Mr. Charles H. Wendel

My wife and I went to Mount Pleasant, Iowa this weekend and I met up wit Mr. Wendel. For those of you who don't know who he is or what he's done I'll mention it here. He has published 30 books on old tractors, and equipment such as the books titled American Gasoline Engines Since 1872, 150 Years of IHC, 150 Years of Case, The Allis-Chalmers Story is just a few of the books he published.

I had heard he had a stroke years ago which his wife told me was 10 years ago. But 2 years ago he had another stroke which has left him in a wheel chair. The poor man can't even use his arms. His wife has to feed him. It is so sad to see him in this condition after what he has done for all of us by saving all the old literature and compiling it into books for all of us to preserve in our own homes. I wanted to spend hours with him talking and he likes to talk about so many different things and likes to laugh about some of them. He has a good sense of humor. As I was ready to part from our conversation all he could do was open his hand for me to grab and shake his hand. I wish him the best for he deserves it and for his wife she is a wonderful woman that any man would ask for!

If you go to Amazon or Ebay and just type in his last name you'll see some of his books. He says printing costs have risen so much but yet he says he refuses to have them printed in Japan!! Thank You For All You've Done Mr. Wendel.

That's very interesting and he wrote 18 books. Must have been pretty amazing to meet and talk to him.

Thanks for the info

His wife said he wrote 30 books. Some were smaller paper back books. I met him there back in 1997 and took some of my hardback books for him to sign. I wonder what they would be worth because some of his books on amazon they're asking close to $300 for them.

Unfortunately, that will occur for many of us as we age. It's pretty common among us older folks to wish for a quick and painless passing, but we really don't have much say in that unless we choose the extreme solution.