(800) 853-2651
SHOP NOW

Do you remember the terms of your first tractor purchase

Bruce from Can.

Bruce from Can.

Well-known Member
Location
Woodville, Ontario, Canada
I bought my first tractor ,a Case 430 when I was 20. I had started farming in the spring, and naturally had very little money. I was borrowing my dads VA Case to pull a old trailer to haul in my hay.. Dad cut my hay that summer, and I hired a neighbor to square bale it for me. I wanted to get a tractor of my own. That fall another neighbor a good friend of my dads, decided to sell his farm and move to town. He had very little equipment and a lot of it was horse equipment converted to tractor pull. But he did have the Case 430 that he had bought brand new in 1964, and this was 1981. I went to look at his tractor the week before the sale, it was in nice shape. He told me to buy anything I wanted on his auction, and him and I could work out the payments after. So I did, bought the tractor for $2,000.00 and also bought a rear end manure fork. He stopped in to see me a few days after the sale and asked how Id like to pay for the tractor? I said I could give him a Thousand up front, and a hundred a month for the next 10 months. He said that would be fine, and if I needed to skip a month because I was running short, just let him know, and we could make it work. I paid the tractor off in the ten months, and he was all smiles. Bank was paying 21% on daily interest accounts back then. I felt I got a great deal, and got a nice little tractor too. How did you manage to buy your first tractor?
 
I bought my IH 986 tractor in the fall of 1995 from a Case IH dealer. The purchase price was 11,500 dollars and put down 2,500 dollars. The remainder was financed for 5 years in quarterly payments. The tractor had 3300 hours on it when I bought it and I am the second owner of it. I bought a used car during 1981 and remember the interest rates being in the teens. Hind sight says I should have bought something cheaper. The first thing I bought in terms of farm equipment by myself was a new gravity wagon and gear. Bought the package from an AC dealer and used AC financing.
 
I bought a Farmall B in 1954 for $475 with cultivator and a set of 2 ten inch JD plows, I was 27 at the time and rented 24 acres for corn and oput out 4 acres oats and 5 acres of hay soybeans, That fall i sowed 9 acres of barley. I still have the tractor. I had $375 and had to borrow to borrow $100
 
I bought a 52 Farmall H from a dealer in 76. I borrowed the money from Pa but just can't remember what amount. I had bought a farm site and was raising hogs farrow to finish. Good little tractor. I can't remember doing any repairs big or small. I do remember I bought a new battery for it from the Ford dealer. I still have the box it came in. Its down the basement with spare light bulbs in it.
 
My first tractor was a 1951 UTE Moline, L.P,Gas, with a 4 row cultivator for $400:00 at a auction,my mom gave me the money, in spring of 1964!
 
It's been so long ago, it's hard to remember the details all that clear. Dad and I used to buy and sell quite a few. I do know for sure that I bought my first one when I was in the fourth grade. It was an Allis Chalmers C with new rear tires and a cultivator. I bought it from the elementary school janitor. Gave $150 for it. I think I had $30 and Dad financed the rest. I might have paid him down a little over the year and a half or so that we used it to rake hay and cultivate. I remember I sold it for $225 and paid him off after that. I used to buy Case SCs and DCs, two cylinder Deeres and Massey Harris for a song back then.

First and only new one I ever bought was a 4040 Deere in 1981. I was 26 at the time. I used my dairy cows for collateral in addition to the value of the tractor. Gave $22,900 for it and paid 18.5% interest.
 
It all started before I bought my farm. In the fall if 65 dad decided he needed a new tractor. I had a good job in town and living at home so dad come to me and borrowed some money from me to buy a 656. In the fall of 66 was getting married so he paid me back. I guess that could of been my first tractor for a while. In 71 I bought my farm and was looking at a WD 45 on a farm sale and dad said come get my WD. He had bought it new in 51. Had to overhaul it and put new tires on it. Still have it to day. Put a lot hours in the seat of that WD when a kid at home.
 
In 1975, a Neighbor asked my parents if they were interested in purchasing his 244 acres. 100 acres was cultivated. His land was on the Alberta side of the border,and bordered my parents land on the British Columbia side of the border.
My parents were not interested in expanding their operation.

I purchased the 244 acres of land that included a John Deere Styled AR...Ferguson TEA-20.....1928 15-30 McCormick....1927 Hart Parr...1949 John Deere R ...and a full line of machinery that was purchased new when the Ferguson TEA-20 had been purchased. I made an offer and purchased the Sawmill as well...48 head Rig..

In 2010,we purchased my Parents last quarter of land.
We retired Dec,30,2011 and have the pleasurer of living in the country surrounded by our property with little to no chance of any one building closer than 3/4 of a mile form us.....:)

Bob..
 
