Is it worth it (monetarily) to paint a tractor? really?

John_PA · Sep 27, 2011

saw the survey on the front page. 55% said yes.

Would anyone care to explain that?

Don-Wi · Sep 27, 2011

Do a $5 paint job and jack the value $100. Some moron will look at the paint, not notice that it's overall the hoses, wires, belts, decals, everything, and pay the higher price because it's been "restored"

Donovan from Wisconsin

BANDITFARMER · Sep 27, 2011

It depends on what you are going to do with it. When most people look to buy a tractor they like to see it in its orignal paint, Kinda tells you how it was taken care of. If it has higher hours and new paint I dont even look at them (To many trips that turned into a waste of time) makes you think they are trying to hide something. Nice to see them all painted up at the shows put you hardly ever see them working in the fields. I got one 3 years ago that was in very bad paint and very low hours, I redid it and painted it and she works in the field and is in her working clothes now, She looks good agin and I dont intend on selling her any time soon. A pretty tractor that just sits in the barn dose nothing for me, Show me one in her working clothes and thats a diffrent story. If a tractor has orginal good paint I would never paint it, Hurts the value of it. Bandit

Tony in Mass. · Sep 27, 2011

First off, first impressions mater. Second, tractors are made of metal, metal is best preserved with paint. Third, a painted surface will show leaks, wear and damage otherwise never noticed. Forth, an old real estate broker friend of mine says, and this goes back years- every gallon of paint brings the value up $1000. A house or a tractor, his theory made me extra money over the years, so I just keep painting everything, whether I am keeping it or not.

barnE · Sep 27, 2011

Rule I have with tractors and cars and trucks and motorcycles--Never buy anything with a fresh paint job. One time wife had to remind me of my rule at a car show in Tenn. Already had money in hand. Don't get carried away. Selling is different, probably have to paint and make everything look good to get top dollar; unless knowledgeable buyer comes along and wants to see what's under that shine. Dave

Ray · Sep 27, 2011

I can't tell you how many times someone has walked away from a good old original tractor i've had for sale over the years to buy one that was just restored or overhauled or belonged to someones grandma.Then a couple weeks later i get a call from one of those buyers wanting my help to fix there "restored tractor" or wanting to trade it in.Some people don't know what quality is, and are decieved by shiney paint.

JMOR · Sep 27, 2011

(quoted from post at 20:45:55 09/27/11) Rule I have with tractors and cars and trucks and motorcycles--Never buy anything with a fresh paint job. One time wife had to remind me of my rule at a car show in Tenn. Already had money in hand. Don't get carried away. Selling is different, probably have to paint and make everything look good to get top dollar; unless knowledgeable buyer comes along and wants to see what's under that shine. Dave

xactly right, because ALL you are buying is a paint job!

RandyB(MI) · Sep 27, 2011

If you are selling then you need to know your market and what they will pay more for. Could go either way. Know your market. If you are buying and the paint job if first rate then probably the rest is too and it will be worth more , especially if you can't do your own paint. If the paint is amateuristic then it is probably worth 20% less than it would be unpainted. People who do crappy paint jobs probably ARE trying to pull your attention away from other faults AND it is an indicator of just how they do things.

Anonymous-0 · Sep 27, 2011

Yes if you are selling it. Yes if you are not but using it because it
protects the metal better preserving your investment.
You could ask the same question about keeping it clean and the
answer is still yes.

ShadetreeRet · Sep 27, 2011

I fell prey to the "new paint" monster last spring. My own fault though. Found a truck that I liked, engine overhauled, transmission overhauled and new paint. Well the guy has run a garage for years, so I bought it. The paint is already peeling in places. I didn't know that you could put paint on that thin! Now I am beginning to wonder about the rest.

jm. · Sep 27, 2011

Barne Been in the tractor bussiness for over 30 years and it is just like a woman little make up makes um look good. Same with a tracotr for every one like you there is probably 8 to 10 that won,t buy that old clunker.. Paint sells that is why dealers do it. You can talk all you want to about seeing it in it,s work clothes but when it is painted up it will sell.

John_PA · Sep 27, 2011

Is it worth value (in dollars) if you paint a tractor?

I don't think I understand the question...

That's what I mean.

John_PA · Sep 27, 2011

bandit farmer,

Do you have any pictures of teh rear fenders on that Long 900? How rare is that tractor? Do you know of any other ones?

BANDITFARMER · Sep 27, 2011

This is the first one I have ever seen. These are a Zetor 8011 painted blue and sold to Long. They were shipped over to the USA with no tires or rims and no fenders. The rims and fenders were bought from White and are Oliver and MM burn off parts and still have there part numbers on them. There are a few around but not many. I haveused it for 3 years and have no complantes with it,Very easy of fuel. 3 remotes come in real handy. 16 forward and 8 reverces and it will flat craw in 1 gear low low, Works great on a 8 foot rotatiller. I would own another one if I could find one. Bandit

oldtanker · Sep 27, 2011

Paint can make or break a deal. Round here we have lots of "property" owners fromt he cities. Lot of em want an old tractor, some just for looks when they have friends visit, some actually use em to do a litlle mowing or push snow. These people know very little abouot tractors and will buy about anything thats shiney. I stoped and looked at a Ford 861D a few weeks ago and tlaked to the old guy who was selling it. He told me 6500, I put new rings in it last year....and so on and so forth. Really nice paint job on it. Then he tells me and I used 200 LBS of sand to blast it before painting.....and I'm looking at tie rod ends missing boots and thinking about all the places that got sand in it. In the fifty feet walking to my truck after teling the just that I wasn't interested his price went to 6000, then 5800 then 5500 as I was closing the door. Drove past his place the other day and it was gone......Fresh paint scares me! Now this fall I have to rebuild the engine on my 8N and do a little work on the hydraulics...while it's apart it's getting painted.....but then I know when and how. Whole different story......oh yea....I'm farming not showing so blasting to me can be bad.

