Will there be any Old Tractors left?

I have to wonder sometimes if we're at the end of an age. All of us who enjoy the old farm equipment.

The stuff we're into now is stuff that can last forever. 40, 50, 60+ year old equipment, yes, but the designs are simple, overbuilt in many cases, and meant to be repaired. These tractors have value, even if they are over a half century old, so we keep them alive and some of us use them a lot.

Will there be any "old" tractors left in the future? Will anyone in the year 2100 even ever see a real tractor from the year 2000?

It just seems like nowadays, there are 2 forces at work that are different:

1. The farm tractors now are huge, complicated, and breathtakingly expensive to repair and maintain. Any collector can generally house and keep something like an old Deere running, but in the year 2100, who will be willing to house and restore a Cat Challenger or a Steiger Panther?

Just driving out to my property yesterday, the farmers were out in force and the smallest tractor I saw in a field was probably pushing 200 HP. Same thing with other equipment.

My uncle still farms and he said that when they got their first Stieger back in 1978, they had the most pulling power of anyone within 10 miles. By 1985, they had the least power of any neighbor with more than 1000 acres. That's how quickly everything got big. And the Steiger ended up getting parked while it still worked because it was too costly to operate and maintain. First time either my uncle or his father in law (who owned the farm) had ever done such a thing--parked a working tractor for good.

2. As the number of people actively engaged in farming dwindles, will anyone even care? It's sad to say it, but back when I was a kid, we ALL played with farm toys. Tractors, farm sets, etc.

My kids still do, but their friends come over to play and they call a tractor a "monster truck" or suchlike. They don't even know what it is.

I've taken my kids to farm and threshing shows and we all love to see and to think about how it once was. You REALLY get a feel for how hard people worked when you look at a horse-drawn plough or a 4 foot sickle mower or a threshing machine.

Are the people of 2100 going to just look at pictures and never see anything in the flesh to give them a real feel for the way it once was?

Grouse

Yea I don't think the hired fellow's kids from Costa Rica are going to be looking for the tractor el papa drove for Mega Farms back in 2016.

There may be a few of today's tractors in museums. Who knows if there will be any interest. We are just a few years away from driverless tractors and farming will be like a video game.

Remember too tho that on a worldwide
scale what's outdated here is still
daily front line machines in some third
world countries. A Ford n series with a
loader isn't much machine here, yet I
have seen pictures of them loading coal
overseas and I bet they are a pretty
darn good machine compared to a shovel!

My "new" tractor is a 1996 JD 7800. I guarantee it
will be running in 50 years but nothing electronic will
work and some sensor that works the powershift will
cause it to be scrapped. As it is, a couple years
back I spent $7000 for the dealership to stare at it
for a week and poke things only to find the backup
steering pump was worn out. They couldn't find it
for love nor money.

My tractor with the least hours - the 77 IH 886 will
still be chirping along because it's all mechanical.
So will the Farmall M. It's made it to 67 years old
and still grinds feed. Heck, when I was poor(er) it
was the chore tractor!

The amount of plastic is directly related to its
longevity and long term value.

Will be in museums

I have a '45 M Farmall that still works for a living.

How many of the new tractors in dealerships today will still be earning their keep in 71 years?

Old iron is collected today because we grew up with it an "remember when..." That and we can afford to restore and store them.

Now there are far fewer potential collectors growing up, it is less of a family lifestyle and more of a business. Couple that with the cost to restore
and store, and I fear we are the end or close to the end of farm equipment collectors.

Most of us on this forum grew up on farms. That farm was the central focus of our lives for everyone in the family until we left home. As kids, my brothers and I mostly played with toy farm equipment. My cousins who didn't live on farms played with toy cars, trucks, fire engines, air planes, ambulances, trains, buses, etc., things that we saw on TV but almost never saw up close on the farm or even in the nearby small towns.

