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Your first tractor

K

Kow Farmer

Well-known Member
I was wondering how many of you remember or perhaps still own your first tractor? What model is or was it? How old were you when you bought it? How much did it cost you?
My first tractor was a 1948 M Farmall with loader. I was 24 years old. I paid $750.00 for it. It was owned by a retired farmer who used it twice a year. I had it all painted a few years later. I owned it for 9 years before I sold it to a IH collector. I look forward to all your responses. Thank you everyone.
Kow Farmer
 
930 comfort king 8 spd. Bought it in 1980 while I was still in High school. Paid $2500.00 Kept it 3 years and sure wish I had it back.
 
The first tractor I used came with the farm my dad bought when I was 4. It's a John Deere 50 and I still have it.
The first tractor I bought myself was a '48 Farmall Cub, and I still have it.
It came with about every option and implement imaginable for a cub, woods belly mower, cultivators, mold board plow, disk, grader blade, front scraper blade, live hydraulics, new tires, electric start, etc at a whopping $3500.
Wish I could get that for it now!
 
I was 9. I bought an Allis Chalmers C from the old elementary school janitor for $150,tractor and cultivator. Had new tires on it. Good running tractor. Had it for a year or so and sold it,bought an SC Case from the neighbor. 1950 model,he'd bought it new,his wife died in an accident in about 52 and the tractor had just sat in the barn. I don't have that one either,but it never left the neighborhood,a guy about two miles north still has it.
 
Farmall A 400.00 with cultivators, plow, snowblade and sicklebar mower. sold the attatchments to buy much needed tires. I was 12. worked like a dog unloading hay nights for neighbors to pay for it. still have it 40 yrs later.
 
Farmall F 12 5.00 yes five dollars took one day to find all dissasembled engine parts. Paid 10.00 for F14 just for carb which was missing used to mow pasture Next DC case needed work !50.00
 
Oliver 77 WFE paid $1500 for it.Put a lot of work and money into it and sold it due to a painful memory with it just needing paint to complete it.Now I many play with Ford tractors .I have a stray Farmall H in the herd also.

Vito
 
Bought a basket case 49 JD B at an auction. Paid $280 I think in the summer of 2005 when I was 18. Unfortunately it's still at my parents' house in IL in pieces. Someday I'll haul it up here and put it back together : ( Everyone at that auction knew I was taking that tractor home and man was my heart racing when the bidding started. I got it and called my FFA advisor/ag teacher to borrow his truck and trailer. Took it the 5 miles home and immediately proceeded to take it apart. That's when I joined YT and my handle became what it is.
 
Must have been the going price for a DC. I bought one from the neighbor for $50. Wheel bearings were out on one side. Drove it home on 3 wheels,put new bearings and a seal in it. Don't remember anymore what I got out of it,that was a long time ago,but seems like it was around $200.
 
Wife and I bought a 55 acre farm in 1972, the year after we got married. Paid $34,500, it had a house, barn and machine shed. I didn't have any machinery, so next summer we went shares with a neighbor. He hired a guy to cut and rake, and he baled.

The cut and rake guy had a Ford 8N and a MF "Dyna-Balance" mower. He left it at our place when he was done, and asked if I wanted to buy it. $900 for the tractor and mower- guy I was in the National Guard with was also a banker, and he loaned me the money on my signature. I had grown up with an 8N, so was comfortable buying it. Then tried some other tractors, and was then comfortable selling the N. As someone on here once said, "N Fords are really handy for going down and getting the mail. If you don't have too much mail."

Looking back, I think the guy owed money on it, and was about to have it repossessed, which is why he left it at my place rather than take it home.
 
First one I owned is my current ole ford 850, but the first one on this farm was a JD 2010, gas I believe, wide front and front end loader,console shift, about the same time a WWII era D7 came along, I still have that one and another about 1676 serial numbers apart, always loved the sound of that naturally aspirated slow turning D8800 4 cylinder diesel. We had JD B after that on the spreader, then a 4000 ford, later on a 460 IH, utility for snow removal, cab and all.

A good little tidbit about the JD 2010 was that the hired help, while spreading manure, somehow lost control, on the hill I live on today, and ended up in the 2nd floor of the larger of 2 hay barns, it had a heavy timber frame floor, tongue and groove decking, spreader was hanging out the back, was real young, but I remember the hole in the barn, had to be a scary ride, there was a bunch of new tractor tires up there in storage from the dealership we had, cushioned it maybe ? I also took my first brief solo ride on that tractor, popped it out of gear and rolled a short distance, had a lot of close calls when I was young, parents were not all that bright or just consumed with themselves, or they was trying to get rid of me, LOL no way a kid should have been able to do that and thats just one near miss there were many others LOL !
 
