The articulated bolens fleet

For quite a while now I have had a love for the Bolens articulated tractors.  Not many people know that Bolens had a line of these bend in the middle creatures but for a short lived time Bolens tried to make a market for them.

They may not have sold well in the late sixties and early seventies but I have not had trouble talking myself into buying every one that I see. 
      My first Groundskeeper as they are called came from up in Sangerville Maine.  I found it advertised on Craigslist as a mini-skidder.  From that point on it was downhill.  I bought it not running on a weeknight when my father and I had to head there after school and make a night trip out of the junk run.  This first tractor came with no attachments whatsoever and had been rigged up to an extent.  The magneto on the engine was no good so the previous owner had ran a wire from the points to a car coil pack to run the tractor.  I hardly had it working and I tore the tractor down and repainted it.  After it was painted I never really had it running much due to what I thought was fuel pump problems.  Turns out the problem was the coil pack not working properly.  I eventually bought an extra motor and swapped the magneto out and the tractor runs like a top now.

My second tractor came from Farmington Maine a few years later.  As I was coming home from a jobsite I saw what looked like a yellow groundskeeper cab in the woods.  I quickly stopped and ended up staying and talking to the gentleman that owned it for almost an hour before coming to a price.  This tractor luckily had attachments!  it was sporting the snow blower and had a mowing deck sitting in the field a short ways away.  The following Saturday My cousin Tristen and I hauled my fathers 4 wheeler up to Farmington because again this one didn't run and proceeded to load the tractor and attachments.  Now that sounds like it went well but unfortunately it did not.  There was snow on the ground and the tractor had been sitting for a few years.  We got everything loaded and within the day I had the tractor and snow blower running. 

       The last tractor and the one that brings me to this post I got in south Portland.  I had an add on craigslist looking for parts and a snowblade for it and a gentleman emailed me saying he had a complete tractor with cab snow blower and mower but the tractor wouldn't go into gear.  So again my father and I loaded up and off we went.

 The tractor is in decent shape and the mower, which is the main reason I bought it was just amazing.  This is the tractor that I have decided to sell as is to fund other projects such as the quadractor and some others that pop up here and there.  I am of course keeping the mower deck and cab but the tractor and snow blower will be a great addition to somebodys collection.