndham and Shirley Mullins (the driving forces behind the 2006 British Tractor Challenge). They decided that they wanted to rebuild the tractor just for fun at various tractor shows but did not want to compete with any other tractor rebuilds. But you may be asking why the tractor is painted yellow? Well, some of the rebuild teams are of a distinguished age and by their own admission, their eyesight is failing; therefore bright yellow seemed to be a perfect colour to be able to find the parts when they have fallen on the grass!
The Collingborns and the Wyndhams who have named themselves ‘The Old Wrinklies', separate the tractor up into 48 parts and sub-assemblies (not including nuts and bolts) and challenge teams of four to rebuild the tractor and start it up in the fastest time possible. The rebuilds, which are supported by Vapormatic, have seen some impressive times and last year, the fastest time to rebuild Daffodil was 19 minutes 3 seconds by Claire and Co. However, five teams which included four teams from the Gwent Army Cadet Force and one team from Crucorney Young Farmers, attempted to beat this time at the Steam and Vintage show. All of the teams made a brilliant effort to beat the 19 minutes 3 seconds, but sadly the fastest time was 21 minutes and 28 seconds by the Crucorney Young Farmers, which is still a fantastic achievement.
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Proud Rebuild Winners - The Crucorney Young Farmers
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Daffodil will be visiting the following shows from now until September, so be sure to come along and support the rebuild teams.
16th & 17th May: Small Holders Show - Royal Welsh Showground
28th June: East Wales & Borders Show (Pandy Show)
11th July: Neath Carnival
8th August: Llanedi Agricultural Show
29th/30th/31st August: Ollwyn Teifi Show - Llandysil
12th September: Usk Show - Monmouth