[AT] RE: B Allis

[Indiana Robinson]

	Around here old tractors seem to sell a bit higher than across the country in general. 
Indiana is not a large state but I would guess that there are a couple of hundred tractor 
shows of all sizes every year. Most county seat towns have one (92 counties) and there 
are a lot of small festivals that have old tractors as well. Being in the corn and hog 
belt there were a lot of tractors here in the heydays and there still are a lot of them 
but many were exported in the 1960's and 1970's. We also have a huge demand brought on by 
massive development and a proliferation of mini-farms. Everybody with an acre wants a 
tractor to putter with.
	A fairly decently restored AC-B with good rubber would bring about $2,000. An AC C would 
go a little higher. 8N Fords just go silly. They have always been high but I believe N-
Complete has increased the demand both by buying a lot of them to restore and by creating 
such a good supply of parts for them. People are quicker to buy something that they know 
they can walk in and buy parts off of the shelf for.
	Central Indiana and in particular Marion County (Indianapolis) and the 7 "donut" 
counties around Marion County are rapidly becoming a bit like parts of California. The 
level of development is just going absolutely insane... There are a lot of people with 
money here now and while they still allow a few of us poor folks to remain they are 
quickly trying to get us under control and will likely soon want to regulate our 
breeding.   :-)   Land prices are approaching "absurd"... A 20 some acre field just north 
of me on this road sold last year for $39,000 an acre. A multi millionaire friend now 
owns a couple of fields that we used to farm across the road and is developing it into 
hundreds and hundreds of homes. They can't get them up fast enough. They are popping up 
during the night like toadstools... I get a chuckle out of this guy, he is worth maybe 10 
to 15 million (we never talk money) and owns dozens of good sized farms over several 
counties (he doesn't farm). He was telling me a while back about a parts Gravely he 
bought (we both like Gravely's) and how much he debated about buying it because it was 
$200 and he was afraid it was too high...   :-)   I have not had time to talk to him 
lately but last I knew the pick-up truck he was driving looked worse than my old beater 
truck. 
	A lot of these folks moving in almost don't ask price, if they see an old tractor they 
want they just buy it regardless of price...

-- 
"farmer", Esquire
At Hewick Midwest
      Wealth beyond belief, just no money...

Paternal Robinson's here by way of Norway (Clan Gunn), Scottish Highlands,
Cleasby Yorkshire England, Virginia, Kentucky then Indiana. In America 100 
years 
before the revolution.


Francis Robinson
Central Indiana USA
robinson at svs.net