My dad came home from the trenches in France in 1945. As part of his rehabilitation he enrolled in a machine shop class. His first project was to build a doodlebug tractor from the 31 AA truck he used to make a living before the war. The tractor was to be used around the scraggly patch of ground "out home". The tractor would take the place of Harry McCoy and his one horse plow. Harry plowed the garden spots of most folks in the area.
Now the term garden is an under statement. Remember, these were hard times and most country folks kept huge vegetable gardens.
Our neighbor, George Gibson, owned a chunk of bottom ground accessible only by crossing a small creek. When it came time to do the spring plowing, dad and George fired up the doodlebug and headed for the field.
The creek was swollen by spring rain and they were concerned about crossing it with the doodlebug. Both men took off their shoes, rolled up their pants and waded into the creek to test the bottom. The bottom seemed pretty solid so off into the mud hole went the doodlebug.
I don't remember which one hiked up to Harry's place to get him and his team to pull the mired down doodlebug out of the creek. None of the folks "out our way" had phones back then.
The doodlebug was not around long after that, dad sold it to the Lutheran Cemetery and they used it until the mid 50's. It was most often seen pulling a small trailer around the grounds doing maintenance.
I have fond memories of that old donor truck. I recall the whining gear noise and the chuckle of the engine as I stood on the floor in front of my mom barely able to see over the dash rail when we chugged into town for the weeks supplies.
In 1979 I bought an AA and restored it to match the one that was cut down to make the doodlebug. Dad drove the restored truck on one of our outings and it was just "The Way it Was".