At this year’s 2012 Historic Days Show at Penfield, Ill., Paul Hunsinger of Mahomet worked harvesting wheat in the show fields with a special 1956 John Deere Model 45 combine. “I bought this a little over a year ago,” Paul said.

The desire to own this combine was sentimental: “My great-grandfather had one and I have a picture of my great-grandfather, John Cornelius Buhs, and Grandpa, Lawrence John Buhs, working on it.”

The combine ended up being a holiday present Paul purchased for himself. “I bought this combine right after Christmas and I put my Christmas money towards buying it. When people would ask if I got anything good for Christmas I would say, ‘Yeah, I got a great present; I got a combine.’”

He laughed and added, “I got many strange surprised looks, since this wasn’t the typical Christmas gift, a non-running old combine.”

Today, that family picture could be recreated. Although the combine is not the exact one owned by his family, it is very similar. Paul said he found it on an antique tractor website, looked it over and then bought it.

“When I got it home, then I rebuilt the engine,” he explained. “I took the stalk walkers out and put in new bearings. I took it apart inside and out. My friends, Earl Seamands and Les Baumann, were the experts who helped me find parts and had the knowledge to help me get the combine back in running order.”

One of the items Paul said makes the Model 45 unique is the Hart Scour-Kleen unit. “This is a seed cleaner on the top that cleans the grain before it goes into a clean grain tank,” he pointed out.

Research shows this unit seems to have been primarily used on Allis-Chalmer combines and that it was inserted into the grain flow between the clean grain elevator and the bin or bagger.

Like his great-grandfather and grandfather, Paul also farms. “My great-grandfather’s farm was near Penfield, but our farm is in Mahomet, which is about 20 minutes west of Champaign.”

After the Model 45 combine was restored it was completed just in time to take to the Historic Days show in 2011. “We got it running again in time for the Penfield show last year. We went to my neighbor’s and tried it out on their wheat field the night before,” Paul said.

More than 50 years have passed since the Model 45 rolled off the assembly line, and now it is running and harvesting again. John Deere’s first combine harvesters were developed around 1927 but it wasn’t until the 1950s that it developed the self-propelled combine and the corn head attachment.

It is a treat for antique tractor collectors to watch combines like the Model 45 work in a field, and for those who once used these sturdy machines to see them in action again. This durable combine was produced by Deere up until the 1970s.

Paul also collects antique tractors. The family has a few that also belonged to his great-grandfather. They include an International Harvester H, a JD 4020, Massey Harris Pony, a JD GP and a JD 70.

What makes this show so special to Paul is, “there are a lot of great people at the Penfield show. Like this year, I met a guy with a combine like mine at the show.” The two planned to swap information and help each other keep their antique treasures rolling.

Penfield is the only show to which Paul takes his Model 45. Besides there, he said this combine works on the farm at home. “I planted 38-inch corn rows at our farm and will harvest with the 45. Last year we cut beans with it.”

Besides farming, Paul also works at the Arends Hogan Walker JD Dealership, with precision farming GPS equipment. You might say he has his feet planted firmly in Deere’s past – and its future.

Readers with questions or comments for Cindy Ladage may write to her in care of this publication.