New Super A--Strike one from the bucket list!

[Super A]

My first tractor love has always been my granddaddy's '48 Super A. It is the reason I'm an IH tractor enthusiast geek. Sometimes it's things that most normal people wouldn't notice that really get me excited. So that led me to acquire a Super A-1, a white demonstrator Super A (currently scattered all over my shop,) a nondescript '50 Super A (Old Ugly) that I garden/work with, and other bits, pieces, and implements. That leaves two on my bucket list. One is a Super AV (used to be 2-3 in my neighborhood but they got away) and one is a 1947 Super A. The '47s are unusual because they only made 81 tractors in 1947. According to the IH archives, they started building them on Dec. 22, 1947. I don't know how long the plant shut down for Christmas/New Years but my hypothesis is that all 81 may have been built before Christmas, 1947. Either way, there's only 81 of them.

I stumbled across this gem by accident. A conversation about '47s on another www group led to an offer to sell. (I was NOT looking to expand the collection!) So I sold another tractor, and me and one of my tractor buddies (Farmall51 on youtube) took off this past Tuesday night to southern Michigan to pick up Super A #52. Shes not perfect, but in doggone good shape to be almost 70 years old. It must have been mostly a cultivating tractor as there is NO wear to the holes on the drawbar. All of the castings are Q coded except for the touch control block--it must have gotten swapped out at some time. (Anybody got a touch control block with a Q code??) Plus it has almost new front tires!

[Lt.Mike]

Would it be correct to assume that those 81 '47 supers were the only ones built in Chicago? That afterward they were built in Kentucky?
Mike

[Super A]

Would it be correct to assume that those 81 '47 supers were the only ones built in Chicago? That afterward they were built in Kentucky?
Mike

No. The last straight As were built at Louisville. There's a serial number break for them, I believe it's 200,000. Then they did another break for Supers at 250,000.

Al