Wayne E. Gamm

Wayne E. Gamm

By Cort Witt

Wayne E. Gamm was born on July 22, 1933.  So that means he is 73 years old.  He is a farmer.  He also is the president of the insurance company in Bowling Green, MO.  Somewhere along the line, he became a grandpa to a lovely little girl from Iowa.  That girl was me.

Grandpa Gamm was raised on a farm outside the tiny little town of Vera.  He had a brother named Vernon and a sister named Amy.  Grandpa went to school in a one room school house just down the road from where he lived.  In the beginning, he did two grades at a time which is how he was able to graduate at the age of sixteen.  

However, after he graduated high school, he decided that he wanted to be a mechanic at the local Case dealer.  He pursued that dream just for a little while before tragedy struck.  His father passed away not too long after Grandpa had started working there.  Grandpa had the choice of either selling the family farm or quitting his job and running the farm with his younger brother.  He chose to run the farm.

Fortunately, He and his brother still farm together to this day.  They still have some cattle and are still growing in the amount of acres they farm.

Grandpa and his brother Vernon never got along.  Recently they have started to put up with each other more because their mothers last parting wish was that her two boys learn to get along.  That shows how strong my Grandpa is.  I know it hurts him to have to get along with his brother and they still do have disagreements but nobody's perfect.  Grandpa and Vernon getting along gives me hope that maybe one day Nikole and I will put aside our differences and get along as well.

According to Grandpa, has another insanely awesome hobby.  He restores old Case tractors, old Case and Ford cars and trucks.  He is always ecstatic when he finishes a car or tractor.  He does research on the vehicle to find the exact color it was when it was first released off the assembly line.  I think that the work he does is absolutely amazing.  I wish I had that kind of amazing talent.

Grandpa is also a strong christian.  I remember when I was little and I would misbehave, he would tell me that God is always watching me.  Yes, this kind of scared me to know that I am always being watched but it is also comforting as well.  He also would occasionally give the sermon at his local church.  Sometimes they would go a short while without a pastor so Grandpa would always volunteer.  He is so full of wisdom and I love to listen to him speak.  

Grandpa has had a huge impact on my life.  If he never would have taught me about farming I may not have the amazing job I do to this day.  He got me started with my love for farming at a very young age and, man, am I happy that he did.  

Grandpa is a huge part of my life and I wouldn’t trade him for the world.  I love you Grandpa!

By Cort Witt

Firebird vs. Camaro

Firebird vs. Camaro

By Cort Witt

Over the years, many great muscle cars have been invented.  Two of those great cars are the Pontiac Firebird and the Chevy Camaro.

The Camaro was released five months before the Firebird.  However, both cars offered the choice between a six or eight cylinder engines.  Pontiac used the five months after the Camaro came out to improve and tweak the problems they found and create a unique identity for the car.  The Firebird is clearly the better choice over the Camaro.

Even though the Firebird used the same chassis and some of the same body panels of the Camaro, the Firebird had a much more advanced and sleek look.  The Firebird had a hidden advantage over the Camaro, however.  That advantage was under the hood. Firebird’s offered a wide range of different Pontiac engines.  They made five different Firebirds and the only difference was the engine.  They ranged in horsepower from 165 to 250 horsepower.  All then engines either came with a four speed manual or a two speed automatic transmission.  All of these engines were more powerful than what the Chevy Camaro offered.

The Firebird was manufactured from 1967 to 2002.  Ever since the Firebird came out, there has been a heated debate between the Camaro and the Firebird.  They are fighting for the title of the greatest muscle car ever invented.  Even though the Camaro is still in production today, the Firebird’s legacy still lives.  These two cars had quit competing against each other for a short while but in the year 2000 they started again.  They each had about the same body style and shape.

The Firebird is a great car.  I own one and it hasn’t failed me yet!  I have friends with Camaro’s and they say that they would much rather have a Firebird.  They have many more choices for engines as I have stated before.  The Camaro never made an engine that reached the same horsepower as the Firebird.  In a race, I know that the Firebird would win by a long shot!  Maybe some day I should race my friend that has a Firebird so I can prove it.

The Firebird also has one amazing feature that the Camaro does not.  That is the option of the T-Tops.  My 1985 Firebird has this option and I love it.  Convertibles are not safe because if you roll there is nothing between you and the pavement.  In a car with T-Tops, there is a strip of steel in the middle of the roof.  That  makes this car safe in case of an accident.  I am not going to be the person to roll it and find out if it is safe so I will just go with what I have read.

If I had a choice between a Camaro convertible or a Firebird with T-Tops I would defiantly chose the Firebird.  I would like to live in case of an accident.  The Firebird has a much more fast looking body as well.  It has a lot of hood air intakes and hood scoops that are factory.  Also, there is the option of the Firebird sticker on the hood.  I have one and it looks absolutely amazing.  On  most cars I do not like seeing stickers on cars as I believe they look trashy.  The Firebird is the acceptation.  The Firebird is not complete without the sticker!

So the next time you go out to trade cars, chose the Firebird.  Trust me, you will not be disappointed!

Persuasive Essay

Case IH Rocks!

By Cort Witt

Case International is the most outstanding and remarkable tractor company around.  There’s a saying that goes “If it aint red it stays in the shed” or another one is “Once you go red you’ll never go back”.  Both these statements are factual.  Case IH is one of the most popular tractor brands in the world so therefore, it is the best.

Case IH is made up of many companies which proves how there is strength in numbers.  In the year 1984, J. I. Case and International Harvester merged to form Case IH.  Yes, there were a few other companies involved in the merger like Farmall.  In the years after the merger, Case IH began to grown, just like it still is growing today.  Another huge merger that took place was in 2010 when Ford New Holland merged with Case IH to form Case New Holland (CNH).  That company now is in high demand and growing like crazy.  If New Holland was willing to give up it’s independence and join Case IH, it must be pretty great.  Everybody should at least try one piece of Case IH equipment and you will see how amazing it is.

If you are a John Deere person, you need to branch out of your small little world.  There are so many great advantages with Case IH unlike John Deere.  The people that put John Deere equipment together are extremely lazy and don’t really know what they are doing.  I know this from experience using all colors of equipment.  Yes, I know everything will break down at some point but every time we touch any piece of John Deere equipment it breaks down.  Also, Case IH is significantly cheaper than John Deere.  When you buy a piece of John Deere equipment, you are basically just paying more for the green paint because the higher price sure isn’t because it’s quality!

A sales technique of the dealerships is to push their customers to continue to buy all the same color or tractor and of course they want it to be their color.  Well don’t listen to them!  Farmers can have any color they want as long as it’s not green!  I strongly discourage green as I have stated before.  The people at the Case IH dealer in Willmar are not pushy at all and that is why I love to be in that environment.  Everybody should at least demo one piece of Case IH equipment and see how well you will like it.  Even if your neighbors get mad about you changing colors, it’s ok.  The only people you need to please is yourself and God.

Case IH is an absolutely huge company.  They have stores all over the world.  There are 4,000 dealers spread out between 160 different countries.  Now that’s one large company!  They also make very successful products like the quad-trac which is one of a kind.  If Case IH wasn't quality, then other companies wouldn’t want to merge with them now would they?

Everybody needs to try at least one piece of Case IH equipment.  Now I am not saying that you need to convert to all red but that would be O.K. if you really wanted to!  Once you go red you’ll never go back!