Bringing back history
Corns Repair preserves tractors
FLEMING COUNTY
As a young boy, Mason Corns developed an interest in old tractors. He learned how to restore them on his family’s farm alongside his dad, Joe, and grandfather, Leonard. “We would get them to where they’d run and put some paint on them,” recalls Corns.
Today, Corns is part of his family’s cattle operation. And nearly 13 years ago, his early fascination with tractors led him to open his own business—Corns Repair, LLC, powered by Fleming-Mason Energy in Fleming County—where the company does everything from regular maintenance to full restorations.
Refurbishing a tractor takes a lot of time and effort, but Corns enjoys the process of adding value to old farm machinery. “If somebody wants us to restore something, in our eyes, we want to put quality into it, just as if it were manufactured again,” says Corns.
While each restored tractor is special to him, including a 1976 International 966 and a 1979 Ford 5600, one in particular stands out—a 1974 John Deere 2630. “It’s our personal tractor,” he explains. “I traded 14 rolls of hay for it. Brought it home in the back of a pickup truck and on a trailer in pieces and put it together one piece at a time.”
Corns compares the tractor preservation process to some other hobbies, only on a much larger scale. “It’s just like a big giant puzzle or a model car that you’d buy at a box store,” he says.
And restoring tractors has turned into a family affair. Corns’ wife, Brittany, and their daughter, Mallory, 13, and son, Kaleb, 5, also pitch in. “Every tractor that we redo, everybody has a hand in them. It’s not just me,” says Corns.
He takes pride in seeing a tractor preserved, noting that a lot of people today appreciate the craftsmanship in what he calls “the older generation stuff” that was built to last. “It’s always a proud moment when you bring something back to life that was almost put to idle at one time,” says Corns. “And seeing the person that you do it for, or if you do it for yourself, is always rewarding to me.”
To Corns, restoring tractors is his life’s work and mission: “To help bring back history, one piece at a time.”
Learn more by visiting Corns Repair on Facebook or www.cornsrepair.com.
AMY COBB, a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, enjoys writing fiction and nonfiction for children and adults.
