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Bob and his wife spotted this rare Palomino Mower on Friday at the Pioneer Engineer’s Reunion.
Not bad.
“One of a kind Jeep/lawn tractor. Based on a Craftsman rider with a 21 HP. engine and runs good.
Great fun for the kids young and old. Dare to be different you will have fun at the same time.
Asking $400.00 or best Cash or trade offer. Will consider all offers.
Will not answer Emails without contact information. If interested CALL 386-615-4739”
http://daytona.craigslist.org/for/3895841243.html
UPDATE: **SOLD** Was on eBay.
I don’t know if this seller has made others or if this is a one-off custom piece.
“Built from the ground up. All steel components to include the drive train and axles. Durable 3/4″ plywood body finished with automotive paint. Honda GZ series gas engine (200cc) for great performance and efficiency. Rechargeable AGM battery for the headlights. Padded leather bench seat with automotive carpeting on interior surfaces and the under carriage finished with undercoating. ”
These aren’t easy to find. Here is more information about them.
“Pretty much complete, motor does not turn over what you see is what you get, see pictures. Pick up only will help load on open trailer”
View all the information on eBay
UPDATE: **SOLD** Was on eBay.
“Rare ROOF Palomino “mini Jeep” Lawnmower. Good overall condition and very original. Serial #1505 as per tag on hood. These were built from approx 1969 to the early 70’s and were very expensive in their day, hence not too many were sold and not too many left.
This one has been in barn storage for the past 10+ years. It was parked due to no spark; the coil is suspected too be bad, but I haven’t tested it yet. It ran and drove fine before that and was great for putting around the property and moving stuff (beer, parts, people and tools) around the property. It is 40 years old, so despite its good preserved shape, it will need a good service before getting it going.
-Original Kohler k482 motor, seats (with cushioning springs), air cleaner, rims, grille, tailgate, etc, etc..
-Very little rust ( just a little on the outside edges where the floor meets the body in the footwells),
-All mechanical pieces are intact. Rear tires are pretty dry rotted, but I have a nice set of 2 used tires that match the front that come with it. There is some kind of small patch on the right rear corner. Front bumper has had a small hitch added. Motor has good compression and oil pressure; turns right over.
-This originally had a 60″ belt driven mower deck. This one has been stripped of its PTO, engagement and lift levers, as well as the mower deck and its attachment points. NO MOWER OR PARTS for the mower. I have read that the Roof 60 mowers used many of the same parts, but can not confirm that.
– It will need a complete service before being taken out to have fun with! Should be easy to get going again!”
UPDATE: Oopos .. managed to forget the link to the cj2a page.
A reader pointed me over to the CJ-2A page where there is a video of a cool MBish mower. Not wanting to just snag the video, I thought I’d do a search and landed on the mini-beep.html page. It turns out they’ve been around since the 1960s! Head on over to the CJ-2A page to see the video.
UPDATE: **SOLD** Was no Price
The seller is interested in some trades, including a “tandem axle enclosed trailer or Toy Hauler such as a roadmaster campmaster, Work & Play or similar. I may also be interested in a Jeep Wrangler, a nice 3/4 ton pickup for towing a trailer on trips, Classic Car in driver condition, several nice items for my gun cabinet or ? Email me with photos, descriptions of your item(s) to trade and your proposal”.
And, from a previous ad:
“You are looking at a Roof Palomino riding mower. There were a few of these produced with the Jeep Body in the 60’s and 70’s by the Roof Mfg. Co. was in Pontiac, IL. This one has had a few very minor modifications from the original such as the roll bars and there has been a couple of holes cut in the sheet metal that can easily be repaired (see pictures) just finding one of these being sold is quite a task. I have decided to sell a few of the rarest garden tractors out of my collection if you know anything about these you will know this is a really good price. This would be a great golf cart or advertising item. Serious inquiries only”
UPDATE: I recently ran across an article discussing a pre-war Topeka Hiway mower built from Ford truck parts: http://www.farmcollector.com/tractors/mowing-tractor-zmbz14octzkel.aspx I haven’t looked any deeper into this information.
This is Joe’s DiMaggio’s Topeka Mower in Wisconsin (see more pics here)
One source argues that the Topeka Hiway Mowers were built by ‘Shorty’ Meinhardt, who founded Meinholt Machine and Welding in Topeka Kansas. Shorty’s grandson Dean Fechter now runs the business. According to Meinhardt’s cousin, the first mower they built rolled over and broke Shorty’s back. But, that didn’t stop them from building more tractors.