Through the years I've drove many a different tractor for other folks but 3 years ago I bought my first tractor...a '50 Ford 8N then gave it to my son to use on his place. Then last year I bought a IH 664 for $400.00...still got it.
 
When I was about 12, we had a older neighbor who was selling his place and moving to Florida. Dad and I went down there to see him and Dad bought a few things he was selling. Then Dad asked about an H Farmall with an old cable loader he used to plow snow. Frank said he would sell it to Dad for $15.00. (Yup, $15.00!) Dad was trying to get him to set a realistic price on it, finally Frank got up to $50.00. Dad still said it was worth more than that. Frank said if you don't buy it for that, I will sell it to someone else for that. Dad gave him the money, then told him it was for me. Frank's reply was, if I knew it was for him I would have given it to him myself and not taken any money. Years later we traded it for a M-5 Moline. Wonder where that old H is today.
 
1952 farmall super m was 14 at the time cost 1000 still have it at parents currently plan at bringing it to my house before winter since then have added 55 international 400 when i was 15 for 1750, 63 farmall 560 diesel when i was 22 for 2850, 69 farmall 756 diesel with new back tires for 5000 when i was 24 and finally a 58 john deere 720 diesel for 4100 also when i was 24 still have all of them the super m and 400 havent been used lately 560 gets used alot and dad uses the 756 all the time the 720 needs a pony motor clutch i think havent had time or money to really look at it
 
Grew up on a farm and Dad had an International 454. Drove it way more than I wanted too, if you know what I mean. Left the farm, joined the military for 12 years, then all over the East guiding and managing hook and bullet stores. Ended up in the Shenandoah Valley of VA a couple of years ago and lucked into a good deal on a 5 acre property. Been mowing all of it with a Husky zero turn.

Been hankering for another old motorcycle to tinker with for a year or so and saw a '51 Ferguson TO 30 with a brush mower about 400 yds from my driveway last month. Everything works just fine, so I brought it home for $1850 and now I have something that I can work on and mows the rough areas on the property. In the meantime, I've been looking for a plow and cultivator to turn in a garden next spring and getting together manuals and such for at least fixing the steering (needs new drag links and a pivot pin and bushing) while I use it for mowing. Plan on restoring it mechanically first, then maybe teach myself to do sheet metal work.
 
my dad bought a case dc when he was 13 and still has it he paid 300 for it, when he was 3or4 was the first time he drove that tractor was owned by the dairy farm behind where he grew up was also the first tractor i drove
 
I didn't start farming on my own until I was 46 so my first tractor was a worn out, but still kickin', Stage II Farmall Super M I bought in Febuary 1980.
 
well its a 1970 JD 4020 I bought in 2010 at the age of 20, Paid $7500 for it, will never sell it either, my dads first tractor was a 1970 4020 also he bought in 1979 at the age of 20, he still has that one too
 
I think I can beat most entries so far, I still have the first and only tractor my Grandfather bought, a new '36 f-20, AND the first tractor my Dad bought, a '57 Farmall 450 Diesel, in the early 70s. Since then I bought a couple more IHs, an M,H, two Super As and a plain A.
Also have a Case 580D backhoe and an Oliver 70 sitting in the fenceline, anyone want an Oliver?
 
My first was a 1964 Ford 4000 bought new in 64, I was 24 at the time.It cost 2840 dollars. Have regretted trading it many times, new paint disease is a hard one to get cured. Joe
 
430 Case,gas. bought on auction when I started farming. I was 20, and the old fella who had the sale wanted to help me out, so he told me to buy anything on his sale and I could pay him for it on terms. The tractor cost me $2000.00, I gave him $1000.00 cash and ten post dated cheuqes for $100.00. It sure was a nice thing for him to do, and that 430 CASE was a good little tractor. I sold it after the old guy passed on, needed a bigger tractor and my finances didn't allow for a lot of emotions. Bruce
 
I started with my granddad's tractor- a 1952 MT John Deere. We used it and the neighbor's B and 50 to do the farm. I planted my first 6 acres of corn with it when I was 13. I traded it on a new 2520D in 1970, and have added an 806, another B, a 4240 and 6400 to the stable of today. Others that have come and gone include a 350, a 165, a 656, a 3020, a 70 and an H.
 
