Anybody selling any tractors these days?

Chris(WA)

Well-known Member
Has anyone had any luck selling old tractors these days?
I have had a couple tractors(late 40's Allis C and an early Cub) for sale, for prices I thought were more than fair, since before Christmas. Not one call or email. Not trying to advertise them here, just wanted to get a feel for what others are experiencing. Has the spark gone out of the hobby?
 
(quoted from post at 18:38:33 02/21/18) Has anyone had any luck selling old tractors these days?
I have had a couple tractors(late 40's Allis C and an early Cub) for sale, for prices I thought were more than fair, since before Christmas. Not one call or email. Not trying to advertise them here, just wanted to get a feel for what others are experiencing. Has the spark gone out of the hobby?

This has been a hot topic here of late and the general thought is that yea, lot of the spark is gone. Here in my area and area matters a C Allis is worth about 1K or less. H Farmall is now about a 900 buck tractor. Gotta be real special to be worth any money.

Rick
 
A pair of pretty decent Farmall H's sold for 800 and 700 dollars respectively last Nov at a consignment sale.
 
If no response,your asking price is too high. Drop the price,or haul them to the local consignment sale if you really want to sell.
 
A few months ago, I actually purchased a fix-er-upper, circa 1950, with a locked up engine to restore. I originally had shown interest, he had verbally sold it to somebody else, transaction fell through, and he came crawling back to me.
I'm looking at an 880 OilAllOver on a farm sale that I hope to bid on this weekend. I'm actually hoping for bad weather to keep other bidders away. :)
 
Hard for me to believe no one is interested in cool old machines. I did not grow up on a farm and have no emotional investment in any old tractor...but I still like them. The problem I have, and I think it is the problem with the hobby, is that guys are asking too much for their tractors. I have not bought one in years. Always end up walking away in disgust. When you start seeing rusty old tractors selling closer to scrap...which realistically is what the true value is...then you will see more interest. It is fundamental economics. If you put it up for sale and it just sits ther, it is overpriced.
 
The common tractors just are not selling well. There value has been dropping over the past ten years. The decline is accelerating. The smaller mass produced ones are really taking hits. The IH "H", IH 'C', the AC "C".AC "B",AC WD, JD Styled "B", and others will hardly bring more than $1000 with good tires. The models that where not as common will still bring fair money but not crazy money. JD "H", AC "G", both will still sell well. You can't hardly give a Case Vac away here.

The models with out a factory three point hitch just do not sell very well. The IH Cub just does not have enough power to really do much these days. Riding lawn mowers have 25 HP now.

The generational shift is taking it toll too. The fellows that grew up with the models we are talking about are dying off. The next generation is not as interested in the small tractors. They are collecting the "BIG" horses. Know of a IH 1066 with 2972 original hours brought $27K. So there is money out there but it is not going to the tractors that used to be common sellers.
 
Dave Just not so here in my parts, as JD seller said ,just plain no interest, not the price, it is just fact that their is NO one who wants a cub or those plain tractors at any price. If you are real serious about selling most times you just end up loading them up and carrying to scrap yard. Just lots more old tractors than they are folks wanting to buy them. Any thing like A farmalls, C ACs and the things with not 3 point are absolutely the worst.
 
I had a different one for me in my barn, a case VC. I had to buy it to get an original Oliver 66. I sat on the VC for a few years because it was so nice. Decided to sell it. Couldn?t hardly give that dude away
 
So-called antique tractors with a few exceptions, most of which are green, are not selling and prices continue to decline.

New Kubotas are selling like hot cakes.

Dean
 
The tractors that I am trying to sell dont ever seem to bring anything, but if I go to an auction to buy one it will go stupid high.
 
It's sad to see but antique anything except hand made furniture doesn't seem to bring any interest around here either. Seems current middle aged guys want the newest toys with their extra cash if they're lucky enough to have any.
 
Getting REAL here, going back 50+ years, unless you had a really rare tractor, or blew smoke up somebody's butt that your crudely repainted/"overhauled" tractor is special/worth more than it really is there's no money to be made here.

It's unikely (but possible) you will "beat the odds" and get good money for a common old tractor.

On the other hand, restoring a tractor that's from the family and/or means something to you is PRICELESS.
 
Dave Some tractors here just do not have a bottom much over scrap even if they are nice.

Two years ago I ended up buying two Case VAC tractors over a month period. The first I bought because a little boy ,my Wife baby sets for, name is Casin. He is a Case tractor nut. So I bought one just to take him on tractor rides when he is around. I gave $800 for it with good paint and almost new tires. The second was in a group of tractors I bought off an estate. I had to take all or none of the tractors. I ended up with around $750 in the tractor. It actually was a nicer tractor in that the sheet metal had not had major repairs like the first I bought. I advertised it for sale with a $900 price tag hoping to get my money back. I only had two lookers and they only offered me $500 and $600 respectively. I parted it out. The tires, sheet metal and motor grossed me $650 and the rest went to scrap. Brought $100. So I broke even. The tractor above is the tractor before I parted it out. Why it would not be worth $800-900 is beyond me.
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I paid too much for all my tractors. But it was what I wanted at the time. Never planned to resell for profit. In fact nearly 10 years ago many were saying then, there wasn't any money in restoring tractors. Oh well my intention from the beginning was to will them to the kids and Grandkids. Once they are theirs they can choose what to do with them. I am still using and playing with them for now. gobble
 
The "up" side to prices being low, is that it's easier for the real enthusiasts to buy more. The more you buy, the more time and money you need to put into maintaining them. Even just sitting still, batteries deteriorate, fuel deteriorates, and tires can go flat. You have to enjoy doing the maintenance, or you won't feel like paying much for more tractors.
 
