“One of them is a JD600 that was built in Waterloo more than 40 years ago for the U.S. Navy’s Construction Battalion — the Seabees. Only a limited number were produced, and it was thought all had been scrapped,” Cherry said.

“It was not known to exist,” Cherry said of the machine, brought to the Expo from Norfolk, Virginia.

Bob Hynek of Talmage, Nebraska, had his industrial yellow Model 2640, a 1979-era tractor that is one of only 44 built for the U.S. Air Force.

“It, too, is the last of its kind known to exist,” Hynek said.

Next to its gear levers, the tractor bears a brass identification plate listing its government and military registration numbers with the 194th Squadron.

“A friend of mine that deals in oddball tractors came across it and gave me a call and asked me to take a look at it, and I fell in love with it,” Hynek said.

He obtained it in good condition about two years ago.

“It was a very easy restore, but I’ve been working on it ever since,” he said.

Hynek has brought other tractors to previous Waterloo Expos. He can’t stay away from the event, he said.

“Just to see all these beautiful tractors and this great group of people,” he said. “They’re very genuine, very neat people to get to know, and I’ve made some very good friends coming to this show.”

He was asked about the obsession.

“It’s addictive,” he said. “It’s finding something that isn’t perfect, something you can fix up and make brandnew again. And when you get done, you can stand back and say, ‘This is something that I’ve done’ or ‘there’s not another one like this.”

Hynek, too, was busy with a can of polish and a nonabrasive cloth, as he prepared his machine to show.

“I keep it in a very nice, new, dust-free shed,” he said. “I still do have to dust it quite often. In the summertime, I take it to local shows and parades. I often polish it.”

Charles Fricke of Papillion, Nebraska, brought his 1953 Model “70” to the show.

It’s his fifth Two-Cylinder Expo, he said. Every trip back to Waterloo’s event is a learning experience.

He agreed, an obsession probably has taken hold of him.

“We probably spend more time repairing these things than it’s really worth, but we enjoy it,” said Fricke, who, with a buddy, brought nine tractors to the show.

WATERLOO —Increasingly, enthusiasts who display vintage tractors acknowledge a fundamental truth.

“You know a tractor is useless unless you put an implement behind it,” Tom O’Connor said.

Which explains, at least in part, why the Two-Cylinder Expo XXIII in Waterloo attracted much more than classic John Deere power.

O’Connor traveled from Swartz Creek, Michigan, with a John Deere “630” built in 1959 and set up in McElroy Auditorium at the National Cattle Congress. A beautiful bit of muscle, but what really stopped spectators was his 40-foot, pull-type Model 42 Combine.

“It kind of backfired on us. I thought I would get a combine attached to draw attention to the tractor. They just walk right past it to look at the combine,” O’Connor said.Exhibitors at such events in recent years began bringing more plows, sickle mowers, and other implements.

Those involved suggest the trend illustrates how collecting — and collectors — have matured.

“All of them have tractors now, so they’re switching to implements,” said Jack Vinopal of Mauston, Wisconsin.

He and his sons, John and Jeff, put a 1935 “B”, 1947 “M” and a 1958 “720” Diesel out for public inspection. What many folks wanted to know more about, though, was a M3A Two-Way Plow.

The device features two plowshares, but only one turns dirt at any given moment. The implement’s genius is allowing farmers to flip the plowshares at trail’s end and to return in the opposite direction in the same furrow.

Modern collectors hunt for two-way plows.

“Today, if you could find one, if you could get away paying $500 you’d be doing really, really well — and it wouldn’t be in the best condition,” Vinopal said.

Dan DeRycke of Galva, Illinois, put a “50” built in 1955 on display. The tractor was one of Deere’s first