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The tractor you can't have/ get

R

Rich Iowa

Member
There is an Oliver 1850 sitting in the middle of this little town I moved to. What I've heard from everyone I've talked to about it, that tractor hasn't moved in at least 15-20 years and the owner is not the sort that sells anything. It's a gasser with a cab with no broken glass, good tin, tires look good but with sitting outside so long who knows if they are any good, and has a heavy duty 3pt blade. I often purposely go out of my way just to drive by that tractor. I don't really have a use for the tractor but find myself really wanting it.

Anyone do the same thing?
 
I have enough tractors to do any work I would ever need for the rest of my life. We only hobby farm 40 tillable acres and we have 11 two cylinders. The thing is often we dont need them but one you have the old tractors in your blood it becomes an addiction... It is the best hobby in the world..
 
I know what you mean by saying the old iron is an addiction. I currently have an Oliver 770 I'm slowly working on. I don't have the time or money for another tractor but they sure catch my eye. And no, I'm not suck on just one brand, I love them all.
 
My advice is don't listen to others that the owner won't sell. Find out for yourself. May be even try to be his friend. He might change his mind about selling it.
 
About 20 years ago I attended a auction of one
of our Ford customers who was pretty neat man.
At the Auction was the nicest orginal 1947 Model
john deere B"s I had ever seen. He bought new
& not one time in it"s life did it sit overnite
outside. Wasn"t not a ding or a scratch in the
sheetmetal, waxed & was the old original John
Deere green, only painting that had ever been
redone was on the stamped steel rear wheels &
frt wheels. It sold I think around 1750.00. I
wanted it, but really didn"t need it at all.
The man that purchase it live right next to our
Ford store, since he bought it, It has never
ever been inside, or waxed & it"s Not forsale?
Today you can hardly see it because of the
shoemac & brush that grown around it, still has
those new Firestone field & road tires ..

I do mean it is NOT forsale.. Few more years
it will be totally gone into the ground.
 
I would walk by a brand new tractor that sat at my dealership when ever I stopped in for parts this summer. It was exactly like the one I already had and really liked except it had a factory cab with heat and air. After the sudden death of couple of people I know I realized I may not be here forever. I said to heck with it and went and traded mine in on it. I figured I can't take it with me so I might as well enjoy myself and work in style while I can.
 
I would find out who owns it and ask them directly.

Be nice and polite even if they happen not to be. I have bought many this way.
 
A couple of years ago I inquired about a Ford Jubilee that had been sitting in the middle of a field for five or six years---so long that the wheel rims were down into the dirt, rusting. All tires bad, wires and parts missing. The owner had it in his mind it was worth the same as a running Jubilee in OK condition. He was insulted in my offer and told me he'd let it set there and rot before he'd give it away. I gathered that he had told lots of other guys the same thing. Apparently he got tired of people asking about it; I drove by a few weeks ago and saw that he had pulled it out of the field and put it behind his house. There's probably a lot of the same kind of thinking going on with this Oliver.
 
Its probably not for sale at a givaway price.There was an Oliver 99 I found out about and several people said it 'was not for sale' well I went over to the old fellow's house and asked about it.He was a little annoyed at first but we talked awhile and he explained that he wanted to also sell a non running 77 standard with the 99 so I said OK he asked would I give XXX for the 77 it was pretty rough but it was still a standard so I said sure,he laughed and said I was the first person that didn't call the 77 junk.He gave me a good deal on both of them and we were friends until he died.If you want to buy something the first Cardinal Rule is do NOT badmouth the item because it probably meant something to the owner at one time or another and it'll get you off on the bad foot every time.
 
I've always wanted a Case 1200 4wd, there is one south of Grand Rapids min along us 169. Been sitting there for at least 30 years. I've stopped several times to ask if they would sell it. First it was the dad and he said no he used it even tho it hasn't moved. Later the dad died and the son said no it wasn't for sale because he was going to use it. I know it hasn't been moved at least since 1986. It's a shame because it is a really strait one with a case cab, 3pt and pto.
 
If you want it, go right to the guy and ask him straight out.... He prolly thinks the rest of the townfolks are shitheads and don't want anything to do with them..... He'll feel the same about you as soon as he finds out you've been weaseling around behind his back....... Worse thing he can do is say no....... Then you just thank him and move on. Maybe ask him to take your number in case he changes his mind.....
 
Be polite and keep at it. I know a couple here in SW MO bought a nice farm that way, stopped and asked the old folks, but the anwer was no, sweetie. After 4-5 years, the phone rang, and the old couple had decided it was time to move to a home, and called that nice young cople and asked if they were still interested. Bought it. Everybody was very pleased.
 
These sort of situations are maddening, they'll let something rot right into the ground rather than sell it to someone who can make use of it. Personally have never wanted something like that but have seen plenty of situations where it took a death to get something on the open market (assuming the heir(s) didn't think it was golden too!).

So many people are very misinformed about value also. Ran into this in the antique biz when we did that many years ago, thought just because it was old that it was valuable. Had one guy tell me an oak wash stand was rare and valuable and he wanted $500 for it. Told him they are common, I see about one a week just like his, have never paid more than $200 for one and most were in better shape than his. He got huffy and walked off. You can't fix stupid, but you can work on ignorant, I guess.
 
