Hi, I am pretty new to this forum but not new to loving CATS.
I'll start from the beginnig... Not the heavens and the Earth part but the beginning of myself joining the ACMOC and aquiring the D8. About 2 or 3 months ago I contacted our President Lee Sorbel who is also tied in with my show, the Lake Itasca Region Pioneer Farmers in Minnesota about a Cat that was on Craig's List. I asked about some of the not so obvious things too look for and the approximate value as well as fund raising questions. He answered my questions and then told me about ACMOC and how a few of our members were also ACMOC members. He said that in the near future he would be traveling through the area and that I should join, me having an interest in all things rusty and especially Cats I had no trouble deciding weather or not to join. So after the weekend I joined we went our separate ways, I went back home for work and Lee went to do all of the wonderful things he does for ACMOC. On the way home my wife and I stopped and looked at the Cat it turned out to be a 1948 D82u with a "U" blade and an undercarriage that was almost perfect. The engines both ran smoth and strong, it only needed a new seat and a butt to put in it. I worked many evenings and a few hours during the day my boss does not know about working on fund raising for the Cat, I checked with our local Dealer and they said donations are low this year I checked with other local business and came up with very little. I contacted other members for ideas to which one of my good Friends said try Gladden Construction of Laport, Mn. I took a couple of evenings and wrote them a letter explaining why the organization would benefit and how the public would benefit. After waiting a couple of weeks hope started running out. Last weekend was our show and my wife and I spend the entire week before the show up North at the grounds getting ready. The Monday before the show I got a message from Gladden Construction, my heart stood still as the message played, the voice on the other end was one of the owners saying that they would love to be part of the project to save the D8 and bring it to the grounds for the public to see. They offered half of the cost and also to haul it for free, I was on cloud "D9". I called Lee who was in Minnesota and told him and asked if he would be interested in going with to pick it up, of course I had to twist his arm as he had some important lawn mowing to do... Ya right! He was one of the first ones at the spot we were all going to meet to go to the Lowboy. It was already running when we arrived I got the honor of loading it, we were out of there in record time. We got to the show grounds and unloaded it, I asked Lee to do this so I could show my Family and also take some pictures.
Lee brought his D2 another member brought his D4 we had the clubs 60 and another D8 already there. A member down the road showed up with a load of tractors for the show and asked if he could bring his D7 over and play, "well sure the more the merrier"! So now we had to find an area large enough for that much fun, now keep in mind our grounds are very wooded. We found the current gravel pit too small so we just made it bigger, ALLOT BIGGER! Down came the trees and out came the stumps and top soil, the crowed (safely in the distance) loved this new display, unfortunately it seemed they got more of a demonstration on Cat repair then operation.
After the weekend was over the landscape looked nothing like it did the week before.
Fund raising will continue on the D8 until it is paid off and also a small amount for repairs, another fund will be stated for the restoration of our '31 Cat 60. Enjoy the pictures, for those of you who don't know Lee is the tall guy and I am the shorter one. We have a true asset in ACMOC his name is mentioned in this story a few times and I will never be able to THANK him enough!
