Page 408 - Peterson 85 Years and Going Strong

asking if he could bring a group to Akin’s ranch to see his collection. That was in 2012.
During the visit to his ranch, Akin pulled Ghilotti off to the side. “Come here for a minute. I want to show you something.” Then Akin held up a part and said, “I had this specially made. Do you know what it is?”
“It looks like some sort of coupling to me.”
“Yeah. It’s a coupling to tie the steering clutches together on a Siamese Twin D8 because I’m going to build one,” said Akin, half-joking.
“Yeah,” said Ghilotti, super excited. “Let’s do it!”
“You’re crazy. Do you know how much work it would be?”
Top left, clockwise: Bill Doyle & Duane Sr. on the Twin D8 at Peterson’s 80th anniversary event in San Leandro in Oct 2016; Buster Peterson
in the early 1950s; Buster Peterson on the Twin D8 prototype in San Leandro in 1950.
For the next six months, Ghilotti continued to call Akin and encourage him to go ahead with the idea. Akin’s answer was always the same. “You’re crazy. Do you know how much that would cost? How much work it would be?”
One day he finally relented. “If you want to do it, we’d better contact Peterson and make sure it’s okay with them because it’s their patent and their idea. And we’ll need their help if we’re go- ing to pull this off.” Ghilotti called Duane Doyle Sr. right away, and a few weeks later the three of them met. That lunch led to a partnership backed with a gentlemen’s handshake and a plan. Ed Akin would supply the correct vintage D8 tractors from his collection. Glen Ghilotti would rebuild the en- gines and supply all the transportation. And Peter- son would rebuild the frame and track assemblies, and then merge the two tractors into one. The Ret- ro Twin D8 project was finally on.
406 | PETERSON: 85 YEARS AND GOING STRONG