Shelby man makes ‘vehicle’ from scrap parts, old lawn tractor

By Ginny Kropf, correspondent Posted 11 December 2019 at 9:35 am

Photos by Ginny Kropf: Dan Fuller proudly stands by this vehicle he made entirely out of items he found around his house. He started with an old Cub Cadet lawn tractor his uncle gave him.

MEDINA – It could hardly be classified as an antique, although almost everything it is made of is “old.”

In fact, owner Dan Fuller doesn’t know what to call it, except maybe a “toy.”

Fuller’s toy was on display in the parking lot of Medina High School during the toy show oin October, where it received a lot of attention.

One of the first to stop and look it over was Gary Brockel of West Shelby, who wasn’t sure whether to admire it or question it.

The red vehicle had wheels, exhaust pipes coming out of the top of what was obviously an engine, and an unlikely driver sitting behind a steering wheel of sorts.

Fuller said he could never afford a real hot rod, so this was his compromise.

It all started when his uncle asked if he wanted an old Cub Cadet lawn tractor. Fuller did, and spent the next couple of years transforming it.

A neighbor’s old wheelbarrow became the seat; his daughter’s bunk bed yielded material for a shelf; a bumper off a 1957 Cadillac became the hood; metal from an old foosball table framed the windshield; a balance plate was fashioned from an old ash tray belonging to his parents; two souvenir copper mugs served as headlamps; a discarded wrought iron railing formed holders for the windshield; part of an old desk and steel plate from his son’s wheelchair became the grill, with a cross cut out of it.

Fuller said he started building his hotrod last fall and then finished it in the spring.

He has several more ideas for projects in the future. He has a silage wagon in his yard which he plans to turn into a “she shed” for his wife.

Then he has purchased a 1948 Farmall Cub tractor, which he intends to make into a World War II-era airport tug, such as would be used to move airplanes.

As an Air Force veteran, Fuller said that is tops on his “to-do” list.

Gary Brockel of West Shelby checks out this vehicle on display in the parking lot of Medina High School during the first ever toy show this fall. The “toy” was built by Dan Fuller of Medina from odd parts he found laying around his house.

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