Tom Arnold
Well-known Member
Correction....... to my earlier post. The term Black Knight
actually came from the marketing department of J. I. Case. New
information came my way recently that confirms the origin of the
term.
The serial number on your tractor means very little in
relationship to the "CHART" that everyone relies on. The serial
numbers in that chart were begun at the first of the model year
but Case produced hundreds of tractors for that same model
year in the 4 months preceding the New Year.
There are two types of tractors out there. One type is called the
"Survivor". A survivor tractor only needs to be cleaned up
because there is next to no rust on it, the tin is in good shape
and the paint is pretty decent.
Anything else becomes a "restoration" because of the poor
condition of the tractor cosmetically. A survivor tractor should
be worth more than a restored tractor because a tractor is only
ORIGINAL when it was first built.
You are the only person who can make the decision as to
whether to keep this BK in original condition or to dismantle it
for restoration. It all comes down to what you personally will
tolerate cosmetically.
The advice you got regarding the hood and fenders is 100
percent correct. The ONLY thing that differentiates a Demo
tractor from any other tractor of the same year/model are the
graphics. No one at Case ever kept track of the serial numbers
of the Demo tractors.
Therefore, the only way to prove that you have a Demonstrator is
to preserve the original hood and fenders PLUS.... creating an
album filled with photos of the tractor presently along with a
pictorial of the restoration process.
You need to find another set of fenders and a hood that are
correct for the build of your BK and use those for the restoration.
Just so you know, there are FAKE Demo tractors out there but
those owners do not possess the original, untouched tin.
actually came from the marketing department of J. I. Case. New
information came my way recently that confirms the origin of the
term.
The serial number on your tractor means very little in
relationship to the "CHART" that everyone relies on. The serial
numbers in that chart were begun at the first of the model year
but Case produced hundreds of tractors for that same model
year in the 4 months preceding the New Year.
There are two types of tractors out there. One type is called the
"Survivor". A survivor tractor only needs to be cleaned up
because there is next to no rust on it, the tin is in good shape
and the paint is pretty decent.
Anything else becomes a "restoration" because of the poor
condition of the tractor cosmetically. A survivor tractor should
be worth more than a restored tractor because a tractor is only
ORIGINAL when it was first built.
You are the only person who can make the decision as to
whether to keep this BK in original condition or to dismantle it
for restoration. It all comes down to what you personally will
tolerate cosmetically.
The advice you got regarding the hood and fenders is 100
percent correct. The ONLY thing that differentiates a Demo
tractor from any other tractor of the same year/model are the
graphics. No one at Case ever kept track of the serial numbers
of the Demo tractors.
Therefore, the only way to prove that you have a Demonstrator is
to preserve the original hood and fenders PLUS.... creating an
album filled with photos of the tractor presently along with a
pictorial of the restoration process.
You need to find another set of fenders and a hood that are
correct for the build of your BK and use those for the restoration.
Just so you know, there are FAKE Demo tractors out there but
those owners do not possess the original, untouched tin.