[Farmall] Interesting Article

Craig Warner craig.warner at alumni.purdue.edu
Wed Apr 9 16:52:12 PDT 2008


http://tinyurl.com/4pt6kc


Old Tractors, Maserati Prices

By Jonathan Welsh, The Wall Street Journal
Last update: 11:12 a.m. EDT April 9, 2008
An auctioneer barks out numbers in rapid-fire rhythm. In a
standing-room-only crowd, proxy bidders hunch over their mobile phones and
cover their ears. Auction-house assistants fan out and move close to bidders
who seem most intent on winning.
What's at stake isn't contemporary sculpture or an Old Master painting on
the block at a Manhattan auction house. It's an old tractor, a 1960s John
Deere, at a recent auction in New Paris, Ind. After it sells -- for
$57,000 -- and it's time to drive the tractor away, there are so many
spectators trying to get a closer look that the sleek machine can only inch
its way gingerly off the block.

Old tractors like this one are exerting a new kind of pull. As collecting
interests a broader, wealthier audience, prices for many models, especially
those more than 40 years old, have surged. Some of the oldest tractors --
early 20th-century machines often powered by steam -- can now fetch $100,000
or more, up from about $10,000 a decade ago. Rarer models can sell for much
more.
While farmers have dominated the antique-tractor market in the past, they
are now bidding against a new, well-heeled breed of collector. The influx
mirrors the trend of city slickers buying up farmland for vacation homes in
rural parts of the country.
Dave Anton, a 47-year-old financial planner, grew up around Pittsburgh with
no agricultural background. He had a collection of rare cars before a friend
introduced him to antique tractors about seven years ago. "I was pretty well
hooked after that," he says. Mr. Anton and his family had recently moved to
a large property in rural Beaver County, Pa., where he had plenty of room to
drive and display his tractors. He treats them gently. "I don't run them in
the dirt anymore."
Other types of buyers, too, are fueling the run-up in prices. With grain
prices surging to historic levels, many farmers have more money in their
pockets. And even in the heart of the Midwest, European collectors are
jumping in to take advantage of the weak dollar.
A seasoned collector might be willing to pay a few thousand dollars for a
fairly common John Deere Model B, says Mark Stock, co-owner of Stock Auction
Co. in St. Edward, Neb. "But if someone with money who is new to the hobby
really wants it, he'll write a check for whatever it takes."
The result is a rise in prices that longtime enthusiasts say is making it
harder for them to continue collecting. Some European collectors "are
blowing us out of the water," says Duane Ver Ploeg, a restorer in Sully,
Iowa, who just returned from a big auction in Nebraska where an unusual
number of overseas collectors were bidding via the Internet.
Today's collectors pay a premium for rare models, like high-crop machines
with raised axles that allow crop cultivation after the plants have grown a
few feet high. Other sought-after types include "orchard" tractors like the
John Deere that sold for $57,000. They have striking-looking fenders that
protect delicate orchard trees and winery vines from the tractor's wheels.
"We had a John Deere 3020 Orchard model sell for $160,000 recently," says
Brian Zehring, a spokesman for auction company Dennis Polk Equipment in New
Paris, Ind., the company that auctioned the rare John Deeres last month.
Extremely rare machines can fetch $300,000 to $400,000.
The new interest is also boosting the tractor-restoration business -- as
well as the standards for restoration. Once, the job required little more
than a wire brush to scrape off rust and a few cans of spray paint that
approximated the machine's original color. Today, collectors want their
tractors to look new, with pristine sheet metal and all the proper parts,
including the original engine. This can be hard to accomplish, because
farmers often changed their tractors' parts and replaced worn-out engines
over decades of ownership.
"I want tractors that are as factory-original as possible," says Mr. Anton,
noting that the quality of collectible machines has risen in the past few
years.
Restorations can easily cost tens of thousands of dollars for tractors that
are in rough shape or are missing obscure parts, many of which have to be
reproduced by hand.
Specialists like Mr. Ver Ploeg, who recently finished a 400-hour restoration
of a rare John Deere tractor, typically charge $50 or more per hour -- the
same rate as some classic-car restorers. Tractor restorers face the same
pitfalls as car restorers, too. Inappropriate replacement parts or paint
that isn't the right shade can significantly alter a machine's value. At the
recent Indiana auction, another rare John Deere model, made even more
unusual because it was powered by liquid propane instead of diesel, drew a
lot of interest. But it failed to sell, in part, experts say, because it
lacked its original serial-number tag.
Carl Blasig, a longtime flower grower who collects Allis-Chalmers tractors,
points to a pair of big four-wheel-drive models parked at his Chesterfield,
N.J., farm. One of them is painted a darker shade of the manufacturer's
signature orange. "Over the years, they used three different shades of
orange, but the darker color is wrong for this model," says Mr. Blasig, who
has about 40 tractors. "I'll have to repaint it myself eventually."
While many antique tractors seem quaint by modern standards -- small,
underpowered and loud -- they were high tech for farmers of a century ago,
who had previously used plows drawn by draft animals. Farmers could also
attach accessories like balers and mowers -- now in demand as well among
collectors -- to cut the time needed for chores.
Even Porsche built farm tractors during the 1950s, and the vintage machines
are as sought after by collectors today as some of the company's antique
sports cars. Whether from Porsche, John Deere or McCormick or
Massey-Ferguson, vintage tractors mostly lead easier lives now than they did
when new. Buyers enter them in shows, drive them in parades and compete in
tractor-pull contests. Newer buyers tend to keep their pristine purchases in
sheds, or drive them around their yards.
Some traditionalists, however, continue to work the soil, even with
50-year-old machines. Mr. Blasig of New Jersey says he likes to hear the
stalwart chug of his tractors' engines.
"I make a point of using all of them," he says.




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