[AT] When did you start collecting old tractors?

[Indiana Robinson]

When did you start collecting old tractors?
Actually I asked my self that question today and I am having a hard
time coming up with a good answer.
I have always liked tractors and I do have strong memories of the two
McCormick 10-20's my father bought to make into one good one after
WW-II when new ones were still not super freely available and good
used ones were hard to find as well. Still, Tractors were pretty much
just a tool to me until my father and I picked up a few extras in the
late 1960's. Even then it was mostly for using not formal collecting.
The Farmall CUB we bought as a farm mower with a Woods model 42 deck.
Then we bought the little Allis C just because it belonged to an old
family friend who had passed away. Its "job" was mowing with the mid
mount sickle bar mower and running the auger and big double chain
elevator. I bought the MM-R because it was bought new by an uncle.
We bought the Super M mostly to carry a New Idea 2 row mounted picker
that a neighbor was selling. The S-MTA was an expansion on that job so
we would have a picker tractor with independent PTO. I found it over
in the next county. The Farmall 400 LP was just bought "because".  :-)
My 1948 John Deere A was given to me by a fellow that knew that I
liked old tractors... My Farmall F-30 (a project) was given to me by a
neighbor across the road (now deceased). My Farmall F-12 (a project) I
bought at a sale for $2. My Allis WC (another project) came from list
member Scott Pike. The MF-165D HA my father bought new about 1971. My
Deere 4020 I bought used from a dealer in Seymour IN who I found in
conversation that his first employer just out of high school was one
of my mother's uncles who owned a factory there for many years.
My first Case VAC (project) and Son Scott's VAI (not running but
complete except for tires that hold air) I got from a scrapper friend
in exchange for some scrap iron.
I bought and sold numerous tractors and implements for a number of
years. For a few years I was the largest farm equipment dealer in our
county. Of course that didn't take much. I had a little 3 building
complex out on a highway and I had a couple of rows of tractors and
implements lined up. After growing up with about 10 new tractor
dealers in the county at one point I was the only person in the county
selling farm machinery... How sad is that? Right now as far as I know
nobody is selling anything at all in this county now.
Anyway, when did you start collecting?


-- 
Have you hugged your horses today?

Francis Robinson
aka "farmer"
Central Indiana USA
robinson46176 at gmail.com