50th anniv for tractor dealer

JDEM · Jun 4, 2017

Yeah, 50 years not a very long time. But it seems it is saying something for any tractor dealer to be making a go of it now adays. Especially in northern Michigan. Dons Tractor in Alpena. I rarely see any interesting old tractors here for sale privately. Maybe he gets them all? I don't know if he goes around and buys them, or takes them in on trade. Never seems to fix any of the old stuff. Just sticks out front for sale "as is." I was looking at a 1010 and an L this morning. Just looking. No more interest in buying more iron. This guy started out as a Ford tractor dealer. Then New Holland, along with Honda.

rrlund · Jun 4, 2017

I drove by there one time,should have driven in and looked around. I drove around Willard's lot down by West Branch one time. A fair amount of stuff parted out in back of their lot.

Chilidawg · Jun 4, 2017

Do they deal in used parts?

NY 986 · Jun 4, 2017

50 years is pretty rare for any era. If I had to guess the average life time of a dealer around here then I would say 15-20 years. Too many factors are against them going many years including death, divorce, health, or just getting burned out mentally. I remember quite a few jumping in during the 1970's only to go out during the 1980's. Just about impossible to make it as a single location dealer around here anymore and that was probably true 50 years ago. A lot of the ground locally is marginal so guys just are not buying that frequently and then to compete against the dealer over in vegetable crop country 10 miles away where farmers there are buying 5 times the quantity of iron so that dealer gets many more volume discounts from the manufacturer. We were lucky that the local dealers hung on as long as they did.

Dick2 · Jun 4, 2017

The large multi-location dealer that I inherited in the 1960's went broke; farmers just weren't ready to do business at those locations. They filed bankruptcy in the middle of the winter and I had to go count potato harvester chain in an unheated warehouse when it was -25 degrees. I knew the bankruptcy was coming so I had all the whole goods transferred off of their lots before they filed.

Bruce from Can. · Jun 4, 2017

The dealership I buy Kubota stuff from , has been in the tractor business since 1945 . Started by the owner's dad , as a IH dealer , then CaseIH and now Kubota. 72 years is a good run , and still going strong .

NY 986 · Jun 4, 2017

The best years locally were probably 1940-1955 with WWII and the Marshall Plan being stimulators of the farm economy in general. I don't think that volume-wise a lot of iron was sold during the 1960's and the grain boom of the 1970's helped extend the lives of some dealerships. The grain embargo and stagnant milk prices during the early 1980's closed a lot of dealers. Again, it was a big help if a dealer was located in vegetable crop country where farmers were still buying tractors during the dark days of 1983-1986.

rrlund · Jun 4, 2017

Around Alpena you'd have to drive a long ways to find another dealer of any kind. There's an independent who specializes in Allis Chalmers not all that far away,but for anything new in that corner of Michigan,they're about it.

Dick2 · Jun 4, 2017

Local IH dealer was in business for 3 generations. The 4th generation didn't want anything to do with the dealership so it was sold to a large dealer.

50th anniv for tractor dealer

JDEM

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rrlund

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Chilidawg

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NY 986

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Dick2

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Bruce from Can.

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NY 986

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rrlund

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Dick2

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