A continuation Deans post on antique tractor collecting...

I replied along with everyone else to Deans post below. I believe that the antique tractor market will always be around. Just in a different capacity than it is now. I think there will be people that have collections like Jay Leno has. A little smaller scale obviously, and a little less funding, possibly. But just like hit and miss engines and steam engines, the tradition of keeping old iron alive is going to carry on! I remain very optimistic! I mean, at 29 yrs old, I know there has to be some people that grew up on farms, like myself that still want to keep the family memories of these tractors alive. (And I'm in New York) So out west, down south, even some of my neighbors to the North that have much larger acreage and more farm country than I can ever imagine, they have to feel the same thoughts as I do.

(quoted from post at 20:22:02 08/20/18) I replied along with everyone else to Deans post below. I believe that the antique tractor market will always be around. Just in a different capacity than it is now. I think there will be people that have collections like Jay Leno has. A little smaller scale obviously, and a little less funding, possibly. But just like hit and miss engines and steam engines, the tradition of keeping old iron alive is going to carry on! I remain very optimistic! I mean, at 29 yrs old, I know there has to be some people that grew up on farms, like myself that still want to keep the family memories of these tractors alive. (And I'm in New York) So out west, down south, even some of my neighbors to the North that have much larger acreage and more farm country than I can ever imagine, they have to feel the same thoughts as I do.

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I have to disagree. Here, west MN, most guys still around are larger operation. Kids growing up here on farms don't see much old stuff unless dad takes em to a show. Oldest tractors I know of in day to day use as a primary tractor is early to mid 80's. Only a couple of older hobby guys are using anything older. We have guys who did grown up around tractors from the 40's and 50's. They are called grandpa by the kids being raised on farms today. Their kids grew up on tractors built in the late 50's, 60's and 70's. Then along came the 80's and a heck of a lot of farm kids became town kids real fast cutting that link. Heck I was in the Army most of the time my 2 oldest boys were growing up. But they did get to spend time with my dad on the farm. Both talk with fond memories of spending time on tractors. My younger 2 boys? Well one was 2 when grandpa retired from farming and sold off the equipment. They other hadn't been born. Neither cares one little bit about tractors and find them very boring.

No I don't think it will die all the way.......but it's gonna shrink a lot I think.

Rick

Well things have a way of changing that no one or few people expect,people are flush with money(credit) now but that can change real quick they may need to find an alternate to a
$50,000 tractor in the future.National Debt and consumer debt is extremely high and rising not a substainable situation.A couple old tractors to grow food with in the future might be
in demand.One thing is always certain things change always has always will.

I don't think anyone ever said it was going to completely die in a serious context. There will always be someone interested.

What everyone has to do is come to the realization that whatever will be, will be. You can't force people to do what they have no interest in, and if you're not willing to pick up the torch and run with it yourself, you have to accept what happens, period.

The new 30-50 HP tractors are so much handier with hydraulics, loaders, and 4WD, that I think the older tractors are going to fade. How many people are going to keep an old Cub running to mow grass vs buying a used zero turn? Plus, having a cab is a real plus. I think most of the older tractors were mainly designed for plowing and cultivating, which almost no one does on a small scale. The good news for those of us who still have old tractors is that used parts shpuld be available as tractors are retired and parted out. The bad news I think will be that new parts will dry up.

Things are going to change and that is just how it is. People can live in fantasy land all they like but the people who are most likely to collect tractors today do not have the income to pay the kinds of prices that quite a few models had risen to. A Farmall Super MTA D at 8,500 dollars or JD 730 at 10,000 is out of reach for nearly all who desire them. The people who could pay that kind of money by and large have other interests besides tractors. Prices have to come down and will come down to meet the market. It was a nice ride to watch your tractor rise to prices you never dreamed of but the people who kept the prices bouy'd at those levels are getting advanced in age and can no longer do so. Guys are going to have to face the reality as time moves forward that they will have to take less money for their tractors.

I dont think anyone said the hobby is going to die but to deny what lies right before our eyes wouldn't be very prudent? We are on the back side of a bubble of interest, if that is news to anyone I dont know how they missed it? Shows are closing up yearly around here and I have to say it was needed. Waaay too many and not very well attended. Nobody likes to spend the time and money to haul stuff to a show and be the only person looking at it. Commonly found 30s 40s 50s tractors are getting real cheap. Not talking about fence row stuff but restored ready to go barely bringing the cost if tires and tubes. I am afraid that when scrap goes back up the scrappers will out bid collectors for nice units.

Collectors brought most of this on themselves. They ran the price of antique tractors up to the point newer blood couldn't afford them and lost interest. I personally say if prices are dropping then, good. Maybe now someone can afford them, if any interest is left that is.

My ex wife's son has had 3 different tractors now never worked on a farm ,just worked with me on my place, he doesn't have loyalty to any one brand just uses them like a big go cart. Don't show any interest in the history or how they were used, so ya he is one who partly drove up prices.

(quoted from post at 06:16:05 08/21/18) My ex wife's son has had 3 different tractors now never worked on a farm ,just worked with me on my place, he doesn't have loyalty to any one brand just uses them like a big go cart. Don't show any interest in the history or how they were used, so ya he is one who partly drove up prices.

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He may have helped and so did others. For a while here it got to be popular to work in town and live in the country. Add in that a lot of the small farms folded in the 80's with the owners passing over the last 30 years. That saw a lot of the BTOs buying ground and putting the farm stead up for sale. House, barn and other out buildings on 5 or 10 acres. Lots of folks who bought those properties brought old tractors. C and B AC's. Ford Ns. A, B and C Farmalls with belly mowers. Lot of those folks are getting older now and the novelty of an old tractor has worn off. Now as they enter retirement they was PS, a loader and a cab! Good by AC, hello Kubota and zero turn. Been seeing a lot of that just in the last 2-3 years. Heck just 10 years ago here a Ford N, OK rubber, running was a 2,000 buck tractor. Not it's more like 900 unless it's something that's parade ready. Add that to the fact that a former farm kid old enough to really remember the "farm crisis" of the 80's would be a least 38 or older. Gotta remember between 1980 and now we lost a lot of farms/farm famlies. That's a lot fewer folks with a connection to these old tractors. And really, just how many, percentage wise of the total US population ever had a connection with a farm other than shoving food in their mouths? In 1980 the population was about 220-240 million people. Less than 4% were farmers.

Rick

I read most of Dean's post but didn't comment. Guys like me that ran stuff like Massey 165's and Ford 5000's when we were young I would think are looking toward stuff like that era to have as opposed to JD 2 cylinders and the old Farmalls and WD's and stuff like that. That stuff is running the 5 to 10K price range for anything decent so I'm not surprised the bottom is falling out of the older stuff.

(quoted from post at 15:26:24 08/21/18) I read most of Dean's post but didn't comment. Guys like me that ran stuff like Massey 165's and Ford 5000's when we were young I would think are looking toward stuff like that era to have as opposed to JD 2 cylinders and the old Farmalls and WD's and stuff like that. That stuff is running the 5 to 10K price range for anything decent so I'm not surprised the bottom is falling out of the older stuff.

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Phil I think part of what you may be missing is that the newer tractors like the X000 Fords and 1XX MF's have the hydraulics, PS and other improvements plus they have enough HP where for most they are not primary tillage tractors but they can run an auger or a round baler. Smaller mower conditioners too. So they have value to someone actually farming. You take something like an old Farmall C or JD B and what's a modern farmer going to do with it. So with interest in the older ones like that dying and not many farms having implements that would make them usable the value has tanked. Heck my round baler's owners manual calls for 70HP. Ain't going to run that off an M.

Rick

Rick