Sad pictures, but fortunate things did not turn out worse. Nice old MTA probably easy to redo if you chose . Was the MTA owned by your family for a long time . Maybe since new I guess your dad wouldn't be quite old enough to have bought it new .
Rode the local fire truck half my life and seen alot of farm tractor / equipment fires started by battery cables from starter to battery problems . Maybe battery hold downs or cable clamps failed or were thrown in trash .
My dad and uncle bought the MTA in ~1965. My family is the second owner. Dad and my uncle each had one at that point. Both were equipped with 4.25” M&W stroker kits and would dyno all day at 75+ hp. Pulled 4-14” plows and 14’ disk. I grew up driving them starting at 8 years old disking. Trust me, one of those with dual rear tires, tricycle front end, 14’ disk in 3rd gear on moldboard plowed sod and you are ready for professional bull riding! Still use both of them yet as chore tractors. Original owner’s son, a very large farmer in the community, collector of all things red, has wanted the mta back for years. He has hinted at 10k several times but dad was always too stubborn to sell it. I have been a volunteer fireman for 29 of my 48 years and some of the hottest fires I have ever seen were tractors or combines.