92 | Muzej Žeravica » Žeravica Museum R I TAM SRBI JE RHYTHM OF SERBIA Ž E R AV I CA MUSEUM The oldest functioning tractor celebrates its 100th birthday Žeravica, a word that our people use to refer to red-hot solid fuel residue, means something completely different in this story Once upon a time, two villages existed. Beodra, theoldervillage,whichwasfirstmentioned in 1331, while the younger village of Karlovo was founded in 1751. Karlovo changed its name to Dragutinovo in 1918, and then, in 1946, the two villages were merged to form today’s Novo Miloševo, a village located in Vojvodina, some 17 kilometres from Kikinda and 20 kilometres fromNovi Bečej. e root of our story can be traced back to 1909, when Milorad Žeravica was born. His hard-working family was engaged in agriculture and cultivated the land, and in 1924 it became the rst family to acquire the then marvel of technology that was the Fordson 10-20 HP tractor. Having a tractor in the village back then was a real rarity and something of an attraction. e family grew and developed, with highs and lows. And thusMilorad’s sonRankowas born in1929, and twoyears later cameMilivoj.Dedicated to the land, agriculture and technology, they opened the rstmechanicsworkshop in1936.Andduring thedi cultpostwar times theymanaged not only tomaintain this business, but also to improve it. e boys had di ering interests, but were equally successful at what they did. Ranko, the elder brother, was taken away from managing the farm early on by his great curiosity and basketball. He started working as a coach in the early 1950s, at a timewhenhe’d nishedhis playing career.Over thenext twenty years, and withgreat success, he ledYugoslavia’smen’s basketball team to the shiniest trophies on several occasions. He was the coach of ‘ e Blues’ at three Olympics, three world championships and three European championships. Meanwhile Milorad’s younger son, Milivoj, dedicated his entire working life to the development of Češka tatra, model 57b, proizvedena je 1957. godine The Czech Tatra, model 57b, produced in 1957
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