Bill's Panzer Palace is almost complete!

Although I moved my stuff out of the main garage into the new shed, I had to move it all back this month so I could: epoxy the floor, insulate the walls, put OSB on the walls, primer the walls, and build a 200+ square foot 'shelf' inside the shed. My son and I are currently trying to disassemble Panzers and put them up on the shelf. I have parts of two up there, a T65 and a T758es. There are about 10 tractors inside - all but 1 being Panzers. The oddball is a Mustang tractor that I hope to build into an electric powered racing tractor this winter.

Once I get all the stuff out of the 'hillbilly shantys' and into the garage, I can call it complete.

In other news, I hope you've had a chance to fill out the survey I posted online. It asks if people would be willing to support the web site financially, and what kind of content would be good to have on the site. What I learned is that there are a lot of people willing to help, and that some of the info I have scattered about (like serial numbers) needs to be better consolidated so people can access it.

I'd like to get your opinon on what I should put on the site. Please post a response of you have a suggestion. Heck, post a reponse anyway to let me know you've read my brain dump. If people actually read this, I'll post more. Thanks! -Bill

Happy New Year!

It's a sad day here at my house. I had to move my T758es and all my tools out of our attached garage into the new shed so that my lovely wife can park her new Ford Edge in the garage.

There is deep significance to this.

First of all, I gave up over 100 square feet of prime Panzer storage space that already had a Panzer in it! I did gain a new 24' x 28' shed with a real nice lean-to and attic storage space, but that doesn't count because it didn't exist until a week ago. It's not even big enough to store all of my Panzers on the floor - I have to build platforms for them (11' walls are a good thing).

Secondly, it means that after 15 years and 3 houses together, the 'family' (read: wife's) car is in an enclosed garage! My truck is sitting outside as usual, though. The '62 Impala is still in the other bay of the garage, but it doesn't count because it's been with me for over 20 years and has always been in a garage. My wife must really love me to put up with scraping windows and brushing/shoveling snow off her car for so long, though. Maybe it was because I was up-front with her from the beginning that she shouldn't count on ever having her car under roof. Maybe I'm just getting mellow in my old age.

Ok, so I understand that giving up space for the Edge was part of the new shed financing deal, but it broke my heart to move my stuff out and not fill the empty floor space with more stuff.

Nostrovia and Happy New Year to youn's guys out there!

-Bill

Still here...

I'm still trying to figure out this web log thing, thus the big time span from the last update.

Didn't get to any shows with my Panzers this summer - too busy at work.

The most I've been doing is cutting my grass with my T758es. It does a fantastic job.

I just started to build a shed to house my collection of tractors. Hopefully it'll be done before the snow flies.

If you have questions or comments and need fast feedback, don't forget to try the yahoo panzer group. Paul Renner and Greg Edwards monitor the forum regularly. Many thanks to them!

I'm working on updating the web site by combining info from the 3 existing sites so it's easier to find the info you're looking for. Stay Tuned!

-Bill

March (Panzer) Madness

My email has been buzzing with people wanting to join the club, as well as people with tractors for sale/wanted. Maybe the ground hog has given everyone spring fever - including me. I'm going to miss the joy of plowing snow with my Panzer.

Here are my suggestions:

If you want to have active chats with a group of Panzer enthusiasts, check out the Yahoo group called panzergardentractors. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/panzergardentractors/

If you want to join a great club that puts on shows all around the country, it's hard to beat the Vintage Garden Tractor Club of America. Join it at http://www.vgtcoa.com/ I'm a member of this club.

For info and questions on your tractor, to post an ad, or to share your story - feel free to contact me at the Panzer Tractor Owners Club - info@panzertractors.com. PLEASE include the word Panzer in your subject line so my spam filter doesn't ignore your message! I sometimes don't get to my emails for several weeks, so if you don't hear from me, just drop me another line. I WILL respond to all email!!!

Take care and start planning for the summer show/work season! -Bill

Catching up with email

Since it's 10 degrees F outside, I decided to catch up on my email. There were over 380 emails that downloaded to my Outlook account!

Lots of new Panzer collectors have emailed me asking for info. It's great to see that a lot of them want to become club members. The bad news (?) is that if you have a Panzer, you're already a member whether you want to be or not. The good news is that you don't have to pay any membership fees to get information.

Over the past 10 years we've built up a sizeable knowledge base on Panzers, Meteors, Penn88's, etc. and I can usually answer your questions quickly. If I don't know the answer, I'll either find it out or refer you to someone who can.

I'm trying some new things out with the site (including this blog), so look around and visit often. If you have any suggestions on what you'd like to see on the site, please email me at info@panzertractors.com. Please put the word 'panzer' in your subject line so the spam filter doesn't delete it.

-Bill

Welcome from the Panzer Tractor Owners Club!

Our web hosting service (www.siterightnow.com) just added this blog feature! I feel old and inadequate now, because I have no idea what a blog is. 15 years ago, I was the whiz kid who blew everyone away with my computer savvy, now I'm coming to terms with the fact that I helped create the current generation of computer geeks, and they've passed me by.

That said, WELCOME to the Panzer Tractor Owner's Club Web Log! (Blog, for the younger crowd). I'm not sure how this is going to work, but I understand that others can add their comments to the blog. Please keep it Panzer / Meteor / Penn88 related, but if you have something to say, please do!

Since I don't have the time to work on the web site even on a weekly basis, this seems like a good way for all of you to communicate with other Panzer tractor enthusiasts.

Please have fun and enjoy! If you find you can't add to the blog and want to, please send an email to wjanitor@comcast.net. I'll get you added to the list as soon as I can. All other email should go to info@panzertractors.com, and include the word Panzer in the subject line (spam filter). Thanks!


- Bill Janitor, webmaster - Panzer Tractor Owners Club