My first was actually two, I bought a 46 Case vac that had ran through a cinderblock basement. It came with a parts tractor with most all of the parts that where damaged. Neither ran or had any paint for that matter.lol I was 19, took me about a month to get the 46 running. Used it daily till until it was sold off in my divorce. It was a total PITA to steer and really didnt have much horsepower but Id love to have it back. I check everyone I run across. I think I turned almost every bolt inside and out on that little tractor.lol
 
I bought my 1961 B-275 new when I was 15 years old. It was the "BIG" tractor on our tobacco farm until 1975. It has done everything from cultivating to chop corn for silage. The hour meter quit at 2356hrs. in 1964, has a lot of hours on it. For its 21st birthday I rolled bearings in it and ground the valves. The Lucas gen. & regulater are original. Retired to a finnish mower now, used it today.
 
Mine was a 1954 (born the same year I was)JD 70 Diesel with a few gears not working when I was 18 years young. Paid $1200.Learned how heavy everything is working on those tractors. Farmed several years with it till the operation out grew it. Wished many times I had kept it!
 
The first tractor that I bought(in '78) and paid for myself was a'59 JD 730 electric start diesl,wfe.Sadly it got sold in '83.Best fuel economy of anything I've ever seen.Someday I'd like to have another one.
 
My first was a 460 IH. It had a cracked head & I didn't give much for it. I fixed that & used it for everything. Plowing, disking, baling. blading, mowing. Then it burnt in the barn fire. Gerald
 
I bought a '47 Cockshutt 30 when I was 21. It had been my neighbour's when I was a kid. He custom square baled with it for my dad when I was 8 years old and I was too little to stack the bales, so I drove. When I was 21 the tractor had a wiring fire common to early Cockshutts, so he parked it out in a field. I had to beg him to take $300 for it. My dad and I towed it home with dad's Massey 44 so the neighbour wouldn't see that we could get it running in 5 minutes. My dad used it until I bought the farm when I was 27. Only problem was the farm I bought was 400 miles from the home place. I rented a trailer and borrowed my dad's '74 Crysler Newport with a 400 in it and proceeded to tow it home. Left Kitchener at 6pm and headed north to New Liskeard. Blew a tire on the trailer at Severn Bridge at 10:30 at night and had a crook sell me another one, finally got going at midnight. It was about 90 degrees, so I kept checking the tires every five or ten minutes, and had to wait until they cooled down. It took 5 hours to make North Bay, a 2 hour drive. At North Bay I had had enough, and parked the tractor at a friend's house and took the trailer and it's junky tires home. A couple of weeks later I drove my chevette to North Bay (120 miles) tied a hitch from a trailer to the front bumper of the car, hooked the hitch to the old Cockshutt, and pulled the chevette home. Took me 15 hours round trip. Didn't end up using it much, it's too light for the heavy soil here and no three point hitch. Traded it 10 years ago for an Allis D14, which doesn't do much work either.
 
my first tractor was a massey ferguson 1100 and a four bottom plow, I,m guessing my mother bought it for me at the hardware , I spent alot of days on my knees behind our house using it, after that it was a oliver 88 diesel with a new idea loader and now there is just to many to count .
 
In spring of "81 or so at 12 I bought a 1941 John Deere B, hand start, with a Stanhoist loader and a Char Lynn hydro pump bracketed to the hitch run off the PTO. Thing had such worn out rings and mag you had to pull it forever to get it to start.

With rings and a valve job done with no torque wrench and borrowed tools it ran amazingly. SOld the loader for $150, friend in the area still has the hydro pump in his garage.

The tractor had a paint job slapped over the bent sheet metal and incorrect decals (unstyled B decals) by me. I did pay a guy twenty bucks to spray the paint.

I sold it in June of "83 to a guy for $475, Nobody wanted an early, styled B then. They either wanted unstyled stuff or later stuff with Power Trol and Roll-a-matic.

Years later (2004?) my bud near home (Grey Eagle, MN) tracked it down. Seems I wrote the name and phone number of the guy I sold it to as well as the serial on the snapshot I had.

The thing changed owners a couple times, and was last in possession of a Steve Peterson on Little Falls, MN who I called several times, left messages, never got a call returned, and sent a letter with pics of me on the tractor many years earlier with my current phone number and a request to buy the tractor if he wanted to sell it.

I guess I must be a nutjob as he never responded to any of it.

The serial is 117956. If any of you know where it is, let me know.