The year 2100 is 84 years in the future, farm consolidation will likely continue or accelerate as farming becomes even more industrialized and impersonal. In rural areas today, Daddy is more likely to be employed on someone else's large farm than to own or rent his own farm. Rural populations will continue to drop as young and middle-aged people continue to leave the small isolated towns for better opportunities in the larger regional centers. Who knows, by the year 2100 a 3000 acre row crop farm and or a 1000 head cattle feedlot may only be small potatoes, a weekend hobby farm for wealthy guys who commute to a good paying day job in a nearby town 50 or 100 miles away.

Will today' new tractors or even the yesterdays tractors that we love today still be collectable in the year 2100? I really don't see any reasons why they would be.

I never farmed, didn't grow up on one and never worked on one. Wish I could at least one of those things. I like old tractors 'cause why not. I like old motors. But
in 100 years there will be these things in museums called tractors that guys from way back when, used these things called plows, and actually turned the ground right over
before planting on it.

I think in 25 years or so you will see a lot less tractor shows. Some young people from the country will still be interested but the young peoples (16 and up ) interest is going down. Sign of the times. If there is a tractor that has been restored and kept very well it will always be worth something but otherwise there will be a lot going to scrap yards. Farms are being consolidated and they don't care about old tractors. They have to have big modern machinery to do large acres as quickly as possible. There always wil be some in museums as part of our history. just my 3 cents worth

I kind of think we are at the end of an age of collecting things, not just tractors. Yes, people still collect antiques. But think of all the technology of today- computers, cell phones, etc. Anybody
collecting that stuff??? Kids today you do not see hotrodding a Ford Taurus or a Chevy Celebrity.

Today's younger generation is about NEW stuff, and not old stuff.

My two cents.

Were at the end, I get a kick out of a $249,000
Deere tractor, won't be here 40 years from now.
How many lets say 1989 cars or trucks do you see
being restored?

Computer components on todays tractors can be updated. The old tractors we drive have updated components only they are mechanical updates that common people like you and i can understand. The mechanical components on new tractors are something else. There is more precision engineering involved, making repairs out of the realm of the normal tractor collector. I look for the new tractors sold today to last as many or more hours than the old M's and A's but when the new ones are retired i cant picture them forgotten and parked under a tree. They will be salvaged and recycled.

Almost makes you wonder if mankind will even exist 84 years from now?

When I see one going to the scrap yard, I try to buy it. Believe it or not, some are driven to the scrap yard. A guy drove a good looking case with rear weights to the yard, cut the wire off & anything that had copper, then pulled the radiator off. I ask if the radiator was still there, no. The dude did know what it was worth. Also bought 7 JD suit case weights 30 cent a pound, but that didn't last long.

From a different perspective.
The tractors in question are (1970's and earlier)generally in a value range of 10,000 to a few hundred, in a weight range of 6 ton or smaller (the vast majority in the 3 ton or less range and valued at $4,000 or less), at HP ratings of 120 down to about 20.

When you go to an auction to purchase an old tractor depending on the shape there are basically 4 buyers.
1. Someone looking for a work tractor that is somehow cheaper or better/bigger than what they have now (or something they can afford as a startup tractor)
2. Collectors who want to either restore/resell, or who are truly collecting.
3. A sentimental person who is saving an heirloom (a bit different than a collector)
4. The scrapper.

So in say 50 years, assuming the buyers are still these 4 options. You will be looking at tractors that are (same 40-70 year old range)from the years 2010 back to about 1980. These tractors will be in a range of prices from a few thousand to 20,000 or so in weight ranges from 4-8 ton. Assuming a rate of inflation over time what will the scrap price of steel be? I think you will see that tractors in the future will have a scrap base price of around $2,000 due largely to their excess weight.
The size, weight, and scrap value will change the 4 buyer positions. That coupled with the changes to our society and the decrease in number of people connected to ag.....

