2014 - Volume #38, Issue #2, Page #22
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Big Collection Of 2-Wheeled Bradleys
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“When my wife died 20 years ago, I needed something to do,” recalls Marquis. “I was at a show when I saw a Bradley with a reel-type mower on it. I asked the guy how much he wanted for it, and he told me, ‘the deed to your house’.”
Bradley first brought out the 2-wheel units in 1946. Marquis recalls drooling over them at a local dealership when he was a boy. At the time he decided to start collecting, he already had a couple that he used for lawn and garden work. Today he has two of the three reel mowers made for the company. He also has a dump rake, tillers, mowers, buzz saw attachments, carts, and just about every other attachment made by the company for their tractors.
Marquis was recently offered $2,000 for one of his carts. He turned it down. “I do this for fun,” he says. “I put a lot of work into fixing that cart up, and I enjoy riding around in it. I’ll leave this stuff for my kids to sell.”
The company made 29 different tractor models, and Marquis has 19 of them. “The first model was made with wheel options,” says Marquis. “You could order it with steel wheels, wheels with tires, or rims to put your own tires on. I have all three.”
Bradley varied the motors used over the years. Marquis segments his collection accordingly.
“They built 3 models with Briggs and Stratton engines, 5 with Continental and 3 with Wisconsin engines,” he says. “I have sets of each.
“I belong to two Bradley collector groups on Yahoo,” he says. “One has 400 members, and the other has 1,600 members.”
The Bradleys aren’t just collector items for Marquis. He keeps one with a snowblower on it for winter, another with a tiller on it for summer and others with mowers and carts for riding around the neighborhood. The little tractors do more than pull their own weight of around 450 lbs.
“I have a trailer that weighs about 7,000 lbs. when loaded,” says Marquis. “When I need to move it in or out of the garage, I hook on a Bradley. It handles it fine.”
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Maynard Marquis, P.O. Box 85, Donovan, Ill. 60931 (ph 815 486-7225; maymardono@yahoo.com).
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