Yet, according to at least one data plate, the Topeka Hiway mower was produced out of Irwindale, California, a product of the American Hoist & Derrick Company. Can anyone clear up the discrepancy between producers of the mower?
According to Marty Henson in 2009 there were three versions of the mower:
I have kept records of all of the people I know who have these mowers and information about the style, age and attachments. So far I have found three distinct styles. The oldest style appears to date to the late 1930s and uses Ford-style sheet metal and running gear. Examples are owned by collectors near Seattle, Wash., and Hartsville, Tenn.
The second style closely follows a CJ Willys/Jeep and uses a Continental 4-cylinder flathead engine, 3- or 4-speed transmission, and Dana 18 transfer case. The mower attachments on these were either a sickle bar or rotary. I think later mowers of this style included a windshield. I have found two examples of the later style Topeka Hi Way mower. One was recently sold by the Montana Highway Dept., and the other is in Lyons, Colo.
Most, if not all, of the mowers were painted yellow. To date, I have recorded the names and addresses of 11 owners in eight states. Just today I added two more contacts. By including my previous letter in your magazine, you have generated many of my contacts. I’d like to receive information from your readers about anyone who has one of these mowers or knows where one might be found. Thank you for producing such a wonderful magazine and assisting me in researching the Topeka Hi Way mower.
Here are some examples of the jeep version of the Topeka Mower:
This was for sale in December of 2014:
This one was for sale on eBay in Ohio in 2009 (see more pics here):
This one was for sale in Baker City, Oregon, in 2010 for $400.
Here’s an orange one:
From the CJ-3B Page. There’s a second pic here with the windshield up.
Here’s a fancy one from the Antique Tractors Page
UPDATE: **SOLD** Was on eBay.
“RARE WILLYS TOPEKA MODEL. ASSEMBLED IN TOPEKA KANSAS. ALL HYDRAULIC WITH POWER STEERING. HAS A CONTINENTAL FOUR CYLINDER INDUSTRIAL ENGINE WITH ABOUT 1100 HUNDRED HOURS. FOUR WHEEL DRIVE, TWO WHEEL DRIVE, HIGH LOW RANGE, FOUR WHEEL IN AND OUT AND HAND THROTTLE FOR THE REAR HYDROLICS SUCH AS LOG SPLITTER, DISC ETC. FOUR WAY PLOW, HEATER, WITH DEFROST AND REMOVEABLE CAB. GREAT FOR THE SUMMER ALSO. A SICKLE BAR OR ROTARY MOWER CAN BE ADDED ON THE RIGHT SIDE. HAS REAR HYDRAULIC REMOTES FOR ATTACHMENTS. TITLE NOT NEEDED AS ITS CONSIDERED AS A MOWER OR YOU COULD GET ONE AS IT HAS ALL THE STREET LEGAL ITEMS. NEW TIRES AND RUNS AND DRIVES GREAT.”
View more pics
UPDATE: **SOLD** Was $3900
Blaine writes, “I think he said it was production built in 1976 in Illinois”
UPDATE: **SOLD** Was $3500.
Empire Tractors were built from parts that are also used by Willys, such as the transfercase (spicer 18), transmission (t-90), differential (spicer 25) and more. You can learn more about the specs for these tractors here. Note that the seller claims these were built out of surplus WWII jeeps, however the t-90 was a CJ-2A tranny, so it seems more likely to me that they shared parts with the CJ-2A rather than built from the MB.
“HERE WE HAVE A RARE 1947 EMPIRE TRACTOR. MODEL 88-90 MADE IN 11-47 SERAIL NUMBER 6352 IT WAS RESTORED ABOUT 10 YEARS AGO AND HAS BEEN KEPT INSIDE ALL IT’S LIFE. THIS HAS WILLYS JEEP ENGINE AND TRANS,AND ALOT OF OTHER JEEP PARTS IN IT,THAT ARE ORGINAL TO THE TRACTOR. THESE TRACTORS WERE BUILT AFTER WWII OUT OF SURPLUS ARMY JEEPS. THE PAINT SHOWS SOME WEAR . THE TIRES ON BACK ARE ORGINAL AND FRONTS HAVE BEEN REPALCED. COMES WITH ORGINAL LIGHTS AND GENERATOR IN A BOX. IT HAS HAD ONLY 3 OWNERS AND RUNS AND DRIVES LIKE IT SHOULD, READY TO USE OR SHOW. THIS COMES WITH A BELLY SICKLE MOWER,THAT HAS NOT BEEN USED IN 20 YEARS. 3500 FIRM. MY NUMBER IS 660-267-3282 THANKS FOR LOOKING”