1. Still going to have people looking for startup tractors and improvements to the startup that they had. But these guys aren't going to be looking for a tractor that is smaller than 50 hp and 80 plus years old.
2. Collectors, but they will most likely be collecting the tractors of their youth (at that point from the 80's and newer) and the occasional truly special rarity. But like the steam tractor collectors there will not be many collectors due to the size and weight of moving around these newer tractors.
3. There will not be many looking for the heirloom, not too many left with the heritage.
4. The scrapper. Most will go here, through a dealership trading in program. The days of parking the old by the woods and walking away are long gone. People need the trade-in value as they upgrade.

Some of the cars today will be collectors in the future. If you know which ones you can make a fortune. Nobody knew 50 years ago which cars would be popular today. A lot of 1950s and 1960s cars are forgotten relics no one cares about but some of them are heavily collectable prizes. Somebody will care about some of the cars on the street today in 50 years. My son thinks the late 1970s and early 1980s Chevy pickups are really cool. He is 22. My dad had a 1978 Chevy pickup and I look at that era of cars and trucks the way I look at my 8 year old daily driver in the garage. Just a car to get me around. When it is dead it will find a junk yard and I will buy another one.

My neighbor is abut 55 years old and his dad ran a junkyard. He is always telling me some the cars they junk out. He just shakes his head and says if only new which ones to keep. He tells me about a 1957 Chevy convertible some guy dropped of at the junk yard in the late 1960s. Body was okay but mechanically it was worn out. They cut it up for scrap and didn't think twice about it.

IMHO - there are two thing that will scuttle the old tractors.

1. Some hyper environmental draconian sweeping legislation driven by a bunch of tree huggers will pass or a court ruling will require the old
tractors to be crushed for the sake of the environment.

2. Fuel becomes so scarce - it's better to run the solar powered tractor or corn fed jackarse.

Don't know if my kids will make it to 2100, but I'm sure they're children will have heard many stores about the MF50 diesel.

Interesting question - thanks!

Bill

The new generation is more about the experience than the possessions. This changes everything.....

Gas and diesel will be outlawed, like leaded fuel(I know leaded fuel isn't 'outlawed'), in 84
years!!!

So, you'll just have a bunch of old tractors sitting around in collections that someone will have
to dust off. LOL

Reading this is making me sad....Ron

I doubt if anyone is gonna want to restorea 91 Pontiac sunbird or a cavalier ,,.or a ford Taurus , escort , or even a top of the line crown vic or Lincoln,, or a crysler 5th avenue or lebaron ,,or a k -car , or any of the rice burner junk ,, that goes for the hot Datsun 280zx...from 1980 on imho cars became a throwaway appliance rather than a work of art.. now if I could find a 57 Desoto fireflite,, not only could I show you a work of art ,, but a car that could nearly fly ,.. as far as tractors are concerned,, if you goto a tractor bone yard, you willfind a lot of burned modern 25 yr old tractors ,,they salvagewhat they can and scrap the rest ,,. however the 50yr old fords , allis ollies , and cases will stay theretill their bones re pikt clean to nuthin ,,.

I have a feeling it could kind of go both ways. From just coming out of high school, I know that there are a decent amount of kids in FFA and 4-H who work on and restore tractors for clubs or
SAE projects for FFA. This leaves some potential to help keep the hobby alive into the future, especially since many students restore their antique tractors and programs like the Titan Tire
program give tires to FFA and 4-H members that restore their antique farm tractor.

The downside to this, as has been pointed out, is the lack of connection to the history and the past when these tractors were actually used. The majority of the kids these days restore
tractors and then use them in tractor pulls, and usually parades and small shows at the fairs. They also mainly focus on tractors such as the Farmall letter series, and other tractors from
the 1940's-1950's, maybe the early 1960's. Most kids these days don't want to venture any earlier, since those are mostly hand crank, or much later since then it can get complicated with more
technology. The one benefit to being in my area which I feel is a big plus, is that there is a collector of antique tractors with a private collection of over 200 antique farm and prairie
tractors in Roxbury, CT. The place is DD Living History Farm at Toplands farm, and the owner holds a open house free of charge every year, and brings out a few dozen tractors from his
collection that volunteers drive around. I usually volunteer there every year and this event brings in a lot of people and sparks a lot of interest in these tractors, especially the older
ones.

