This Hart Parr 30-60 was donated to the Museum by the Sims Brothers of Snowflake, MB.

The tractor was manufactured in 1909, and was purchased new by a Mr. Smallcombe of the Purvis, MB district at a cost of $4000.00. The engine performed road work as well as plowing and powering a thresher at harvest time.

The tractor threshed for 12 years in the Purvis district, and did a considerable amount of plowing in the area as well. In 1928, it was purchased by Herb Sims of the Snowflake, MB area and continued in service on his farm. The tractor was parked in the 1940s, but Mr. Sims thought enough of tractor that he refused to let it be scrapped during the Second World War. The tractor was donated to the Museum in the 1950s, and was one of the first gas engines in the collection.

The Hart Parr 30-60 was considered one of the more reliable “Prairie-style” tractors. Hart Parr began building 30-60s in 1907. The tractor featured a two-cylinder engine cooled by oil circulated by a centrifugal pump. The radiator was cooled by an induced draft from the engine exhaust, a very common feature on tractors until the late 1910s. The engine had a “hit and miss” governor. The engine was started on gasoline and then switched over to kerosene when the engine was hot. Oil as a coolant was common in the early years of tractors, as oil did not freeze, and oil cooling resulted in the engine running hotter which was an advantage when running the tractor on kerosene. Rumely was another tractor manufacturer which used oil as a coolant in its designs.