What a steal, if I could go back in time!

I was just looking info on Ford tractors and one of my favorite tractors the Ford 4600 sold for $9700 in 1981, the two horse farms I worked on each had one, the farm I'm on now sold there's, the other farm wouldent sell me this one with the canopy, but I bought the 4610 from the farm I'm on now. I just like the 4600s better lol, the loader tractor is my 1720. I wish I could buy a new 4600 for that price, about $5000 less than I paid for the 1720 with 400 hours used 17 years ago! And 17 years from the 1981 4600?

We bought a new Ford 4000 diesel in 1968 for $5200, still have it. Never had the pan off, had to mill the head and new gasket. Has about 9000 hrs.

Dad has a 4600U with the 24" rear tires, and a 5600 as well. He loves his little 4600, always starts, uses very little fuel, and is quite powerful for the small jobs it has around the farm.

Ross

JayinNY- The inflation calculator says you would pay $25,379.85 (2015 Dollars) fro the $9,700 in 1981.

Heck, I don't really know if I would want to go back in time....

Remember that $9700 would be the very basic tractor. Also that would be about $25k in today's money. A lot of fellows where working for $6-7 per hour then. $10 and hour was a good factory wage then.

Your correct in that those Ford utility tractors where rock solid. It was Ford's larger row crop tractors that struck out around here.

JD. Yes these tractors are rock solid, I worked with the one with the canopy in 1993, I worked at the farm again in 2008 the clock read over 9000 hours on it, and no longer worked, it was on its second engine, but the farm had 27 employes working there and as you can see cosmetically the tractors were abused. You can see the differance with my 4610 that iv worked with since 1990! Lol

I think I would go back a little further with that 9700 dollars to 1915 and take advantage of the stock market run ups starting with WWI. Take it out ahead of the 1921 downturn reinvest in 1922 and remove in September 1929. You get the idea. By 1979 he could buy well in excess of a 4600 tractor. Before he went back to 1915 he would have to convert that currency via a currency auction and get 1914 currency. Probably would cost double the money or halve his 9700 dollars if he could not. It does not to be mint 1914 100 dollar bills at 500 dollars per. It could come out of some old miser's boot. I am imagining right now all the problems that could be fixed in my life if I could do that.

Even with the currency conversion, be it a fully dressed mfwd model or not, the value was in the product they manufactured. Aside from the independent pto and engagement of same,(something I am still trying to master) you got a well proven tractor built on a platform starting in '65. 3 cylinder diesel, was very reliable, as is the remainder of the tractor.

I thought the same thing, in '96 I bought something new of similar value, a cobra mustang convertible....(first new car, always drove old vehicles) really should have spent that on a tractor, as I believe the value was the same or very close. I got by with an old 850 Ford, still have the car, the 850, and just recently bought a 1200 original hour 4630 with fwd, factory front weights, 8x8 trans with mechanical shuttle. The tach cable is original in it too with a working hour meter, though the darned tachometer is not accurate, needle moves all over. Tires on it are from the factory and have 90% of the lug height. Now I realize many eras produced fine tractors of several manufacturers, but Ford really did build a good one in these. Look how many are still out there, and late 90's models can still be found with low-moderate hours. The one I got was replaced by the original owner because he wanted a modern one with a cab, 2nd owner re-enlisted as a naval officer on a sub based in the northwest, from here, but the tractor had been sitting in a building almost 2 years when I got it. Giant mouse nest over the fuel tank, behind the instrument cluster certainly supports that, I have never seen a mound of mouse crap the size of what I cleaned out, the shop at Capital did some work for me on it before delivery and they got the nest material out, but left the crap LOL ! Fixed 2 chewed wires and a new key switch, boy she was ripe for a fire if that was not taken care of !

The fact that you can work on these compared to the electronic wonders of today, is also of value, so is parts support, I don't see how you can go wrong with one of these for the most part, if you get one reasonably cared for.

This tractor is just ideal for any work I have, the front axle drive though not needed all that much, there already have been times and its a really nice feature, but.... I just hope it holds up, I have read various stories about them, but some sounds like heavy loader work or what have you. Its stable on slopes,has a wide stance up front, plenty of power for utility/chore work, great on fuel consumption.