[AT] Other related collections question for the list

Thu Dec 22 07:15:54 PST 2011

There is no doubt that the ledgers would tell a story, Ben, but you might not want to hear it.  There are some corporate policies forced on the Case-IH dealerships that cause them to do things that border on unethical in order to receive payment for services that have been rendered on a tractor but which may have had a minor clerical error in the paperwork.  BTDT.  It came to a head when I refused to pick the serial number of a different customer's tractor and saddle those records with a warranty claim unbeknown to the owner.

Larry

----- Original Message -----
From: "Ben Wagner" <supera1948 at gmail.com>
To: "Antique tractor email discussion group" <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Thursday, December 22, 2011 7:38:13 AM
Subject: Re: [AT] Other related collections question for the list

If I could choose between literature and the ledgers for the dealerships,
I'd choose the ledgers.

I'd still like to find the dealer accounting books for my local IH dealer
in Staunton, VA.  Tom Byers was his name.  TP Byers closed in the 80's
after Tom Byer's nephews forced the business bankrupt.  I know of five
family tractors that were purchased from TP Byers in the 30's and 40's, and
the books would contain the serial numbers.  Perhaps the Byers family has
them; the literature there was sold at auction from what I've heard.

On the other hand, the Harrisonburg dealership, JO Stickley's, has the the
books dating from 1912-1963 in the local historical society.  I've looked
through those books, searching for the serial number to my Granddad's Super
C.  His brother worked at the dealership, and Stickley sold the C to him at
net cost for $1654.20 in March, 1952.

The history in old ledgers is fantastic.  $980 bought you a brand new
McCormick Deering 10-20.  Some farmers knew how to work a deal; two Farmall
F-20's with cultivators and plow was sold the same day to two different
farmers.  The tractors were both new.  One man got his F-20 for $110 less
than common price, what the other man paid.  For Farmall fans, Stickley
sold some very low number A's, including the A #501 (or 507, the
handwriting was hard to read but I am nearly sure it was 501) with plow on
January 18, 1951.  I believe it almost had to be a resell, but I don't know
for sure.

The IH archives ought to preserve the ledgers of the IH dealerships if they
can get them.

Ben Wagner

On Wed, Dec 21, 2011 at 10:12 PM, Al Jones <farmallsupera at earthlink.net>wrote:

> Same basic thing happened to the original IH dealer in Wallace, NC in 1974
> (the year I was born.)  The owner wanted to sell the business but could not
> get a buyer because his price was too high.  There is no telling what he
> threw away would be worth today.
>
> A new dealer came in a few years later, closed up when things got bad in
> the '80s.  Don't know what happened to their stuff.
>
> Al
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> >From: charlie hill <charliehill at embarqmail.com>
> >Sent: Dec 21, 2011 9:21 PM
> >To: Antique tractor email discussion group <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
> >Subject: Re: [AT] Other related collections question for the list
> >
> >This conversation reminded me of something I think I told on this list
> many
> >years ago.   A doctor that lives down the road from me told me that his
> >grandfather was an IH dealer on the Del-Ma-Va peninsula, in Virginia I
> think
> >but maybe MD.  The dealership closed down, the old man died and the family
> >wanted to rent or sell the building so they hired a fellow to haul off all
> >of the NOS parts, literature, fixtures, you name it.   They just threw it
> >all away.
> >
> >Charlie
> >
> >-----Original Message-----
> >From: john hall
> >Sent: Wednesday, December 21, 2011 8:08 PM
> >To: Antique tractor email discussion group
> >Subject: Re: [AT] Other related collections question for the list
> >
> >It's a good thing you guys are that well organized and can share info.
> >easily. Must have taken quite some time to organize it all.
> >
> >For those that did not know it, the Wisconsin Historical Society has lots
> of
> >very early IH info that includes operators manuals, parts books, and even
> >blue-prints.
> >
> >John
> >
> >----- Original Message -----
> >From: "Larry Goss" <rlgoss at insightbb.com>
> >To: "Antique tractor email discussion group" <
> at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
> >Sent: Wednesday, December 21, 2011 12:23 AM
> >Subject: Re: [AT] Other related collections question for the list
> >
> >
> >> I've been doing that for years with Power King, Jim Dandy, and Economy
> >> tractors, John, but the situation is a bit different with the products
> >> from EPCO (Engineering Products Company).  They were only in business
> for
> >> 50 years, so the whole archive is effectively closed -- there won't be
> any
> >> additional models or literature produced. Bottom line: The archive
> >> currently contains around 32,000 pages of literature, and we use a wide
> >> geographic distribution of the whole collection as a way to make sure
> the
> >> information doesn't disappear.  Those of us who actively collect that
> >> brand have the ability to repair and/or restore whatever model crops up.
> >> It's being distributed in PDF format so anyone can open the whole
> >> collection and use it.
> >>
> >> The heirs of a former dealership gave me all the literature that had
> >> collected over the lifetime of the dealership.  I filled the whole crew
> >> cab of my pickup to move it all home. About a dozen various dealers and
> >> collectors from across the country have contributed literature to the
> >> archive over the years so we can make it as complete as possible.
> >>
> >> Larry
> >>
> >
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