A LIFELONG tractor boy is thanking his lucky stars.Ever since Maurice Salter was a teenager, he has dreamt that he would one day own his own vintage tractor.

A LIFELONG tractor boy is thanking his lucky stars.

Ever since Maurice Salter was a teenager, he has dreamt that he would one day own his own vintage tractor.

The 53-year-old tractor enthusiast's ambition finally came true when he collected a 1960s full size B275 model from Kent, after winning a competition in a national magazine.

More than 5,000 people entered a contest run by Tractor Machinery magazines to win the first prize of a vintage tractor, which is worth about £1,500.

Mr Salter, of Woolnoughs, Grange Farm, Kesgrave, spends much of his free time travelling around tractor rallies to admire the different models, but has never been able to buy one of his own.

When he was told the news that he had won his own vintage version he could not believe his luck.

"It's something I've always wanted to own but I just couldn't splash out £1,500 or £2,000 just for my hobby," said Mr Salter, who works at Textron on the Ransomes industrial estate in Ipswich.

"It's a dream come true and everyone knows how much I wanted one so they just can't believe it.

"I've been interested in them for most of my life and I drove them when I used to work on a farm."

The competition was run over two months and required entrants to find small sections of a picture of a tractor and write down the page number in which they were found.

Mr Salter plans to store the tractor on a friend's farm in Bucklesham, near Ipswich.