By Dean Larson

Photos Courtesy of Randall Thomas

Farmers love their hot rods, that’s a fact. (The term “barn find” had to come from somewhere right?) And when you distill hot rodding down to its simplest form, it’s all about making something old faster than it was ever meant to go. Now stuffing a 396 big block between the fenders of a factory 6-cylinder Impala is one thing, but injecting Cobra venom into an old Ford tractor, is completely different.

The Ford Model 8N you see here is far from stock, that’s easy to see. The stock 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine is long gone. In its place, is a Ford 460 that’s been bored to 472 cubes and topped with an 8-71 blower and twin carbs. The mad scientist responsible for this mash up of agricultural hot rodding is Donald Thomas of Hartford, Wisconsin. — Of course it’s Wisconsin.

We got the details on the 8N from Donald’s, Randall Thomas, owner of Performance Unlimited and Cobra Valley. Randall explained how his father joined a local antique tractor club, but got bored and started fitting bigger and bigger engines into tractors. His most radical creation yet, the 8N, makes around 900 horsepower with its blown big block. Hear the belt whine? They don’t make em like that any more. Randall sourced a 1/2” pitch, square tooth belt that makes considerably more belt noise than modern 8mm round tooth belts. The blower churns out about 15 psi of boost, and even makes 10 psi at idle. Donald like the way his son’s Cobra sounded, so Randall got ahold of Firefly Performance Products and had some special side pipes made for the 8N. If we close our eyes, we’d swear we were listening to a Cobra. 

Donald and Randall have also done some work to make the tractor drivable, including getting the tires balanced, so the tractor can be driven semi-safely at 50 mph. Why 50 mph? Well you didn’t think the Ford was going back to the field, did you?

Apparently Donald’s is not the only hot rod tractor in the area. “It’s not uncommon to drive through Hartford and see 20 or more tractors parked in town with twin carbs or other modifications,” Randall explained. The RAT Club, short for Restored Antique Tractors, has 30 modified tractors in its roster, some with twin turbos or pulling tractor engines. The club meets up and takes road trips with their modified tractors, and we’re not talking to the bar and back. (We’re not ruling this out though.) Their last big trip took the group 330 miles, from Hartford to Minocqua, WI, that’s our neck of the woods. If the RAT Club should find itself in Northern Wisconsin again, we’ll be sure to be there to bring you more coverage of these awesome ranch-built rods.

See the 8N running and driving here on the Performance Unlimited Facebook page.