antique tractors

Iron Memories and The Hot Line Guides Division would like to thank all of our loyal readers and wish you a safe and happy holiday season. May your crops be bountiful and your home fires warm as 2009 draws to an end and we move into 2010.

This is the first in a series on destination sites

Bowens Mills, Middleville, Michigan

Historic Bowens Mills with it's 1864 water powered Grist Mill, Cider mill and museum, is a registered Michigan state historic site. In addition to the mills the park features an 1840’s plank house, one room schoolhouse, trappers cabin, craft Shoppe with working artisans, woodworking and copper shop, general store, 17’ water wheel, an eleven room 1860’s Victorian home built by the Bowens, former owners of the property, Arts and Entertainment center, trading post, restaurant and more

Three..three..three, do I hear four thousand. The cry of the auctioneer is a familiar sound to many antique equipment collectors. Retirement Auctions are an excellent place to locate antique equipment. You can find most anything from gently used to well-worn, sometime even full collections of tractors and machinery.

Machinery storage has long been a running controversy “to do” or “not to do”
When it comes to your restored antique equipment the answer is a “no-brainer”. You have something that is nearly non-replaceable. Store it out in the elements and you will soon have what you started with and all the time and money spent will be for naught.

Wheather you are transporting a antique tractor or farm equipment from field to field Safety is number one.

Each spring the rural countryside blossoms with a wealth of moving farm machinery as farmers begin transporting machines from one field to the next. The birds may be singing a warning song to both the farmers and those that share the roads with them.

When Chris and Debbie Goodell of Bellingham, Washington attended Fan Fest for the Seattle Mariners in January of 2009 Debbie knew exactly what she wanted one of her favorite players to autograph.

Chris and Debbie are avid Mariners fans, particularly relief pitcher #48 Roy Corcoran. The couple learned that Roy is a big fan of antique tractors. Surprisingly enough Chris’s mother, Linda Johnson, (also a fan) works on the Iron Memories, a book of antique tractor restoration stories.

Isn’t it amazing how quickly something you see, hear or read can trigger a response? Today as I read the thought for the day “A candle looses nothing by lighting another candle,” that is just what happened.

Antique tractors and Equipment is a Valuable Commodity...and growing.

Antique tractors and combines are currently in high demand at auctions. An un-restored 1961 International Harvester Farmall 460 brought $2,800 at a September 11 retirement sale in Texas. Earlier in the year another 460 of the same year sold for $1,400. Also at the Texas sale a 1975 John Deere 4240 was sold for $12,600, nearly $1,000 over the average auction price for this model. Once again confirming that good used equipment is a valuable commodity.

Antique Tractors are a good investment

With scrap iron prices being what they are it is very tempting to send the old fencerow tractor to the recycling yard. But before doing so you may want to rethink the process. Many an old rust bucket is lined with gold, well maybe not gold but a considerable bit of green backs.