Jan. 10—MANDATA — Three Line Mountain High School seniors need the public’s help to secure the first place prize at the Pennsylvania Farm Show for their work on restoring a 1941 farm tractor.

They also hope to collect the $800 prize money given to the first place winner in order to recoup a small portion of the $7,000 they spent of their own money in the project.

Wade Shaffer, Eli Shaffer and Sam Wetzel, all seniors at Line Mountain High School, spent the past seven months restoring the tractor and making a video in order to enter the Lancaster Farming newspaper state-wide tractor restoration competition held at the farm show, in Harrisburg.

Now the three members of the Line Mountain Mahantango FFA need your vote at the website — lancasterfarming.com — in order to help them become the winners of the competition across the state.

“I really wanted to do this for the experience and because it was so much fun,” Wade Shaffer said.

“We tore everything apart and replaced everything.”

Wade Shaffer said the tractor did not run prior to the restoration and now it is back in perfect working condition.

“We worked on it when we could over the past seven months,” he said. “Things were so old on it and we were able to fix everything and gave it a new paint job.”

Eli Shaffer, who was instrumental on the mechanical side of the restoration, said he wanted to learn about the painting aspect of the restoration.

“I knew the mechanical things, but really wanted to learn about painting a tractor,” he said. “When they asked for my help, I was happy and agreed to be part of the project.”

Francine Ferster, Line Mountain High School Agriculture instructor, said she was proud of the students.

“They had an idea and they made it happen,” she said. “Sometimes kids get big ideas and don’t see them through, but these guys got it done.”

The cost of the restoration came in at $7,000, according to Wade Shaffer.

“It wasn’t cheap,” he said. “We used our own money for everything, but this was worth it.”

Wade Shaffer said the tractor, even with the restoration, is worth about $5,000, but the experience of restoring it was priceless.

The students also produced a video which is on the lancasterfarming.com as part of the competition. Individuals can visit the site and vote for the Line Mountain students, which would give them an additional $250 in prize money if they win the competition in Harrisburg.

“Wade (Shaffer) promised he would take me out to eat if we win something,” Eli Shaffer said. “So I hope we do.”

Voting closes at 3 p.m. Thursday. To see their video, search “Line Mountain Mahantango FFA Tractor Restoration Project” on YouTube.

Awards will be presented on Jan. 13 on the Lancaster Farming Stage, at the farm show complex.