Museum to display a dynamic duo
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 15/10/2020 (1960 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
AUSTIN — Tom and Jerry, Han Solo and Chewbacca, Snoopy and Woodstock, Calvin and Hobbes …
Big/small duos are often popular cultural figures, and now the Manitoba Agricultural Museum has one of their own with Big Roy and Little Romeo.
Big Roy is a hulking behemoth. The eight-wheel-drive machine weighs nearly 30 tons, is 9.3 metres in length and 3.4 metres tall. Its 600-horsepower Cummins diesel engine tops out at 21.2 km/h.
Little Romeo is a tiny workhorse. The six-wheel-drive machine weighs approximately 350 kilograms, is 104 centimetres long and 91 centimetres tall. Its 12-horsepower engine tops out at eight km/h.
Both are built in Manitoba.
Big Roy is a one-of-a-kind Versatile product of 1977. Its formal name is 1977 Versatile Model 1080.
Little Romeo is a Lorette Mechanical Manufacturing product that was produced in three models from 1966 to 1971. The machine donated to the museum is the HIB Super Crawler. Other models include the 12-horsepower Kitty Track Crawler and the four-wheel-drive, 16-horsepower Kitty Cat.
It’s “just amazing” to have Little Romeo at the museum, operations manager Eugene Fortin said on Oct. 5, a couple days after receiving the tiny tractor.
Big Roy established itself as a key draw to the museum a few decades ago, when Versatile donating the machine to them. Promotional material often dons images of the giant tractor and they have T-shirts of the machine and even a collectible scale model of it for sale in the gift shop.
Fortin worked for Versatile when Big Roy, named after company president and general manager Roy Robinson, was unveiled in 1977. He remembers a general feeling of astonishment when people saw it for the first time — a reaction children often share when they see it at the museum.
“They get such a thrill,” he said with a smile.
The tiny Lorette Mechanical Manufacturing tractor, which Fortin lovingly named “Little Romeo” after its creator, Romeo Desorcy, is an oddball companion piece. Dwarfed by Big Roy, Fortin envisions pairing the two together during a parade at next year’s Manitoba Threshermen’s Reunion & Stampede.
He can’t help but chuckle at the prospect of the two tractors being seen together.
The tiny tractor is currently in a shop at the museum facing restoration at the hands of volunteers.
It’s a uniquely special find for the museum because Desorcy owned this particular machine himself.
He died a few years ago, but his daughter, Michelle Kroeker, and her husband, Gerald, hung on to the much-treasured machine.
Kroeker said her father was always proud of his creation, and that this was the only such machine he kept.
The couple recently donated the tractor to the museum as a means of preserving her father’s legacy, and Kroeker said she was tickled pink to learn Fortin had nicknamed it “Little Romeo.”
“It’s nice to know it will live on,” she said. “My dad would be very happy to know it’s somewhere … and being preserved.”
Chuckling at the prospect of Fortin pairing it with Big Roy, she said it’ll be quite the sight to see.
She said although her father was mechanically inclined throughout his life and took on various jobs over the years, his tiny tractor stuck with him throughout the decades.
A newspaper article from the time of its launch quotes him as taking pride in the machine while promoting the Lorette Mechanical Manufacturing line of tiny tractors.
“This may not seem like a lot of units, but it’s considerable if you take into consideration the fact that we build them from the ground up and also manufacture all the attachments,” the newspaper quotes him as saying.
The tiny machines were commonly used with a snowblower, tiller and blade, and were primarily used by farmers and landscapers.
The Manitoba Agricultural Museum is currently open at half-price winter rates of $5 for adults, $4 for seniors and $2.50 for those younger than 12. Some of the buildings have been closed for the season, but the main display areas remain open throughout the year.
Visits are by appointment only by calling 204-637-2354.
» tclarke@brandonsun.com
» Twitter: @TylerClarkeMB