[AT] When did you start collecting old tractors?

[Herbert Metz]

Lou,
Thank You for sharing this wonderful father-son bonding. 
Herb

> [Original Message]
> From: Louis <louis at kellnet.com>
> To: Antique tractor email discussion group <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
> Date: 12/11/2009 10:40:51 PM
> Subject: Re: [AT] When did you start collecting old tractors?
>
> 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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