I bought a old farm a few years back from son who sold parents place the house was falling in and a grown up around it. When I was cleaning it up I found a old John Deere B I cut all the trees and brush from around the B it was all there. I came back a few days later and could see where something had been slid across the ground from my land the the sons land I bounght the farm from it was the B John Deere. So I went to see the son he told me how his dad had used the B till he died and he had planned to get it off the land before he sold the land and he was going to use some of the money from the land sale to fix the John Deere up.......well the John Deere has not been moved vines and trees are growing up in it just like before ...it will rot right there but he will not sell it at all he stacked brush up to hide it from the road
 
My brother retired from farming 5 years ago. He sold all the good machinery, but kept some old stuff that he doesn't seem to really want to sell. D4 Cat, HD7 (AC), CII Gleaner w/cab, etc. I've hinted several times where he could advertise to sell the older equipment, but he just ignores me.
 
Very true. I bought a John Deere G for several hundred dollars less than what others had offered an old fellow. Because I didn't point out all the faults, but rather focused on the good points of the tractor, he called me the next day and said he would sell it to me at the price I offered him. A couple of guys were pretty upset I guess.
 
(quoted from post at 11:45:56 10/29/12) I bought a old farm a few years back from son who sold parents place the house was falling in and a grown up around it. When I was cleaning it up I found a old John Deere B I cut all the trees and brush from around the B it was all there. I came back a few days later and could see where something had been slid across the ground from my land the the sons land I bounght the farm from it was the B John Deere. So I went to see the son he told me how his dad had used the B till he died and he had planned to get it off the land before he sold the land and he was going to use some of the money from the land sale to fix the John Deere up.......well the John Deere has not been moved vines and trees are growing up in it just like before ...it will rot right there but he will not sell it at all he stacked brush up to hide it from the road
Click to expand...

He stole it from you and you let it go??????????? You got's more people skills and self control than me........
 
I've got a Suzuki Sidekick sitting in the yard, I get about 20 people a year come up wanting to buy it for nothing. It needs some work but its not ready for the scrap yard, so I'm not going to let it go for scrap price.

Some people get angry when I say its not for sale, or if I give them a price that I'd want to have for it. So I can sympathize with the tractor owners.
 
Agree with Dave on this one. You bought the land and everything on it...unless was stated in contract. By rights its yours and he stole it. Also trespassed.
 
Until a year ago, that stuff would bother me. There was/is a Ferguson F40 in a vine covered barnyard outside of Hartford Conn. I left a half dozen notes on the barn, mailbox, neighbor who wanted to know what I was doing, but couldn't get him on the phone... I left highball cash offers on these notes. Never a response. A year ago another YT fergie guy gave me a head's up to another F40 on Craigslist even closer to home, and 30% less than I was offering for this rat. The one I brought home is sweet and now good as new... the fellow that ignored me will have to pull his up the hill it slide down in Hurricane Irene last year. Not my problem. He coulda had my money, but didn't want it.
 
knew where a 4520 jd sat for a least 10 years, gentleman was asked many times to sell it. supposed to have had a broken crank, appearance was good and had a year round cab, its been gone now for a couple of years now
 

I would like an 801 Ford with Elenco front axle, because it's the one that I spent the most time on as a kid. There is one nearby that has the front cover missing off the differential They won't sell it and think that every one that asks is a tractor jockey.
 
I have WAY too many tractors and old cars so my system must work. Whenever I see something that I am interested in I do my best to find the owner. Then write what I would give for it on the back of one of my business cards and tell them if you decide to sell it at some point, give me a call. When I can't find the owner but someone that "knows" who owns it I usually give them one of my cards and then tell them if the owner calls me I'll send ya 10 bucks, if I buy it I'll send ya 20. Of course you have to follow through but I've had folks call with leads of owners numbers months after I've forgotten about items.
 
A guy not far from me had a field full of non-running JD 2 cylinders.
He wouldn't sell one, nor would he sell a part.
I asked him a couple of times, and know several others who asked over the years.
When he passed, his wife was so tired of telling people No that she scrapped
the whole lot so people wouldn't ask. :(
 
There was a 49' John Deere G on the farm I was raised on that I wanted. (I was raised by a good man who married my widowed Mother when I was very young and hence I became the b*&tard stepchild as far as the family's patriarch was concerned). Dad was from a prominent farm family and this G was bought new by him. The farm was incorporated after Dad left the farm. As the farm wound down in the late 90s. I approached my uncle about buying the G. I was told that it was not for sale and it would be preserved and kept in the family. Dad just told me to let it go, so I did. Along came auction day and the G was sold to somebody in West Virginia for a lot more than I could have paid for it. So it may have been preserved but rumor had it that it was going to be chopped up into a pulling tractor. Money is everything in some families. Rumor also had it that said uncle was looking for a tractor in his retirement, too bad I sold off the one's I had that I didn't want.
 
Never really bothered me. I've stopped a few times over the years to try and buy something. Some times it works and some times it don't. I figure it belongs to them, they want to let it set and rot....OH well. My BIL has 2 non running Farmall 560D's. I've offered him over scrap on both of the several times over the years. Both are missing sheet tin, both were parked due to bad engine problems and I don't think there is a decent tire in miles. Guess they will set there and rot. I know he wants to restore one but I know that tight wad, he'll never spend the money.

I'd love to have a 560 or 460 D.



Rick
 
I don't think it's weaseling asking who owns the tractor. It appears no one lives at the house and never see a vehicle in the drive. I see it more as research. You are correct though, the worst thing the owner will do is say no.
 
When I was a kid, the guy who rented my dad's small hay field had a 560 diesel. I remember that was a big tractor in my young eyes and I think the first 6 cylinder tractor I had been up close too. I would love to add one to my collection someday.
 
(quoted from post at 05:37:47 10/30/12) When I was a kid, the guy who rented my dad's small hay field had a 560 diesel. I remember that was a big tractor in my young eyes and I think the first 6 cylinder tractor I had been up close too. I would love to add one to my collection someday.
Click to expand...


560D was the first 50+ HP tractor I ran.

Rick
 
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