Question about real low hour stories.

With the 4440 with 47 hours selling today for $58,000 and the folks on here who have said they did not belive the story behind it I was wander'n about something. We have all heard the stories about some one finding a new tractor that got forgot'n bout for 50 years in a barn some where. How many of us have seen or know of stories like this for real? Where some one buys a tractor and then dies or what ever? Here is the story behind the closest thing I know of a story like this.

My brother worked for a guy while he was in high school. Guy he worked for rented a farm from an older guy who also raised a few cows. The older guy was a coal miner who retired about the time the mines were coming under his paid for 200 acres. He wanted cows so he sowed down about 25 acres for pasture to raise a few cows on. Needed something to mow it with so he went and bought a new 2955 and a 15' mower. Hooked the mower up at the dealer drove it home and it has not been unhooked since. About 3 years ago my brother was asked to back it out of the shed so they could put back a tobacco wagon up in the tractor's spot for the night. It was showing around 120 hours and still had paper on the floor of the cab. For the last 20 years the man had used to mow his pasture one time a year and that was it.

I thought it was a neat story. Whats the wildest story yall know of like this?

Thanks.

Dave

About two years ago while at a car/tractor show cruise a gentelmen told me about a 54 cub that had been stored for 30 years.

"Sure it was".

Well i gave him a card and told him to call me if he wanted to sell it,one week later he called.

The story went his neighbor had bought it new with a plow,disc,moldboard,front plow, and a sickle mower. Well it was sitting in a barn with the sickle mower on it.

The orignal seat is perfect the orignal tires are on it and there not cracked ,tool box,battery box etc etc perfect "WOW". The paint is great on the tractor and sickle bar mower.

It would run but not well and both bull gears were leaking. The gas tank in side looked like it was brand new and all the normal wear points were tight and not worn.

So i asked how much! He says he "knows" he can get between $5000.00 and $6000.00 on ebay for it....... Ok. So i told him to call if it doesn"t sell.

Well about three weeks later he called and $3000.00 took everything. The bull gears needed all new seals and gaskets and i put new brakes in anyway seeing as how i was there.

The motor had stuck valves so alot of attention was paid to the motor.

It runs like a champ and the trans is dead silent unlike so many cub trans.

So yes low hr tractors are out there. Now i want a old HEMI car someone forgot about.

This tractor is sitting in the garage as i type this unrestored and proud to have it.

Jim

People buy a lot of stuff and die or get disabled. Sugaring equipment, vehicles, tractors, campers, etc... I knew one guy who bought a brand new pickup with a standard shift. He was one of those guys who wouldn't consider an automatic. Heres the problem, two months later he had a stroke or something. He couldn't drive it again, and his wife couldn't drive a standard. She didn't know what she was going to do with it.

I also know of a truck that has sat probably the last 6 years. After her husband died, she kept it in the garage right where he had left it. She couldn't bring herself to get rid of it. She just died this fall and now its in the daughter's care. As far as I know, everything is still there. The first thing that happened was the daughter quickly posted the land.

Usually, if its a newer vehicle or what not, the family sells it, but sometimes they can't bring themselves to part with their dead relative's belongings. Those turn into the old forgotten about cars in barns.

A few years back I went to a farm auction near Lebanon IN. There was an old JD 70 tractor there but had already sold prior to the auction. Story I got on it was it was diven to the farm from the dealer and the next day the battery went south. Dealer refused to warranty it and the farmer said screw it and left it sit in the shed right where he parked it. Never ran it again. My Dad told me about a 26 Model T that a farmer south of Indianapolis had bought new. When he got back home with the new car he found a note that his wife left with a salesman and wouldn't be coming back. He blamed that car for the whole fiasco and never drove it again. I guess it sat in that shed until he died. I knew of another new 1928 Chevy 2 dr sedan on the north side of Indianapolis, that was given to a young girl. She never learned how to drive (was scared to death to try and learn) and the car sat in the garage right where it was parked when it came back from the dealership. When I saw the car it had 14.7 miles on it! That was the mileage from the dealership to her house. Still had the original engine oil in it also! Last I heard it has 15. something miles on it and is now in Illinois.