1941handstartsyledB.jpg
 
This is the 41 Allis C that I bought in the spring of 2009 for $500, got running and used for about 6 months. I had been driving other tractors for a few years but this was the first that I owned personally. Traded it to someone who has since restored it for a Farmall H, which I still have but shortly will sell once I get my 300 all ready to go.
Zach
a78012.jpg
 
1951 Oliver Row Crop 66 purchased it for $650.00
I was 26 ,Since then a 48 and a 51 Farmall H a 41 Farmall B a 55 AC WD a 52 Ford 8N a 48 Ford 8n
a 59 Ford 901 and a MM 445 don"t know what year that was.Thats not bad for 29 years. Tony
 
A Farmall 300 LP Gas in 1980 with a 4 row John Deere RM cultivator. $1000. Next was a John Deere 3010 LP gas in 1981. $ 800.
 
Firat real tractor (not garden tractor) was a 48 M I paid $800 when I was 54. My youngest SIL had a pretty poor life with an abusive step dad. His step dad promised him an H that he had and then gave it to the SIL's brother. So a couple of years ago I gave the M to my SIL for Christmas. It's here on the farm (he is a OTR driver and my daughter and he live up the hill from me) and gets used a little. I'll be raking straw with it in the morning. I got a lot more enjoyment out of my 800 bucks watching his reaction to getting that M. When I decided to give it to him I bought a mason jar pre cleaner for it. Cleaned and painted the pre cleaner and wrapped that. When he opened it and I told him the rest of his present was in my yard!!!!!!!

Rick
 
I bought a stuck 1951 JD B while in high school and repaired it. I sold it for college money, wish now I had not done that. The tractor had M&W pistons and would really snort.
 
Not quite a tractor, but close,in 1980, Super 1049 New Holland balewagon for 18,000.ran it five seasons sold it to my BIL he still it
First tractor was a 1976, 2470 Case in 1982 for 24,000 still have it today.
 
got a kick out of these post with everyone so young buying tractors ...spent my whole life [64 yrs.old] on a farm & I didn't buy my own tractor until I was almost 50...in my young years I spent all my tractor driving money on beer & women or was it women & beer..LOL
 
I bought my first tractor in spring 76 when I was 14 with my crop money, It was a MH 44Special gas wf 3pt and hand clutch for live power. Got it at a sale for $325 and I was on top of the world when I drove it home. Dad had a 44Diesel and we covered alot of ground with them. I traded it and $500 in on a D17 series 3 (late) in 79 and made a good trade. Years later when you think back on it you have a soft spot for your first. Bandit
 
I was given my first tractor, an L Case in 1971. It has been torn down in a shed since Labor Day weekend 1978.
My first purchase was an RC Case in 1988. I overhauled it but screwed up and spun a rod bearing in my second parade in 1991 and still have not fixed it.
 
First tractor I ever ran was a Case model D on the farm of my dad's friend in Ovid/Interlaken New York..The first I ever actually owned was a freak of nature....Jd LA..A hand cranker that was rusted solid.. I beat the pistons free [cracked one] reused the other..Traded it for a snowmobile..It was a good trade..
 
1946 Allis Chalmers B, bought it in 1989 when I was 10 years old from my great uncle. Paid $900 (dad and grandpa did, but I had to rake a LOT of hay with that tractor to pay them back) for the tractor, tire chains, a rear buzz saw, and a two wheel trailer. Later traded it for a WD Allis, and that guy still has it. It is currently not for sale, but I've been promised first chance if/when he decides to sell it.
 
1952 Farmall H. Bought it in 76 the year we got married. Worked the hell out of that poor old tractor pulling a 1500 gallon vaccum tank. Sold that and bought a 560.
 
Bought a Model C Allis-Chalmers in sophomore year in HS, SN 23349, with money from FFA project. Don"t remember what happened to it. Bought a "41 B JD later, traded it for a Cat D4 when the folks were on the only vacation they ever took. I knew they wouldn"t let me do it, but made $150 on the deal...left home a year later...enough of that control crap.
 
Bought my first tractor when I was 39. We bought this place and it had a large garden spot, so I picked up a Allis-Chalmers CA with 3pt conversion with a Dearborn turn plow and a pull behind tandem disc. I used it for several years 'till the clutch let go. I replaced the clutch but never did finish putting everything back together. A few years later I bought a Ferguson TO-30 which I still have and sold the Allis.
 
'59 Ford 971 with a wide front end. Think it cost me $1700. I was 19, just out of tech school. Ran it two years, had the engine rebuilt by our local Ford dealer (who sold it new), and sold it to the grandson of the original owner before I even put one hour on the rebuilt engine. Used the money to help pay for my first cab tractor, a '77 Ford 7600 - also sold new by our local dealer. Still have that one - with 7800+ hours on it now.
 
