Old Iron's value!!!

It is getting to the point that most of the common tractors, of all makes, are not worth the cost to restore them. It seems that unless it is something special that tires and a paint job will be more than what the tractor is worth.

I just did a nice Ford 961. It had the engine rebuilt two years ago. It just needed the lift system done, seals,gasket, and adjusted. The sheet metal was in good shape just a little work to get good to paint. I gave $1900 for the tractor with good rubber. I had just over $3500 in it with nothing for labor. The parts are going higher and the value is dropping. Took six months to get $4500 out of it. I did not do bad but nothing special.

The letter series JD and IH are really dogs right now as far as value. If scrap stays high some of these will be worth more as scrap. They where like that in the 1970s and early 1980s. A local scrap guy hauled the older JD As and Bs by the truck loads. He could buy them for $100-200 and they would scrap $300-400. Guys are saying they are seeing running OH M and H sell for under a Grand.

If you can afford for your money to be tied up for awhile, I think a guy should buy some of these old tractors and set on them. Don't scrap 'em, and don't fix 'em, just set on 'em.

I guess it is a good market for folks like me, who are buying old iron to work it. I know I would have a hard time getting my money back out of my 430 when I get done with painting it and rebuilding the engine, but I bought it to fill a niche I had, so if I sell it after working it for 5-10 years, I think it will still be a good investment.

Well , JD , there's only one way to make money (other than punching a time card) and that is "buy low and sell high". Now any good market person will tell you it takes forsight and a lot of guts to make money this way. I say if you can buy a running and driving tractor for scrap price then ya better get all ya can. They can only go up from there. When and how much is the only question. Old clutch lift and pull type implements are comming out of the fence rows as we speak and most are putting them up for sale to the public before the scrap man. I am doing quite well with these right now. As in anything , timming and being in the "loop" so to speak helps. Reason I'm having good luck selling them for a profit is that unlike tractors , these don't "run" and as such they are being scrapped in record numbers and anyone who ever thinks he wants one is hot to get it while he can. Also , tractors have been collected for a long time now and some of the collections are sold off every year. One can still get one if he wants. Implements have just started to be collected in the last few years. On or about the same time they started scrapping them. Tractors are about as low as they are go but implements (complete ones) are going to skyrocket in my opinion. My wish is that I could be in more of a position (like retiring in 14 mos.) so I had time to dig out more of them. Right now I am averaging over 100% on my dollar ,including fuel/hauling costs. Screw them mutual funds and the snakes dealing in them. Gonna be relatively short lived so I'm gonna get while the gettin's good.

961 tractors never were great sellers.I've seen several at auctions over the years in good original condition bring in the 1600 to 2500 range.Never did hear of any bringing close to 4500.Nice H farmalls will still bring in the 1500 range.I've seen some nice M models with good paint and rubber in the 2500 range.I saw a Jd B sell a couple weeks ago.It didn't run,but looked original.It brought 1700.

High scrap prices here and weak tractor prices. The other poster says H farmalls are hot. Takes a good one with god rubber to bring anything here in Tennessee just more old tractors than their are buyers in this part of the country. Even the 8n fords and 135 MF have got weak.

I prefer half way decent originals myself. Like you,if a common tractor needs "restoration",I don't have much interest except as a parts doner.

Your right about the Ford 961 not being a great seller. This one had full set of rear weights and a factory wide front end. Plus power steering that worked. It was a sweet tractor with live PTO and three point.

Well B-maniac, This tractor was the 632 tractor I bought and resold, life time count. I have kept a record of each one. I was mainly just wanting to see if the market is down all over. The ones being junked are usually not running but many are complete and not stuck.

You are right about the implements going high. There will not be many left after this go round. Many of them did not make it past WWII because of high scrap prices.

The market is moving toward the newer tractors. The guys collecting/buying are getting younger. They want what they grew up on to play with. I wonder if the common tractors will ever come back in price? A lot of old cars never have as of yet. They where the hot thing in the early to mid 1970s.

Only time will tell us how it goes. I just see guys on here asking what a common tractor is worth. Then they ask if they can buy it and make money on it. That is getting harder to do.

i dont care to much about the real old tractors but it still does bother me of what people are willing to scrap just to make a quick buck especially trucks and cars that are almost mint or worth more in parts or just to lazey to try and resell them to even try and get more but instead scrap it.

I've restored 2 tractors 1950 IHC and a 1953 Jubilee. I have 2 to 3x the money in each than they are worth. I'll never sell them. I play with them, mow the lawn, push snow, and the fun factor makes them worth every penny I put into them. It would cost way more than I have in my tractors to go out and buy a new one to do the same job.

So the matter of worth and value are different. Worth is what you can sell it for and value is what will it cost to replace it.



Just wish I could make money rebuilding them as a hobby, but a set of tires, tubes and rims will exceed the resale value of most old tractors.

Every week someone is crying about scrapping out tractors. Won't do any good. Old tractor only appeal to a dying market. When I'm gone, my kids will just sell mine. People today would just as soon have a Dixie Chopper than an old tractor to mow with.

George

I just finished a Massey Harris 44 special and have $12,000 in it. If I were to sell it, I might get $4000-4500. But, I'm not selling it, so not a real problem.

I guess these are like our gun value thread, depends where you are at! I hear in Florida, fords are hot, in New England, when you were finished, with good rubber, you might get offered.... $1900?

When I was farming I just wish I could have found one but there were never any to be had regardless of price. There were no 941 or 951 either or even the 940-950-960 models.

Just bought a fairly decent running Farmall H for 550.00

I'm sorry if I came across like i was questioning your experience in this area. I was basically agreeing 100% with your observation on the market but that there might be some opportunities to be had because of it. You are right on the car market. I sold my '66 GTO that I had for 25 yrs because I could see what was happening to that market. Sold it for $27,000 3 yrs ago and could buy it or one just as nice right now for $18-$20,000. There is no shortage of nice "collection" tractors being dumped into the market every year as the older collectors pass on. If ya want one you can easily get one. Prices suffer. Implements are just the opposite. They weren't collected , they were scrapped and continue to be at record rate at just the same time that most tractor collectors want them to display or to use with their tractors. Some call me a "filthy capitalist" but so be it. I'm going to jump on this one.By the way , that is a pretty impressive number of tractor sales by any standard. Probably hard to see it go away. Had to be fun. RB