At an Auction this weekend

[wdfifteen]

I'm at what may be the biggest antique tractor auction ever this weekend in Canandagua, New York. Literally hundreds of tractors collected by one man. It will bring millions. I expect one tractor to bring $400 - $500,000. Some pics (more if you're interested):

[GH85Carrera]

Big boys and their BIG toys.

It looks like a fun day at the farm.

[Don Ro]

"Some pics (more if you're interested):"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
More, please.
I love those old rigs...drove them as a kid - starting when I was 10 (1955).
.
Front wheel drive - ain't never seen nothin' like that!

[herr_oberst]

Can you show us a picture of the half million dollar tractor?

[asphaltgambler]

mo please!!

[wdfifteen]

Getting hot out there, so I'm back at the hotel room chillin'.

Tractors won't sell until tomorrow. People are here from all over the world, but especially Europe and Australia. Met a guy from the Lamborghini club in Italy who came all the way here looking to bid on an English language brochure for a Lambo 2 cylinder crawler!

This photo is of one small batch of the engines that sold this morning. I don't think any went for less that $200 or more than $1000. There were at least 100 of them. The Hart-Parr 60 in the background (sorry I couldn't get a better pic) may bring close to half a mil.






Might not go for more than $50k. I like these smaller tractors myself, but they don't make the ground shake and that's what a lot of guys want.




Another rare and interesting pre 1920 tractor.




This OilPull Z isn't pretty but mechanically it is like new. It's about a 1925 model. $50 to $100k, I can't say.



Yubas were made in California for orange groves and got sued out of existence. This small one is very rare. Only one I've ever seen. You're looking at way over $100,000 worth of OilPulls in the background. The GasPull (in the back center, green w/red wheels) might bring that much on it's own.



This is the one that everyone expects to take the show. I know, not much to look at, but it is historically significant. It's the only one extant of six Samson model As that General Motors built in the mid-twenties. If just a couple of executive decisions had gone differently based on the performance of this tractor, we might be seeing GM gray all over the midwest instead of John Deere green. There are both GM enthusiasts and tractor enthusiasts vying for it, so it has a double draw, hence the great expectations.

[herr_oberst]

I've said it before, it's amazing to me how sophisticated manufacturing technology was in the 30's. I see those great big castings, machined with huge cutting tools, and I just shake my head in awe at how smart some engineers were, and how big some people could dream.

Tractors, trains, airplane engines; these huge beasts built to high standards with relatively primitive techniques.

Thanks for sharing, Patrick Have fun out there...

[pa911]

online bidding..one is over $200k Aumann Auctions, Inc.

[willtel]

That is so cool, more pics!

It is amazing to me how much technology changed on these devices in such a short time. Everyone was trying to get their own solutions to market.

Imagine the feeling of you neighbor on the border fence smacking a team of horses around when you come up the row on one of those!

[pete3799]

Keep the pictures coming.
Some nice iron there.

[Buckterrier]

Awesome WD. There is a guy in Vermont that we stopped at during our Mountain Melee that had quite a collection. Tractors are just cool.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by herr_oberst

I've said it before, it's amazing to me how sophisticated manufacturing technology was in the 30's. I see those great big castings, machined with huge cutting tools, and I just shake my head in awe at how smart some engineers were, and how big some people could dream.

Right you are. The era of the mechanization of farming was an incredible time in history. Studying it has been a passion of mine (not to mention making me a good living) for over 25 years. The bottleneck was often the chemistry. Lots of great ideas had to wait for metallurgists to come up with materials strong enough to carry them out. I compare it to the computer industry waiting for processors and memory to catch up with developer's ideas.



For a while the trend was for one-wheel-drive three-wheeled tractors like this Case 10-18.



Some companies tried to make a power unit that literally replaced the horse. This one let a farmer use all the equipment their horses had pulled. Some didn't have steering wheels, they were controlled by reins.

[pavulon]

I remember GIANT galvanized threshing machines sitting on my grandfather's So. Dakota farm all along the elm tree grove (dutch elm disease took those out some years later).

How could a guy know which of these noises were normal?

[Skytrooper]

Wifteen, are you going to still be in Canandaigua tomorrow ? I live 20 minutes north of town and would enjoy the chance to meet with you. I know where the auction is being held. Today was a crappy day, but tomorrow shouldn't be too bad....maybe a little cool.

[wdfifteen]

Skytrooper, I was already in Niagara Falls by the time I saw your post. I'm sorry.

Some results:





This big Kinnard fooled no one. It brought $375,000. It's 7 1/2 in. bore 9 in stroke (1587 cubic inch) engine ran like new. It was mechanically excellent.




The same buyer who bought the Kinnard paid $210,000 for this Sandusky.







This 100 year old International Harvester Mogul 45 brought $265,000. It's 2 cyl horizontally opposed engine of about 1200 cubic inches ran beautifully.





This nice E model Rumely brought $200,000 plus $13,500. For a set of wheel extensions (I don't know why they sell them separately).





I think someone got a bargain on this Hart Parr 30-60 at $135,000 (plus $7500 for the wheel extensions). With it's 2500 cubic inch 2 cyl hit & miss engine it is a beast . It sounds like it's going to blow apart even when it's running perfectly - not nearly as sophisticated as the Kinnard or Mogul. But it's over 100 years old, big, and in great condition.





This was the big surprise to me. This Plowboy is nothing special, other than it is the only one in existence. It's an assembled tractor, with a Foote transmission and Wisconsin engine. No new technology, nothing special. Sold for $180,000.

[willtel]

Originally Posted by pavulon

I remember GIANT galvanized threshing machines sitting on my grandfather's So. Dakota farm all along the elm tree grove (dutch elm disease took those out some years later).

How could a guy know which of these noises were normal?

Wow, count the ways to lose a limb on that thing.

[Skytrooper]

Wdfifteen,

If you enjoyed the tractor auction, you should come back the 2nd weekend of August for the "Pageant of Steam". It is really quite a nice showing of many, many old steam tractors. Some seem as big as locomotives. This year they had some old stem shovels (ala "Mike Mulligan and his stem shovel").

[t6dpilot]

OMG that is an OSHA nightmare! Like propping an old round motor and carefully coaxing it to life with mixture, throttle, and primer. Pretty cool, though.

Originally Posted by pavulon

I remember GIANT galvanized threshing machines sitting on my grandfather's So. Dakota farm all along the elm tree grove (dutch elm disease took those out some years later).

How could a guy know which of these noises were normal?

[pavulon]

Back then, the only thing that seemed to count was getting stuff done. I don't think safety made even the top ten concerns.

[Chas White]

I still like the tractor that had no steering wheel and no seat. For the farmer that had lost his a$$ and didn't know which way to turn.