Learned to drive on dad's Ford 960 tractor, was oh, long time ago. Still have the tractor.

First one I bought was a Ford TW-20 about 15 years ago, auction sale west of here went $10,600, still the main machine on the place.

--->Paul
 
I sure do!!! Haven't ran it in a couple years but I sit in it and pretend when I go to my folks' house. Gonna haul that up here too. Miss MN is always bugging me to take her for a ride in it.
 
I learned to drive on Dad"s JD MT...between gettin" on and off of it and watchin" him struggling with mounting the various implements, I was as happy as he was when he sent it down the road for a JD B. Other than the fact that it was Dad"s and I would buy it if I ran accross it, I don"t miss it a bit!
 
Farmall B. I was 12. Old neighbor lady had the engine rebuilt but didn't put antifreeze in it, it cracked the block. I welded it up and painted it. Paid $125.00. Second tractor is a 454 IHC, bought in 1976. along with new haying equipment, a 7' 990 MC, new idea wheel rake and a 430 IHC baler. Still have the tractor....James
 
a 48 Allis B,given to me when i was 12.i got it unstuck and used it for a couple years on my dad's dairy farm,we had only horses up to then.
My second tractor was a Ford mayor ,paid 2700 for it in 74,sold it for 3 grand in 1980,sold the allis at that time as well for 100 bucks.
Couldn't keep them as i was leaving Holland and heading for Canada.
First tractor here was a 73-1855 cockshutt,paid $3500,..still use it.
 
my first was a IH 706D in 1988, 1466 in 1990. i still have the 1466. i wish is would have kept the 706 but need to trade when i started out, i keep looking when one come up for sale to get one back. my other tractors i have is a 2470 case and a 968 i picked up late spring, i have my dads MF65 and my grandpa's 1946 vac case. i guess you can't have too many.
 
1st tractor was a Oliver 60 , paid 35.00 of
hard earned haying money, had 3 flat tires.
Had it for 6 months & running good & sold it
for 650.00.. I Did Good.....BTW I was 13..
 
My first one was a 1949 Case SC. I saw it sitting on the back lot of a John Deere dealer with one flat rear tire. Bought the rusty, but good running, old hulk for $100. Got a used tire and tube for $25. This was in 1971, I think. About a year after I got it I painted it. I used it to run a old belt driven hammermill in my hog raising operation. It is long gone now.
 
the first one i owned personaly was a early 40's d2 cat,traded a worn out pickup for it.followed closely by a john deere A. had two pieces of equipment, a one bottom jd drag type plow,and a steel wheeled moline grain drill ,that i took every other bottom off of to have enough parts to fix it. would plow and plant sudan. too rough to bale so i would just turn my old cows in and let them graze it down then pull them off and let it regrow.oddly enough that was some of the best sudan i ever grew,plowing it and leaving it rough held more water i guess.sold the tractors years ago,but i used that grain drill up until maybe 7-8 years ago for planting sudan. I still remember scrimping and saving up $10 to buy it.
 
'49 Farmall cub my dad gave me for my 9th birthday(ok, he may have given it to HIMSELF for my 9th birthday). He had one when he was a kid, thought I should have one too.
Had to replace the cracked block. Still use it to this day.

Ben
a78033.jpg
 
The first tractor I owned was a 8n Ford. Paid $6oo for it.This tractor was completly origional and ran like a top, plently of power, but not enough weight. Traded it for a JD B, purchased another JD, then a Oliver Super 88 Diesel. When my first wife split up I got rid of everything. A number of years went by, got another wife and some more tractors - CASE.
 
I think it was an Eartl, exact model unknown but it was red. Grandpa gave it to me for Christmas when I was probably 3 or 4.
 
Oliver 1655 when I was 16. Still have it today, I am almost 20 and don't plan on selling it.

Its been really nice reading all the stories on here about people and their first tractors.
 
First was a JD B unsyled Paid 25.00 Had been sitting many years. Dad helped me get it home and get it running. I was 12. Second was a 51 JD B 250.00 At auction. I was 14. At 16 I bought a super 88 for 800.00 Been olivers ever since. Still have the 88.
 
47 Farmall cub with hydraulics, snow blade, plow, belly mower. Bought when we moved from city to 2 acres. Been through a lot and still runnning okay. That was around 1986. Bit of welding and redoing over the years. Dave
 
47 Farmall cub with hydraulics, snow blade, plow, belly mower. Bought when we moved from city to 2 acres. Been through a lot and still runnning okay. That was around 1986. Bit of welding and redoing over the years. Dave
 
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