Rick

BANDITFARMER · Sep 27, 2011

If you take 2 tractors and take them to an auction this is what usualy happens. 1 tractor has 2500 hrs diesel no blowby, paint is fadded and rusted no dents but mecanicaly very good good seat and tires and no leaks. 2 tractor 5400hrs has blow by new seat tires fair has a few welds here and there and has some leaks and dents on the hood but has new paint and decals (and the paint is still soft). Both tractors are the same brand and size and the only diffrance is the price they bring. The first one brings $2450 and the shiney one brings $4500. People will allways pay more for shiney tractors and equipment. Thats why I allways buy ugly tractors and equipment that need paint because there cheeper and will do the same job as the pretty ones. Bandit

NCWayne · Sep 27, 2011

When Dad worked at the A/C and later Fiat/Allis equipment dealership back in the 70's they often sold used equipment. I've often heard him say that a fresh paing job would sell a machine quicker than just about anything else. Personally I'll tell customers to look really close at a 'nice looking' machine before buying it because that nice paint is usually put on to draw your eye away from the real problems the machine has. Even knowing this I have seen the nice paint come back and bite them in the a$$ more times than I care to remember.....

So in answer to your question, YES, nice paint adds value to most machines in the eyes of alot of people....typically more on a subcontious level than most realize, or on a contious level more than they care to admit....

John_PA · Sep 28, 2011

I wonder what model of tractor those fenders came from if they have MM or Oliver part numbers on them. I have never seen an MM or Oliver with those fenders before.

However...

I am searching for a nice pair of those fenders because they belong on this:

$(KGrHqV,!lcE46G)I(8PBOSmtCYd!w~~60_3.JPG

and this...

and most importantly, on my Ford 7000 Row crop. I would have never guessed I'd see them on a Long, but it makes sense, as a lot of Long tractors looked a lot like Ford knock-offs.

Yours looks incredible, and those fenders look wonderful. I wish I had a pair that nice.

Anonymous-0 · Sep 28, 2011

If you're selling, $20 worth of paint can EASILY translate into $1000 or more. No question. Same tractor....a rust bucket or a clean, original looking well painted tractor...? Which one would you buy....again....same tractor painted or unpainted? Even if it doesn't sell for more, it'll sell QUICKER with good paint.

If a person can't tell the difference between a good engine or a worn out oil burning, rod knocking piece of junk because the paint was shining, you need to take up needle point and leave the tractors alone.....

If you're keeping a tractor, paint CAN preserve the condition, keeping it in better overall "worth".

Paint won't fix broken or worn out parts, but it CAN delay the demise of what you already have. It's not about "pretty" in my book, it's about protecting my investment.

jackinok · Sep 28, 2011

Absolutely!my dad would buy old cars at auctions,strip what good parts he wanted off them for his,put the old parts back on and a $35 dollar can of paint ,you could just about count on that car bringing $1000 more.tractors the same way.he used to say you could sell americans anything that LOOKED good.try it yourself,weve all had good, reliable, well maintained tractors that looked bad,or not like new.weve all had ones that were quite literally money pits.paint the money pit and set the two tractors side by side for sale in your front yard.chances are NO ONE will even look at the unpainted one even if they know better.its a psycological thing.want to get rid of that lemon?set it out beside one that looks worse,and it ups the selling price every time.

sotxbill · Sep 28, 2011

absolutly, paint will sell it faster, quicker and for more money.

Most tractors come in butt ugly. they are basically black from diesel leaks, grease seeps and never had a bath other than sitting out in a rain storm.

You can very easily get $2000 more with a $100 spray can overhaul.
or

You can sell it 6 months sooner in most cases with a light coat of paint.

And although I buy em butt ugly all the time, the "new" farmer is tempted to go down and buy some cheap japo chin indian import, or..
he can come over to my place and buy a quality piece of equipment that will stand the test of time and his grandkids will be using 50 years from now.

BANDITFARMER · Sep 28, 2011

The front rims are oliver, When I sanded them down there was a real heavy coat of clover white under layers of white paint and thats when I found the oliver part#. The rear rims are the same as the 1850 rims by the part # The MM fenders are on the G950 I think. Who knows how many parts that White had they switched from Oliver to White brand. The Longs 900 were sold from 1974-78 which is the time White tractors hit the market. They were shipped in as uncompleted tractors to get cheaper taxes and import tariffs. Long went out of business several times and when Ford sold out the New Holland there were massive amounts of parts that were sold to an India co that had bought Long out and sold the tractors as Farm Track under the Long name. Just about all the equipment companies bought tractor and equipment from each other at some point and sold them as there own. Sometimes the lines get blurred. Bandit

Is it worth it (monetarily) to paint a tractor? really?

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