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A proud American’s interest in Heavy Equipment

by Nick Drew  |  Tue 25 Feb 2020

A proud American’s interest in Heavy Equipment

My fascination with old equipment began long before I can remember. I've always been enamoured by the ways of those before us. An unsaid respect for the way things used to be. It wasn't always as easy as is it today, men had to work very hard in unfavourable conditions day in and day out. They did so with steadfast willingness to build the infrastructure we utilize today.

I've been in construction since I was a wee Lad, I started working with my Dad and Uncle while I was still a child. I went on to another contractor at 14 whenever I wasn't in school. As a youngster coming up through, all I'd ever hear from the old timers was that they had it so much harder than kids today. A lot of it was tall tales as they'd never ran anything but hydraulic machines.

I was always in earthmoving books of some sort. I'd found quite a few and most were of historical nature. As I aged and I had more of a disposable income, I'd bought my first antique machine at 25. I wanted to see if I had what it took to be a "Real Operator" as those before me.

They all gave me grief for being a young up and coming Operator. They also said that us kids of today couldn't run the machines of yesterday. My first machine was a 1961 Bantam T-350 I purchased from a previous employer whom our youngest Son was named after.

I got it running with the help of some older friends along with my neighbour Joe Scudder and drove it home. The machine was actually bought brand new by Rollin of R.L. Callahan Inc. He hired Les Scudder of Beaver Dams, NY, whom was a WW2 pilot and Joe's father, to drive a 1951 REO Korean war surplus tandem axle truck roughly 900 miles across country to have the brand new 1961 Bantam T-350 fitted to the truck.

Outriggers were fitted to the frame and the cab was cut in half to facilitate the boom. After the 2-week process, it was brought home to New York where its seen service for over 50 years.

Attachments were hard to find at the time I purchased the machine. It only had 25' of boom, a clam shell bucket and a grapple. I was able to locate an excavator boom for it via want ads on the internet. At the time, social media wasn't as prevalent so the old equipment groups were all but non-existent.

I installed the excavator attachment and taught myself how to run it. Luckily, I was a fairly capable excavator operator to begin with, I also had the manuals that explained how to utilize the hoe. The learning curve was quite short, surprisingly. I was off to the races, I dug with it as often as I could and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I started filming myself to see where improvements were needed. I fine-tuned my cycles until they were as perfect as I could make them. I would venture to old equipment expositions when I wasn't busy with work.

Above: One of Garret's early videos which he used to produce to check on his driving style.

In 2014 I found a nice Bantam C-350 being used at a show. I talked to the gentleman for a bit, explained I had the truck mounted version of his machine and I'd like to run his. He was sceptical of letting a complete stranger run his machine but when I could list all the lever functions without hesitation, It instilled confidence in him of my abilities.

After a few minutes he could see that I had a notion of what I was doing. One thing led to another and in the following year or so, he got hold of me on my birthday wanting to know if I would be interested in buying his machine. I quickly said yes and we made a deal. He eventually delivered it to my location and I tinkered with it to get some functions adjusted properly. These old machines get funky after sitting for a while. Once I got everything squared away, I went through the process of painting it. There wasn't much work required out of the ordinary. I hired a sign painter to recreate the signage from my neighbour’s father's construction company to pay homage to them.

Above: In another video shot by Garret, we see him getting to grips with a myriad of levers that used to be fitted into machines of this era. 

I should also note that my neighbour has been a huge help for me with all of my mechanical needs when restoring my machines. Some pin striping was also added during the process. I also had custom tinted glass cut and installed to give the machine a one of a kind look.

Among his two Bantam excavators Garret has various other antique machines. A Bantam T-450 hydraulic truck crane and a Case 1085B Cruz-Air wheeled excavator.

Garret also has a number of graders, including Caterpillar 12's & one 16, and a Galion 503 which he has also completely restored.

 

Garret also owns a Galion Standard Premier horse drawn grader that bears his surname painted on the blade. It sits proudly on a concrete pad at the bottom of his driveway by the road as a yard ornament. A fine piece of grader history from a bygone era.

Its very much a family affair in the Wilson household and no doubt Garret's young boys will carry on his heavy equipment legacy in the coming years in the time honoured tradition.

The Digger Man Blog would like to thank Garret for supplying the information, photos and videos contained within this blog post. We will leave you with this final video which shows the Wilson family having fun in the snow with the Bantam in full effect!

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