Danny, you didn't leave an email so I will try to handle your questions for you. 2 years ago I&amp;I asked the Smithsonian for the IH turbine tractor and received it in March 2002. At that time we had already approached the Smithsonian about acquiring Hart Parr #3. In July 2002 we learned that Larry Gay and HPOCA had started a proposal to acquire HP #3 so we backed off to let HPOCA take the lead. About October 2002 Darius Harms from I&amp;I was contacted by Larry Jones of the Smithsonian and told that HPOCA's application would be rejected because HPOCA didn't own a property to display and secure the tractor. They also said that they would not release the tractor without it being refurbished. At this point the picture is a little fuzzy from my stand point, but Harms, Terry Allen, Ollie Shaefer, Larry Gay and Peter Markowski were the principals involved and maybe a few others, I wasn't there. At any rate an understanding was reached that I&amp;I would submit the application for HP#3 and that HPOCA would provide the funding and the expertise to get #3 in condition to be displayed. The estimate from the Smithsonian was that the project would cost $250,000. HPOCA's estimate, sight unseen, was $15-16,000. As it ended up the whole project is coming in around $27,000. Pretty remarkable given the Smithsonian estimate. Once the project was underway, the Smithsonian's representatives had sole discression on the project with guidance and reccommendations from the mechanics that worked on the project. The rules and guidlines were really quite interesting and the can and can't do is equally remarkable. The Smithsonian would only allow a certain number of people to work on the machine and they had to be approved by the Smithsonian. There was some consternation on the part of the board over control and cost over runs, but the general feeling was that once the project started there was no turning back. 

A lot of what went on and has been said was from the uninformed. Not sure how you can communicate the long hours of work and coordination that everyone in HPOCA put in on this project, it was pulled off in record time with pretty reasonable costs.

As far as HP#3 going somewhere else. The Smithsonian has the final say. You have to make an application, have suitable transpertation, pay to have a Smithsonian representative present during the display, have a Smithsonian approved operator, pay for the insurance that the Smithsonian provides, provide 24 hour security and have a storage and display area approved by the Smithsonian.

The whole deal has boiled down to this. HPOCA wanted the tractor out of the Smithsonian for it's 100th birthday, and I&amp;I was able to facilitate that happening by providing the place and HPOCA the funding.

Hope I have helped a little. This whole project was quite a feat and HPOCA has a lot to be proud of. The tractor will remain in Penfield for 2 more years and getting it moved will take an application from some one that can meet all of the Smithsonian's requirements. It would be a shame for it to go back to Washington, because we probably won't see it again for a long time if it does. Hopefully HPOCA can get something worked out.

John Schweizer
V President
I&amp;I Antique Tractor &amp; Gas Engine Club