I forgot to add this one. A few years back I went to another farm auction in Strawtown IN. This guy farmed over 1000 acres back in the day and was always tinkering with modifying tractors and equipment to get the job done. He built F20s with ford flat heads and other engines and even had a W9 that had a GMC sreamer engine in it etc. Had TONS of them sitting out in the woods when they were spent. Well, he had 2 crawlers that were supposedly built for the military during WW1 to haul howitzers through the mud in France. War ended and the Army cancelled the contract for these crawlers. Some how this farmer got hold of them and they looked to be low hour machines. Not much built up grease and dust on anything I remember. They had Holt under carraige, A large Winton car engine possibly 500 CID or bigger, and the armor platearound the engine and in front of the radiator was made by Diebold Safe company. Real neat machines. The leather fan belt had rotted off one of them and the fan was turning in the breeze. Bad thing is they sat out in the woods for years but still looked like they could be made to run again. It was steered by a T handle and the poor driver sat way out in the open with no proctetion from snipers whatsoever. One guy bought both of them and I think they went out west somewhere. I would like to know more about them if anyone knows where they went.

A fellow who grew up as a friend and neighbor of my wife's family went on to become a Ford dealer in Hickman, Nebraska.

From 1961 to 1968 every year he put away in a warehouse a new top of the line two door hardtop or top of the line pickup. None had over ten miles on them. Every six months, he drove them around the block a couple of times to stir up all the fluids, worked all the controls, ran the windows down and up, etc. Time passed, he and his wife divorced, and he move to California and became a Toyota dealer. All the while, these vehicles sat in the warehouse, along with a few other choice ones he'd collected.

About ten years or so ago, they finally auctioned them all. It was a big news story for a couple of days, but as I recall the vehicles really didn't bring as much as was expected.

Have a friend who bought hay out of the front of a barm near cortez colorado. He usually checks around and has some older pieces. He was in a hurry, later (2 months) fellow was in town with 38 G JD on steel with origional manuel wired to tool box and A JD on steel low hours. Grand daughter of JD dealer getting rid of junk in back of barn!!! He always looks behind hay now!!

In Harrison County there is on blocks a 1972 LTD Brougham 2 door Landau ,429/4V..with less than 5000 miles ... True Story ,as I recall , The dad bought the car and worked at Ford , He died because of Heart? or other illness... The 20 yr Old son got the car and cherrished it and took immaculate cre of it and his mothers new Thunderbird ,Then within 6monthes the Son got killed in a Freak logging or firewood cutting accident , Limb fell out of tree and got him .. When I worked on the Ladies house the neighbor Would start the car Once per month and engage tranny and pump the brakes.. the Widow kept the LTD as a memory of her son and husband . last I heard All is Stilll there ..

I'm not saying too much to give things away,but I know where there is an early 50s tractor,bought new and delivered to the farm where it sits right now. The old gal is 102 years old. Her husband has been gone for a long time. This tractor worked a 60 acre farm. I've seen it outside once in the past 20 years. I've talked to her nephew several times about it,he has talked to his cousins. They said it will be for sale eventually. Guess they're waiting for the old gal to pass away. I doubt the tractor has enough hours to say so. He was probably 50 when he bought it and had an off farm job. So,yes,they're still out there. I'm just biding my time on this one.

I don't remember the details, but a while ago Wengers in PA had a Ferguson TO-30 (I think) in their showroom where the man that bought it paid for it with cash and died a few days later. Sat in the shed until they came to the farm to clean out old implements etc. It had ridiculously low hours on it- maybe 15?. It was all original as they found it. Pretty neat to see.

I know where there is 1929 Lincoln with 29 miles on it, that's the distance from the dealer in Sacto to the Rock Quarry in Rocklin where it ended up about 100 ft. down.
Walt

I have a brand new john deere horse drawn cultivator i bought out of an old building that was a JD dealership in the 1920's.

my brother in law knows where there are 4 57 chevys sitting in a rail car brand new some how they got lost in shipment from the factory to the dealership they made some calls to the factory and all the dealerships around the area no one has any record of them ever being shipped or anything also i bought a jd 70 last spring that doesnt apper to have hardly ever have been worked or was extremely well cared forhas all gueard in place no wear on drawbare no wear on belt pully no unatural noises of any kind if i had to guess id say it has less than 1,000 hours on it which i consider low for a 60 y/o tractor everything works has original genny someone did replace the manifolds on it though tires are not original no dents in hood (and this is a loader tractor)

i hope someone can confirm this story.
i was told the man with 47 hour 4440 had lots of land with oil under it.
the oil company bought the tractors for the land owner as he didn't need the money.
he then rented the farms to others. he would then help the tenants when he wanted using his tractors.
does anyone know if they is any thing to this?

That is correct.It was on Succcesful Farmings website.

Not real old, but my dad has a 2003 Ford F250 4x4 with 12,000 miles. He got sick right after he bought it. Now, I just charge the battery every 6 months and drive it to get inspected and then back home. Dad still likes having it around.