Vintage HV McKay Sunshine Seed & Fertilizer Drill
$1,000.00 + GST ($1,100.00 Inc. GST)
- Sold
Details
| Quantity | : | 1 Unit |
| Unit Price | : | $1,000.00 + GST ($1,100.00 Inc. GST) |
| Status | : | For Sale |
| Location | : | CLAYTON BAY, Murraylands, SA |
| Category | : | Machinery & Equipment, Tillage & Seeding - Drills & Combines |
| Listing Date | : | 20/05/2023, 03:21pm |
| Date Sold | : | 01/07/2023, 04:05pm |
Description
We are selling our farm to retire and looking to sell our HV McKay Sunshine Seed & Fertilizer Drill that has been in our family since the early 1980’s and always been kept undercover.
As per the reply from the Victorian museum below it is “most likely that it was built between the mid-1920s and mid-1930s.”
We relocated her using a car trailer from out north several years ago when we moved down south so I can confirm that she can be transported.
It was used by us in the paddocks in the early days but has been idle for a few years now and needs some tlc to be returned to her former glory. There are a few bits and pieces floating around that will go with her including the original jockey wheel.
She is perfect for a collector/restorer and is quite a rare piece as you will see in the article below.
We are expecting she will fetch a good price due to her rarity and good condition for her age so please contact me if you are interested in her as we are open to genuine and reasonable offers.
No time wasters please.
Here is some official info as I contacted the Matthew Churchward who is the Senior Curator, Engineering & Transport
History & Techology Department, at Museum Victoria and sent him photos to find out more about the HV McKay Seed & Fertilizer Drill.
He wrote :
“The number D727 is a part number, which is helpful because it gives some indication of the age of the machine.
The product was officially known as the “Sun” Grain & Fertilizer Drill and was one of H.V. McKay’s most popular and enduring products, being manufactured over a period of 50 years from 1906 until 1956.
In total many thousands (or more probably tens of thousands) of these machines would have been built, from which quite a number would survive today, however, earlier machines such as yours are likely to be far less common.
“Sun” drills were manufactured at the Sunshine Harvester Works, at Sunshine, in Melbourne’s western suburbs and were introduced as a new product line not long after H.V. McKay began moving his main manufacturing works from Ballarat to the new location, into a factory that had previously been operated by the Braybrook Implement Co.
D727 was the part number allocated to the cast-iron offside end plate of the seed & fertilizer box (on the driver’s right-hand side), from the 1915 model onwards. The company operated under the name H.V. McKay from 1894-1920. In 1921, the name changed to H.V. McKay Pty Ltd, then in 1930 to H.V. McKay Massey Harris Pty Ltd.
If your endplate has writing on in the form ‘“SUN” / SEED & FERTILIZER DRILL / H.V. McKAY / MAKER / SUNSHINE / D727’ as shown in the attached photo from the spare parts book, then it’s most likely that your machine was built between 1915 and 1921. I’m not sure how quickly the company changed the foundry pattern to reflect the new company name after 1921. Parts books through until at least the mid 1920s still show the name on this part in the form ‘H.V. McKAY’, however, it is shown as ‘H.V. McKAY PTY. LTD.’ from at least 1929. It may be that they just didn’t bother updating the illustration in the parts book for a few years. Once again I am not sure how quickly they updated the part design after the subsequent company name change in 1930.
If your machine shows the name in the form ‘H.V. McKAY PTY. LTD.’, then it was definitely built after 1920, and most likely that it was built between the mid-1920s and mid-1930s.
By the way, the same grain box was also used on the ‘Sunshine’ Seed & Fertilizer Drill – a combined implement produced from 1916, that also included a trailing spring-tyne cultivator; and on the ‘Sundelve’ – a combined rigid tyne cultivator & drill produced from about 1920, so it’s possible that what you have is one of these later two machine types.“
As per the reply from the Victorian museum below it is “most likely that it was built between the mid-1920s and mid-1930s.”
We relocated her using a car trailer from out north several years ago when we moved down south so I can confirm that she can be transported.
It was used by us in the paddocks in the early days but has been idle for a few years now and needs some tlc to be returned to her former glory. There are a few bits and pieces floating around that will go with her including the original jockey wheel.
She is perfect for a collector/restorer and is quite a rare piece as you will see in the article below.
We are expecting she will fetch a good price due to her rarity and good condition for her age so please contact me if you are interested in her as we are open to genuine and reasonable offers.
No time wasters please.
Here is some official info as I contacted the Matthew Churchward who is the Senior Curator, Engineering & Transport
History & Techology Department, at Museum Victoria and sent him photos to find out more about the HV McKay Seed & Fertilizer Drill.
He wrote :
“The number D727 is a part number, which is helpful because it gives some indication of the age of the machine.
The product was officially known as the “Sun” Grain & Fertilizer Drill and was one of H.V. McKay’s most popular and enduring products, being manufactured over a period of 50 years from 1906 until 1956.
In total many thousands (or more probably tens of thousands) of these machines would have been built, from which quite a number would survive today, however, earlier machines such as yours are likely to be far less common.
“Sun” drills were manufactured at the Sunshine Harvester Works, at Sunshine, in Melbourne’s western suburbs and were introduced as a new product line not long after H.V. McKay began moving his main manufacturing works from Ballarat to the new location, into a factory that had previously been operated by the Braybrook Implement Co.
D727 was the part number allocated to the cast-iron offside end plate of the seed & fertilizer box (on the driver’s right-hand side), from the 1915 model onwards. The company operated under the name H.V. McKay from 1894-1920. In 1921, the name changed to H.V. McKay Pty Ltd, then in 1930 to H.V. McKay Massey Harris Pty Ltd.
If your endplate has writing on in the form ‘“SUN” / SEED & FERTILIZER DRILL / H.V. McKAY / MAKER / SUNSHINE / D727’ as shown in the attached photo from the spare parts book, then it’s most likely that your machine was built between 1915 and 1921. I’m not sure how quickly the company changed the foundry pattern to reflect the new company name after 1921. Parts books through until at least the mid 1920s still show the name on this part in the form ‘H.V. McKAY’, however, it is shown as ‘H.V. McKAY PTY. LTD.’ from at least 1929. It may be that they just didn’t bother updating the illustration in the parts book for a few years. Once again I am not sure how quickly they updated the part design after the subsequent company name change in 1930.
If your machine shows the name in the form ‘H.V. McKAY PTY. LTD.’, then it was definitely built after 1920, and most likely that it was built between the mid-1920s and mid-1930s.
By the way, the same grain box was also used on the ‘Sunshine’ Seed & Fertilizer Drill – a combined implement produced from 1916, that also included a trailing spring-tyne cultivator; and on the ‘Sundelve’ – a combined rigid tyne cultivator & drill produced from about 1920, so it’s possible that what you have is one of these later two machine types.“
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