WATERLOO - For a green town, they're everywhere.

Red tractors are in front of and inside the Five Sullivan Brothers Convention Center. Parked near the entrance of the Ramada hotel. And even on Jefferson Street.

The International Harvester Collectors 17th annual National Winter Convention started Thursday, and I-H diehards are revved up about being in Waterloo - the home of John Deere tractors. Organizers believe the event will show International Harvester had as much of an impact on agriculture as its green counterpart.

In fact, a show official was quick to point out the convention's main attraction - an I-H 1066, the 5,000,000th tractor made by the company - rolled off the assembly line in 1974; Deere didn't reach that milestone until decades later.

"We left Arizona early to come," said Dennis Jacobsen, a farmer and I-H collector from Eagle Center who winters in a warmer climate.

The show is free to the public. It continues today and Saturday at the convention center from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Jacobsen said I-H shows never cease to amaze, and the winter convention is no different. There's always a wide selection of parts and unique gifts to buy and at least one implement stands out. This show has two - the 1066 that's never been in a field and Larry Leckband's hybrid Farmall AV. The Ocheyedan collector restored two of the 1940s-era utility tractors but apparently thought 16 horsepower wasn't good enough. After surgery with a cutting torch and some fancy welding, he combined two tractors into one.

"Farmers are known for making modifications, but not like that," Jacobsen said, as he mingled with other convention goers trying to figure out how shifting - it has two manual transmissions and gear shifters - works.

I-H clubs from around the country set up tables hawking everything red imaginable. Need a Kleenex box cover that looks like a couch with red tractors on it? Several are available for $15. How about children books featuring Tractor Mac, a Farmall that saves the day? Those are available for $7. Toy implements are always a big seller.

And of course, there's the bumper stickers and T-shirts picking on the competition. One shirt has three I-H tractors hooked to a sleigh saying "If Santa had a choice, he wouldn't choose deer."

"It's all good natured fun," said Bobbie Hammer of Newton, working in the Iowa Chapter 5 booth. "You just can't go to Wal-Mart and get any of this. There's a girl earlier that wrote a check for over $400."

Selling merchandise is the primary fundraiser for clubs, said Denny Hammer, Chapter 5 president. That's why the clubs continually invent new items to sell, he said.

"You never know what you're going to find," Denny Hammer said.

Some lucky person could win a restored 1941 Farmall H courtesy of South Tama High School FFA. For a $10 raffle ticket, the winner could drive away with a piece of history worth several thousand dollars. The drawing will be held July 25 at the Tama County Fair.

FFA members Bo Axler and Blake Nelson said the chapter was looking for a project that could also serve as a fundraiser. As of Thursday morning, about 200 tickets have been sold around Tama/Toledo and at the convention.

The high school juniors said that's enough to cover the restoration bills, but judging by interest in the machine at the event, they think it could be a real money-maker.

"We kind of hit the jackpot with this one," Axler said.

Contact Matthew Wilde at (319) 291-1579 or matt.wilde@wcfcourier.com.