[AT] Best of ATIS? ---The D8 story

Ron Cook ron at lakeport-1.com
Sat May 5 08:49:12 PDT 2012


Charlie,
     You have pretty much stated it the way I see it.  Since the farming 
methods have changed to minimum and no till, the moldboard plow has been 
disappearing at an alarming rate to the scrap yards.  I have been trying 
to grab a few of them lately when the price works out before they are 
all gone.  I do not see myself adding any additional tractors unless 
they can so some sort of work that would pay their keep.

Ron Cook
Salix, IA
> Mike I think the old tractor hobby it's self has stabilized if not slowed.
> There are still lots of active participants but not that much growth that I
> see.  I think the show
> tractors have now been restored and the activity at this point is hauling
> them to a show.  As for the tractors for sale,  .12 cents per pound scrap
> prices got a lot of them.
> If you've got a 4000 lb hunk of rust with a stuck engine and four flat and
> dry rotted tires and some missing parts, it's hard to get $500.00 for it
> from a collector/restorer
> unless it's something really rare.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mike Sloane
> Sent: Saturday, May 05, 2012 8:15 AM
> To: Antique tractor email discussion group
> Subject: Re: [AT] Best of ATIS? ---The D8 story
>
> I don't know if I am "typical" of the membership, but I know my messages
> to the list have fallen off over the last several years. I can give you
> several reasons:
>
> When ATIS was created and for several years after, it was virtually the
> ONLY old tractor forum on the internet. Now there are niche lists and
> forums of all kinds, and they tend to attract a good deal of the message
> traffic. I participate on a couple of Cub lists and other Farmall lists,
> as well as Wheelhorse, Struck, Case (garden tractor), etc.
>
> When I retired ten years ago, my "disposable income" was reduced, and,
> while I had plenty of time to spend on old machinery, the money just
> wasn't there to buy more "project tractors".
>
> At the same time, I found that I had more than enough tractors and no
> more room to store them. I now have at least one or more tractors for
> every chore I need to do and a few that just sit in the back of the barn
> and collect dirt. (Fortunately, my neighbor's cats have been keeping the
> mouse population in check, so I don't mind that they call the tractor
> seats their bedrooms.) I would sell some of the "lawn ornaments" (Ford
> 2N, a couple of Cubs, a Farmall Super M, for instance), but the market
> just isn't there these days. Maybe when the market picks up...
>
> Speaking of markets, there just don't seem to be many old tractors for
> sale around here these days, except for some really sorry "ran when
> parked" hulks that have to be dug up. I don't know why that is.
>
> My main towing (and snow plowing) vehicle, an older Ford F350 mason
> dump, finally gave up the ghost and was replaced by a brand new half ton
> Toyota Tundra (my first brand new truck!). And while I love the truck,
> it really isn't suitable for hauling larger tractors. I sold my old
> trailer to a friend. So, unless I hire someone to haul for me, my
> fetching and delivering tractors is no more. (Cecil Monson and I used to
> go on a lot of "road trips, but that ended with his passing.)
>
> So, except for periodic mysterious problems with my existing machines, I
> really don't have much to contribute to the list. But I still very much
> enjoy reading others' messages about their tractor activities.
>
> Mike
>
>



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