Extract from ABC News
Leigh Baker's harvester from 1930 is put to work at Wild Horse Plains. (Isabella Kelly)
When farmer Leigh Baker suffered a triple heart bypass, he knew he had to find a new project to help him recover.
So on his Wild Horse Plains farm, 75 kilometres north of Adelaide, Mr Baker began restoring the 1930 Sunshine Auto Header in his shed.
He bought it for $250 in the late 1970s from his grandfather, who bought it in 1950.
Leigh Baker has a passion for collecting and restoring vintage farm equipment. (ABC North & West: Isabella Kelly)
"I put it in our shed, and then I dragged it out approximately 30 to 40 years later when I had a triple bypass," Mr Baker said.
"I lost all motive in life, and I thought, 'Well, I'll do something.'"
After removing a "wheelbarrow load of rat manure", the header required little work.
"I bought a new set of plugs and got my cousin to make a new exhaust, and we towed it probably 10 metres, and it started," Mr Baker said.
"It has got an instruction book; I should have read that first, I suppose."
The 1930 header made its way to Leigh Baker's family farm in 1950. (ABC North & West: Isabella Kelly)
That was about four years ago, and it has sat in a shed until being put to work this harvest.
"It ran quite well, actually," Mr Baker said.
"It did get fairly hot. I suppose we're not used to sitting so close to the motor — nowadays we're just used to sitting in an air-conditioned cab.
"I suppose we don't know how easy we have it."
The first of its kind
A 1929 advertisement said the 12-foot comb front header could harvest 40 acres (16 hectares) in a day.
Modern equivalents advertise an ability of 12 hectares per hour.
The machinery was revolutionary in its time, as the first commercial harvester that did not need towing.
A 1922 publicity brochure for an older version of the Sunshine Header Harvester. (Supplied: Museums Victoria)
Running the harvester for about an hour got Mr Baker a few bags of grain, but efficiency was not the point.
"All I wanted was a photo of the new ones next to the old one so I could put it on the wall," he said.
It is back in the shed now, but Mr Baker plans to take it out for its 100th birthday in 2030.
The Sunshine Auto Header is not the first piece of vintage machinery Mr Baker has restored, nor will it be the last.
Leigh Baker says sitting on the vintage header is a far cry from the comfort of modern machinery. (ABC North & West: Isabella Kelly)
"I've been collecting probably for 40 years now," he said.
"I just like old things."
A family history
Much of the machinery filling up Mr Baker's three old pig sheds had sentimental value.
"I like collecting old tractors that my grandpa used to have," he said.
"I've tried to buy all the original tractors that they owned when they first started farming."
Leigh Baker has been collecting and restoring vintage equipment for four decades. (ABC North & West: Isabella Kelly)
Where possible, he collected the exact machines used on the family farm.
Otherwise, he has found and restored the same type, much like his grandpa.
"They never had a lot of money, so they bought somebody's old tractors, then they fixed them up," Mr Baker said.
The Caterpillar brand makes up much of his collection, while one shed is dedicated to John Deere.
Leigh Baker's collection of machinery takes up three old pig sheds. (ABC North & West: Isabella Kelly)
"I like Caterpillars, I suppose, because Dad had one," Mr Baker said.
"I always liked John Deeres, but we could never afford them."
Mr Baker hopes to preserve as much of the machinery he has collected as possible, and has restored around 60 per cent of it to working condition.
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