Grandpa's UB

[Anonymous-0]

I inherited my Grandpa's 1953 UB a few years ago. He and my Uncle always had Minneapolis Moline tractors when I was growing up. The only two that were kept over the years was the UB and a 1952 Z that my Uncle still has. It was used almost daily around the farm until 2006 when my Uncle retired. I decided to restore the UB this year since it's the 60th anniversary for it (it was painted by my Uncle in the late 70's to early 80's). I had never done any type of paint/ restore work before. I had a lot of help from friends, and made a few mistakes, but got it done this week. I think Grandpa would be proud his old tractor still looks, and runs good.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Hope pics posted this time.

 

[Alan K]

Very nice looking UB. Excellent job on it.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Well you should be proud ! Nice !

 

[Kevin Moschenrose]

I can truly say you done your grandpa proud. Nice job!

 

[redgems]

Thanks for pictures!!
You did a great job.
It"s a beauty Your grampa would be proud.

Tony

 

[G1355]

Looks good for being your first one, where did you get the
nameplates that say owner town etc, are the actually in graved
or just a decal they look neat also.

 

[53ZBU]

Nice to see a real restoration instead of another MM being butchered into a puller as to many of them are falling victim to these days,very nice job.

 

[Dalex]

That is soooo pretty ...

 

[mmubspecial]

Looks great bet He is very proud of the job you did.
Ray

 

[Anonymous-0]

I got the plaques at "The Badge Factory.com". They are engraved, and have magnets on the back. The matching set was $46 shipped. They allowed me to customize it, and were very nice people. They have multiple color combinations, and all of the tractor emblems available.

 

[Anonymous-0]

I remember when the UBs first came out on the market. We went to the Big Four tractor dealership at Mauckport, Indiana and seen one that they had.
I thought it wuz the biggest and purtist tractor ever built.
It wuz aboot 30 years later that I finally bought one.
You have done a great job painting it.

 

[SonoraMike]

Awesome job!!! What paint product did you use?
(brand, color, type) That is a sweet tractor with a
great story.

 

[mightymolinekid]

If its a choice between going for scrap or "butchered up for pulling", which would you prefer? The fact is, if it wasn't for pulling, I have 2 UB Diesels that would have been melted down by now, and I wonder if that's a choice a lot of guys make? Do we restore it so it can sit around, or do we build it for pulling and take it out every weekend all summer long and play with it? With that being said, I love the story of this tractor, and he did a great job on the restoration.

 

[jwuertz]

I do not see the Wuertz name very often other than here in central MN. My father and all of my uncles farmed with MM tractors in there farming days. Glad to see that are more Wuertz"s that farmed with MM"s other than us in MN.

 

[Anonymous-0]

The paint is a single stage urethane. My friend Rob, who manages a Car Quest in Marion, OH mixed the paint for me. I think he did a good job matching the original color.

 

[Anonymous-0]

A quote from my Dad about the day Grandpa brought the UB home: " We thought we were really something....we had a 3 bottom tractor!" He said it was the biggest tractor in the neighborhood for a while. Almost funny now. I think it would have to work hard just to pull an empty grain cart!

 

[Anonymous-0]

Grandpa was very brand loyal ( might be a Wuertz thing). I was born in 1969, but remember them havingthe UB, Z, 602, M670, G900 ( first tractor I plowed with) G1000, Uniharvestor, MM combine. Then after the change to Whites they had all White tractors and combines until switching to AGCO Whites, and Gleaners. I spent as much time on the farm as I could growing up, and countless hours just sitting on the MM's. Grandpa was always my hero, and I think the paint on the fenders was thin after the seat of my pants was on them for hours riding with him in the fields.

 

[MM diesel]

That sounds about like our family tractor history. Grand dad bought a ZAU, UB special, M670 super and G1000 row crop(all on lp). Later he bought some Whites, 2-150, 2-135, and a couple 2-155's. My dad has bought about 10 Whites with the cummins. Now our newer tractors are the yellow Challengers along with the combine.

 

[jwuertz]

I grew up on the farm and all the Wuertz's up here were also very brand loyal. In dads farming years we had an R, several U's, UB, M5, 602, 670, and a G100 Vista.
The M5 is still used around the farm for small jobs, that was a very good tractor with very few problems. The G1000 vista also sets in the shed and is in good running order. It has a few oil leaks which need to be fixed and then it could be repainted at some point.
The farm is now run by my brothers son and has 4 White tractors and 2 new Massey's. The only thing green is a 9500 combine which replaced a New Idea Uni. The MM G4 combine still sets in the shed and is in runnig order.

 

[Howard H.]

Great story! And thanks for the pics!!

It is really nice to see one being restored.

I was at a sale this weekend and it sure was sad seeing how many old tractors of all makes headed to the scrapper...

Howard

 

[Gray 49]

Looks very nice and a great tribute to your grandad . Hope to do the same with my dads old 49 GTB someday.