I bought this doodlebug so I could use the commercial cowl on my tow truck rod build. Just wanted to show everyone the track set up it has. The track was cut off the one side. I don’t know what I’m going to do with the rest of the chassis just yet. Thought it might make for conversation. What are the midship axles from?
there was a commercial tracked thing, snow bird i think, but yours looks home made. mid axle looks like about a 30 chev and wheel. that looks like a commercial cowl, same as a roadster except stanchions
That's pretty cool. There are antique agriculture equipment museums around the country, if you need to get rid of the extra's one of them may be glad to take them off your hands.
There use to be one of those on almost every farm around here to scoot out logs. A few had wheels, but the majority had tracks. I saw one that had two transmissions and the old gentlemen that had it told me when he needed a real low gear he put both transmissions in reverse. They were called doodlebugs or jitterbugs, a term that I never hear but in northern New England and Canada.
There used to be a number of doodle bugs sitting along fence rows around here 40 years or more ago but I haven't seen one since except in a couple of collections. I have never seen one with tracks like that though. Late 30/s to early 50's poor man's tractor in a lot of places. You didn't have to feed them hay and grain when you weren't working them like you did horses or mules. My mom was telling about my grandfather buying a tractor in the 30's and selling his two plow horses soon after.
The Jalopy Journal
