The Process of Sticker Shock

I bought an old hay wagon a couple of years ago. The idea was that I could convert it into our road-side vegetable farm stand. When I first had the idea for the farm stand I started searching around craigslist and Facebook marketplace for one of these old wagons. I really have to be honest here and say, what I found was a “sticker shock” moment. Most of the hay wagons were close to $1,000 for a really old one and I won’t even tell you how much a working condition one goes for. There were several for around $500 or so as well, but those needed tons of work and I felt like that was more money than I was will to spend on something I would need to completely rebuild.

I continued to search for a couple of weeks just to see if something showed more promise. Someone finally posted one that would be perfect for me in everyway. It was old, 1947 to be precise. It was cheap, $150. and based on the photos in the ad it didn’t look all that terrible of condition. The best part about this particular one was that it was for sale on a property about 2 miles north of the farm. I figured I would end up buying one that needed some work, and I had no idea how I was going to get it back here, so the fact that this one was so close and the trip would be mostly back roads was perfect. In the end I believe I ended up paying $125 for the wagon.

The Journey Home

Once I got the vegetable hay wagon home from the 2 mile journey I parked it in the back by the barn. From there I started brainstorming my first restoration ideas, but before I could get to dreaming big dreams about colors and deck designs I needed to take care of some minor repairs first. The first repair that I dealt with was a portion of the front axel. The brace was bent and needed to be straightened. I took a few pictures of the bend, and asked a couple guys at work what their thoughts were to fix it up proper. The suggestion I went with was to heat it up real good and use a pump jack to slowly push it back into place. The Idea worked like a charm. 

What Color Should It Be Painted?

I decided that since it was manufactured by International Harvester the frame should be painted back to the original red color. 

Time For Some Decking

Once I was able to get the frame all put back together, I was able to start planning what type of deck to put on. I wanted the durability and lifespan of treated lumber, combined with the awesome look and feel of raw pine. I decided to use treated lumber for where the wood met the metal frame. After installing the green lumber I decided to put a beautiful pine deck on top of it. The decking was finished by applying a bit of polyurethane. This really helped visually pull out the grain and knots in the wood.

Now, To Block Out The Sun

I decided the hay wagon needed to have some sort of roof or canopy. A canopy would protect the fruits and vegetables from being baked in the hot sun all day. Unfortunately, I could not find any photos of the roof process being done.  Basically, I made a five post wall for support. I then build a truss system that the metal roof could be attached to. The metal roof was painted red and white to give it that old sales stand look. I concluded the wagon by painting “Farm Fresh” across the front support beam.

The Wagon Remains

We have used this wagon for the past 3 summers. The weather wear seems to be quite limited and I’m sure it draws plenty of attention to passerby’s.