by Nick Drew | Wed 01 May 2013
Classic Caterpillar D2 set for total refurbishment
Compact Cat Dealership W.H. Bond, is to restore a vintage Caterpillar D2 crawler tractor to its former glory, and have invited the Digger Man Blog to witness the restoration project over the coming months.
I recently travelled to one of the W.H. Bond’s premises in Trerulefoot, nr Saltash, Cornwall to take a look at the company’s latest recruit, a Caterpillar D2, which was lying in one of the workshops following its delivery from a recent auction. Despite our attempts to start the little crawler, it was not playing ball, so with the help of Tony Wagner, operating one of W.H. Bonds Cat 320E excavators, the machine was towed outside for the photo shoot.
According to Director Chris Bond, the machine has actually been started since it arrived in Cornwall, with their most experienced engineer managing to get the main engine running, but he has so far not managed to get the donkey engine fired up. Chris commented, “At this stage it really is a work in progress, but we would like to aim to have the job done before the Royal Cornwall Show in June, although that could be a little on the optimistic side”.
Chris related a humorous tale from the auction day. Most machines drive over the ramp to be paraded in front of potential buyers; however the little D2 required the assistance of a telehandler which was deployed to carry the machine across the ramp. Apparently the auctioneer bellowed out for all to hear, “The machine is being carried across the ramp, but hey at its age it deserves to be”!
Once restored, the baby Cat will go on display at the company’s Compact Cat premises in St Ive, to serve as a permanent reminder of Caterpillars earthmoving heritage, as it mingles in amongst the latest Caterpillar models in the showroom. Regular readers of my blog might recall that the team were going to save an old Hymac 690, but sadly the owner of the ageing excavator was not very pro-active and the bid fell through.
We will follow the progress of this restoration over the coming months here on the Digger Man Blog.