Elec-Trak E10M

[hitchinsm]

Hi, whilst out looking at the flooding I went to a farm to ask permission to cross the farmers land and there sat in the barn was one of these and a few other interesting bits of kit. I will go back next week and get some pictures.

[alan]

I’m back to try and detail some of the info about the Elec-Trak.

Thanks Mike for the post regarding the possibility that there might be other Elec-Trak tractors lurking in buildings in the country. As with anything there are probably more than we are aware of.

I have done some more research regarding the tractors in the UK. Having searched through Google Books online there’s a photo of one in Liverpool at an exhibition/trade stand. But I cannot view the picture via Google books. Sad as it may seem I would like to have a copy of the picture. It is in a copy of The Horticultural Trade journal (Gardeners Chronicle), 1976, Volume 180, Page 14 although I don’t know which issue. Does anyone have a copy of this?!

I can get a copy from the British Library but since I don’t know which issue it is in (there are 25 issues) I’m a bit stumped.

Alan

[alan]

Not that this is very interesting but I thought I’d add this photo to the Elec-Trak thread. I always guessed that my Elec-Trak hadn’t done a lot of work and had noticed that the tyres were in remarkably good condition for 40 odd years old, on closer inspection they are the original tyres stamped with the Elec-Trak branding.

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[charlie]

Would it have been normal for a manufacturer to get tyres specially branded? It will make replacing them very difficult in the future, lets hope they last another 40 years.

[alan]

Hi Charlie

I think this branding of tyres and items is perhaps just an American thing as I’ve seen it on many of our tractors and the Elec-trak has manufacturers name, location and State stamped on nearly every individual component. The Cub Cadet is probably the most interesting as every bolt head is stamped with ‘IH’ for International Harvester!

[alan]

I always thought it slightly odd that my Elec-Trak doesn’t actually say ‘General Electric’ on it anywhere like all the others around the world.

So today curiosity got the better of me and I decided to investigate the steering wheel which had a basic silver sticker in the middle. And to my surprise under the sticker is a red and silver General Electric logo which I photographed, below.

Also the ID plate (see photo) has been cut in two removing the General Electric logo and info. The GE logo has been removed from the front grille and replaced with a dealer sticker, and the ‘General Electric’ words and logo on the fender sides have been substituted with just ‘Elec-Trak’.

I guess that the reason is that Mountfield sold the Elec-Trak as one of their own products, it is always described in UK marketing as the ‘Mountfield Elec-Trak’ and not ‘General Electric Elec-Trak’. So all GE details have been removed from the tractors.

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[charlie]

Odd how IH went to the trouble of marking everything, which must have added some small cost. The hidden identity of the Elec Trak poses an interesting dilema I guess, do you restore it with the GE logo showing or hidden?

[alan]

It would appear that it was Mountfield that did some tinkering with the tractors after they got them and stuck the additional stickers on including two (see photo) that say ‘G D Mountfield LTD, Reform Road, Maidenhead, Berkshire’.

So far an inventory of the tractor shows that nothing is missing and all the components are intact and I can probably clean and reuse everything which makes it a bit easier and it keeps it all original. I think I’ll restore the tractor to the specification that it was delivered to the customer as that is how it originally was.

The steel work is in good condition and the quality of the components and steel are far better than nearly every tractor I have. Even the many Wheel Horse tractors I have owned looked positively second-rate and low quality compared to the Elec-Trak.

I’m now going to have to sort out all the electrics before I can do anything with the machine – this may be a very long process!

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[charlie]

Alan, it probably won’t be as long as my SIMAR M11 restoration which is approaching the 9 year mark!

[alan]

Update:

Having met VHGMC members at Newby Hall last weekend and been asked how the Elec-Trak is doing (or not doing as the case is), here is an update.

So far the restoration has been a bit slow, don’t think it’ll beat your nine years though Charlie but it might get close at this rate!

As there are no surviving paint records from the GE factory and USA Elec-Trak machine paint colour varies slightly, I have had the paint colour matched and I am awaiting the paint arriving, unfortunately there’s nothing to apply it to yet. But there’s nothing like being prepared is there?

I have however painted the wheel hubs in the white enamel and put the tyres on, steering wheel is polished too.

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[hillsider]

http://www.myelec-traks.com/index.html

Have you found the info featured on this site?

[alan]

Thanks Ray.

I have indeed been looking through the myelec-traks website and been in touch several times with the owner. It’s a fantastic website of info isn’t it? Sadly I’ve spent far too many hours reading it all! It’s got information from the factory including all the service bulletins, recalls, brochures, adverts etc. If only all machines had such a comprehensive library of information like this it’d be so much easier!

There is also nearly all the weekly newsletters sent out to staff, so there is almost a weekly update of how the factory ran in it’s short 4 years or so.

Having looked through the recall notices it appears that two repairs/modifications to my tractor have been done as recalls – and more importantly it says why they were done, they weren’t just random repairs. Good to know!

[hillsider]

I did wonder if you had found the site, it must be about the most complete collection of information that you could find re your mower.
It would seem that there is a following for these machines over the pond I also found a couple of sites offering spares but then I guess you will have a had trawl around also.
Good to see that it is still a work in progress project.
Ray.

[charlie]

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