I know that when I graduated last year, I was the only student in the school who worked on and restored pre 1940s tractors (Farmall F-12 and Regular). The only other kid with anything older
was one who had gotten a small hit and miss engine to run at the fairs with his dad. On the bright side of this, if these kids who do work on tractors now keep doing so, there is hope that
they might pass on the interest to their children, and even if they don't keep all the different periods of tractors alive, at least one period, such as tractors of the 1940's, will still be
around.

Even if for some reason gasoline goes completely out, there is always woodgas which tractors can be made to run on. Even if it isn't practical for everyday use, I feel someone would find a
way to use it, or some other combustible gas, just to keep some of these machines running to bring out every now and again. I would assume that there would be some sort of oil available to be
used for lubrication, even if it would be some sort of vegetable oil.

Some antique tractors may no longer run by the year 2100, but with the amount of these old tractors that are out there, I think there will still be some running, although they might not be
nearly as common as they are now. There might not be as many people who care about them at that point, but there will still be those who are intrigued by the machines of the past, just as
myself and others my age are now, and those who still care will find a way to let at least some tractors live on for future generations.

I know it's kind of a roundabout answer but overall I think they will survive and people will continue to be interested in them. There might not be as many as there are now, but there will
still be some.

~FarmallCT

NO as the number of people in the hobby declines so will part availability. Won't be profitable. Already seeing a lot of points and condensers are NLA for some engines. Wait till no one makes an engine kit. They will be done. Yard art or scrap. The rest will be in museums. OH darn there goes the old Farmall M. Actually as worthless as that's become to me I should just scrap it. Only use it about 10 hours a year.


Rick

Or after WWIII and WWWIV the folks that are left are pretty much back to farming with horses and oxen if they're lucky enough to have one as most have been eaten by
starving war survivors.Old tractors and cars will be about the last thing on these folks' mind.

I tell my boys when I was young the coolest thing imaginable was a '57 Chebby. Later it was a Gibson guitar. Later it was a Jaguar, later it was an Austin-Healey.... but boys, I tell them you tell me the coolest thing you have IS A TELEPHONE????

(quoted from post at 02:50:54 04/19/16) I tell my boys when I was young the coolest thing imaginable was a '57 Chebby. Later it was a Gibson guitar. Later it was a Jaguar, later it was an Austin-Healey.... but boys, I tell them you tell me the coolest thing you have IS A TELEPHONE????

Click to expand...

Don't knock them kids. They should be knocking collectors in general. From the dawn of time till now tractors and other collectable as such are but a mere bit of history. Some of us are here for it and others went before or have/will come after. Collecting for the most part is an oddity mostly seen in the mid to late 1900's and so far 00's.

Rick

Me too.... Glad Im here at the moment to enjoy them now.

Kind of reminds me of the movie Demolition Man when they find and old Oldsmobile in a museum
lol....

You need to tell the boys about a Martin Guitar, Like a D45 and to learn to play Blue Grass. LOL

Man, I agree! I am "young" in comparison to most of you guys and thinking to 2100 made me cringe. I am certainly going to do whatever I can to keep my hit miss engines, my Farmall F14, and my John Deere A running. I also will put it in my will that if my kids want any of my $100 left over to give them, they can't sell anything.

To the question, just talked to my parents about this the other day. The small farmer is annoying to the government. They will all be run out in favor of an Applebees and a Starbucks with a strip mall. The big tractors will produced and only be able to work the wide open fields in the Midwest up through Canada. Big farms buy new equipment, new seeds, new chemicals, ect. I think we have one generation left before the half life on collecting items runs out, so, lets say 2080? Everything follows a (1/log) curve until its death......