[AT] When did you start collecting old tractors?

Louis louis at kellnet.com
Fri Dec 11 19:40:40 PST 2009


I started in December 1986.  A friend and I were driving by a tractor
junk yard.  They had a few old tractors out front for sale.  My buddy
said that old John Deere will run on what ever you put in the tank.  Up
to that point I had no interest in 2 cylinder John Deere's, only the New
Generation and Generation II tractors we had on the farm.

I went back to the junk yard a few days later. The tractor was a 1946
John Deere A with electric start and lights.  It was complete, and in
pretty decent shape.  The owner wanted $850, I told him that I would
give him $700, he took it.  

I bought it, because I wanted to see what made be able to burn any type
of fuel.  I was young (22) and curious.  I got it back to the farm.
That night my dad came out, he wasn't to happy with me. He figured that
it was just going to be a piece of "junk" to sit around.  Over the
course of the next nine months, I restored the tractor.  My dad by then
was thrilled with the job that I did (he was a perfectionist), he went
out bought me a John Deere D for Christmas of 1987, so I could restore
it.  He got me a D, because as a kid he always wanted one.  I restored
the D, and took it to EXPO II, in Waterloo, IA.  There Deere picked it
to be one of 13 tractors to be on their 1992 calander.  My dad was
really thrilled about that, so was I.

Lou 

-----Original Message-----
From: at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com
[mailto:at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com] On Behalf Of Indiana
Robinson
Sent: Wednesday, December 09, 2009 4:24 PM
To: Antique tractor email discussion group
Subject: [AT] When did you start collecting old tractors?


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 _______________________________________________
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