[AT] When did you start collecting old tractors?

Al Jones farmallsupera at earthlink.net
Fri Dec 11 14:47:43 PST 2009


Here's my story.  I guess I was around older tractors by default.  By the
time I was born in 1974 Grandaddy's Super A was almost 26 years old, and
his B John Deere was 23.  My dad's 230--his first tractor--was 17.....I
just counted on my fingers and the first tractor my dad bought new after I
was born, a JD 2940, is now a year older than the Super A was when I was
born......

Anyhow my Grandaddy died after a long illness that affected him similar to
what Alzheimer's would have (Atherosclerosis, primarily in the blood
vessels feeding his brain) just before my 18th birthday in the summer of
1992.  His illness had robbed him of most of himself for close to three
years before that. Anyhow, when I was growing up we were very close and as
one of the older men in the community put it at his death, we "understood
each other."  I have never forgotten what he said.  We had always talked
about "re-painting" the Super A, mostly just talking as all it did by then
was tend the garden, but I never forgot it and even growing up I dreamed of
making it pretty again.  This, coupled with the fact there were no pictures
in the family albums of the tractor before I was born, and all the
paperwork--bill of sale, even the owners manual--were long gone, made me
want to see what it might've looked like in the fall of 1948 when it was
brand-new.

I subscribed to Red Power and got my first issue in January of 1993.  It
was all downhill from there!  I bought my first machine, strictly for
collecting, in 1995 when I got a McCormick-Deering 42R combine.  I bought
my first tractor strictly for collecting, a 1949 Cub, in 1998.  This is
when I met Spencer Yost when he and a friend delivered it for me.  In the
trip to my place, the transmission on their tow vehicle went out near
Newton Grove, NC and I had to meet them and bring the tractor the rest of
the way in.

At present, I have the Super A (finally finished in 2005) a nicer '49 Cub
with some implements, a non-running Super M, a R-160 IH truck that I need
to decide if I am going to keep or not, the 42R combine which is mainly a
parts machine now, a 52R combine with a Continental power unit, another 52R
with a Cub power unit and a grain bin, and a Farmall 856.  Plus my dad has
his 230 and a 424. I have owned the Cub that Spencer helped deliver, plus a
parts Cub, an IH Scout, a Farmall 450, and a #70 three bottom plow, but
they have been sold for other projects. I have enough projects right now to
last a lifetime!

Al

> [Original Message]
> From: Indiana Robinson <robinson46176 at gmail.com>
> To: Antique tractor email discussion group <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
> Date: 12/11/2009 1:59:31 PM
> Subject: Re: [AT] When did you start collecting old tractors?
>
> On Fri, Dec 11, 2009 at 12:56 PM, Keith Kinney
> <kkinney at herculesengines.com> wrote:
>  we got a 1925 McCormick Deering 10-20, also for $100.00.  It wasn't
> stuck and after putting a hot mag on it and messing around with it we
> had it running in short order. n't have them all.
> > Keith
> >
> >
> > Keith Kinney
> > kkinney at herculesengines.com
> > WWW.HerculesEngines.com
> =====================================
>
>
>
> A running 10-20 for $100... I'm going to be mopping up drool all day
now...  :-)
> -
> I would about sell one of my great grand kids for a running 10-20.
> When I see one selling it is always over my head. Some how the real
> bargains only come along when funds are very low.
>
>
>
> -- 
> Have you hugged your horses today?
>
> Francis Robinson
> aka "farmer"
> Central Indiana USA
> robinson46176 at gmail.com
>
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