To sell today...they have to be either "rare" or "useful ". Those two will sell and for fair money. Everything else brings "play toy" money.
 
(quoted from post at 20:42:00 02/21/18) The common tractors just are not selling well. ................................You can't hardly give a Case Vac away here.

Yep - if you bought one for $700 in 2005 you'd need to get $888.41 for it now just to keep even with the cost of living!









:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :( :( :lol:
 
What's the more than fair price you refer to? What's killed old tractor prices is there are a lot of a little more modern good useful tractors around with good hydraulics,good lift system,often with power steering,comfortable to operate for not a whole lot.I use all older tractors on my farm mostly from the 60's and 70's.Example is a David Brown 990 bought it for
$500 running with good tires,3pt hitch horrible paint job but lots of paint and no rust(LOL).Put less than $500 more in it for a pump seal kit,alternator and a few things.Now I have a very
good useable diesel tractor for less than a thousand$.No way I'm going out and pay close to that for some old tractor with just a drawbar and no live PTO that will burn 2 or 3 times the fuel.
There are deals around have a good running,good looking Oliver 1600 utility,with 3pt,dual remotes,gas,PS,75% tires on rear I bought at auction 2 years ago for $2200. That's why old
wood draggers aren't bringing any money these days as much better tractors are selling for not a whole lot more.
 
(quoted from post at 20:35:28 02/21/18) Yep. Value of n fords has dropped dramatically. Rest are barely holding their own.

Yep, gotta agree, them old Fords have dropped to nearly to what 2 comparable ACs are worth! Like say a AC C, worth maybe 500 with good rubber and decent paint while a 9N, rusty with so so rubber is still worth 1,000........ :lol: :lol: :lol:

Rick
 
I have said this many times on this forum, it's all about location. A Ford and the smaller Massey's still bring very good money in my neck of the woods. Friend of mine sold a MF 35 gas last week for $3750.00. A good 8N will still bring $2500.00, a 861 Ford 5Spd Diesel will bring $5000 or more. I sold a 4000 SOS with PS for 4250.00 and an AC WD-45 for $2750.00. A nice 3600 Ford will bring 7000.00 and a 4600 will bring close to $10,000.Good older tractors in my area are hard to find. The new ones are plagued with too many problems and the dealers are too few that can fix them. The older stuff still sells good here.
 
I need to be buying you some WD 45s for sure, Takes a good one on good tires to bring anything over a thousand around here.
 
I could go for an hour ride and easily find enough WD's and WD45's to fill s semi-trailer. Just tell me what street corner to park at to sell them off.
 
Everything on the Omaha craigslist seems to be way over priced. Too many guys bought into the hobby at the height of the hype and now want a return on investment. Saw one guy had a pink Farmall C and want $4000 because he just wanted to get back out of it what he had in it. I laughed.

I have a John Deere buddy seat brand new in box I have been trying to sell since last October and it's been a no go. A couple calls here and there, but they really low ball me on the price.
 
It seems to me everyone wants a tractor with a loader that looks good on the tractor and not something cobbled together. I have old tractors but don't expect to get what I have in them but were bought mostly for sentimental reasons and for something to do when I retired. Now, the big C is taking most of my time.
 
Those are just too common of a tractor. Anybody who was going to collect them has one. It takes a pretty rare and desirable tractor to bring anything these days,or one with all the modern features you could want to make them a desirable user.
 
jm. That may have just been luck on the WD. It was a super nice tractor with good paint, a fresh overhaul and new tires and power steering. We actually had more than that in it. As far as the Fords they are King around here. I have 3 right now that people are begging me to sell but I can't replace them.
 
(quoted from post at 20:20:05 02/21/18) Recent PA sell.
PA sell from last weekend

I went thru the whole list, and I think most of those machines were way under what it cost to restore them. Heck, repairs on most could run that high. I have probably 5k into a farmall H that has been a hobby in itself. I was surprised a couple years ago when I saw a JD B sell for $700. It was running, straight sheet metal, almost new tires. The tires were more than that, I’m sure. And the JD B’s always seemed to be a very popular, tractor, they were small enough to trailer easily, good for going to shows. I think JD Seller is right, just no interest. I know most of my friends think I’m nuts, but may not be due to the tractor thing...
 
Supply and demand will always determine prices. Sounds like you're asking too much.
 

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