In 1971, I rented 120 acres of bare ground and used my Dad and brother's equipment. I borrowed the cash rent and operating expenses (fertilizer and chemicals) and paid the rest from my full time job at a tire store. In 72, I rented a 240 from my dad and leased his equipment and still worked full time. That fall I bought an IH 756D for $4400 cash. It always started hard and ether made it easier year round. Added a 540 4x16 plow, new grinder mixer, cultivator, mower conditioner, 2 gravity flow wagons, half share in a MH 510 combine, 234 IH picker, 24 foot field cultivator and an IH planter thru the fall and winter. Rented an additional 160 with a farmstead to live on in 73, and bought a Farmall M ($875)and a Westendorf loader ($500) which was to big so I bought an IH 560 ($2200) gas with a fast hitch. We had a pot load of snow and terrible weather that year and that forced me into the 3rd tractor. I had livestock (hogs) on 3 farmsteads and ended up buying an IH 80 snowblower. In the fall of 74, the 756 was taken to the shop and engine was gone thru because by now it was really noisy. The main bearings were almost worn into the block and hangars and the injection pump needed everything. I changed the wheels and tires to 16.9x38 and added a new Hininker cab. It hasn't been touched since. The 66 Series tractors were introduced in 1977 and I remember the dealer said you add a zero to the number and that's the price. I didn't get one for 2 more years!
 
I am not a farmer. I bought my first and so far only farm tractor in 1989 to mow our 2 acre lot. An Allis-Chalmers C with a 4 Mott belly mower for $450. Later I ran the serial number to learn it was a 1942.
 
Not counting an assortment of riding mowers, either bought by dad when I was a young teen, or trades and swaps and rescues from the curb, the first real tractor, a TO35 Ferguson, it was sort of inherited.

It belonged to a mutual acquaintance. He had no clue what he had or how to keep it running. It lived outside and was in it's dirtiest work clothes.

I was asked to get it running a few times, only to have it left outside and never used. We (the 3 of us who currently own it) eventually ended up in possession of it as the owner didn't need it and was happy to just get it off his property, and knew where it was and could get it any time.

I ended up going through the engine, I did the work, the other 2 financed it. It was running but needed a lot more work.

Meanwhile the owner, who had a serious drinking problem, pushed it too far one night trying to ride his motorcycle home at 2:00AM. He didn't make it, found him dead in the ditch the next morning.

That left us in possession of a tractor we didn't really own.

A couple years went by, and a chance meeting with his widow, she was asked about the tractor. Her response was what tractor? She vaguely remembered one being around that he could never keep running, then it went away.

End result, just keep it, she didn't want anything for it, just give it a good home.

So we did! It got a thorough going through, not a restoration, but close. New tires and wheels, hydraulics gone through, leaks fixed, painted, any and everything it needed.

It's looking good now, has an easy indoor life. Gets used a couple times a year mowing at the deer property, and whatever little jobs come up in between.

Turned into a good, reliable little tractor. Still has a working generator, points, and will start quicker than you can get off the switch!
 
I was 18 and I wanted to farm.I needed a tractor.I had saved some money.I attended all the sales,even bid on some.There were a couple of Ms,a 560,an Oliver 1600 gas,others that I dont remember. At a dealer liquidation auction,there was a 730 diesel.I won the tractor for $2500.00, but didn't have have enough money.The auctioneer financed the balance(he knew the situation before hand).I bought a few pieces of equipment the next year,the year after I rented my first 'farm'.I was in business.
 
Farmed my first land on my own in 81, 125 acres. Part of the loan for the inputs was $3500 for a 930 case. Wish I still had that one.
 
About 1976 I was looking for a Case VAC, there was one in a yard I asked about, but it was not for sale. But they did have a 1938 Allis Chalmes WC abandoned back in the swamp. I got my brother-in law to tow it home for me. I paid forty dollars for it and spent many times that getting it going. I kept it and used it for about 35 years, always an easy starting tractor.
 
About 1969 I bought a 70 Oliver sitting in a barn for $25. It was a runner, just hadn't for a few years. He offered me the immaculate but dusty early 50's model Studebaker 3/4 ton p/u, (with grain-sides and racks), sitting next to it for $50. I turned up my nose. Who in their right mind wanted an albatross like that around? That manner of brilliant deal making seems to have set the tone for the remainder of my financial life. ;-), gm
 
Had bought a 9N with plow, disc, blade, harrow, and bush hog for $1500 cash in 1978. Found the 9N lacking, sold it for $1200, went to my old Case dealer, bought a used 300 diesel for $900 cash. Wow, what a difference! Power, better hydraulics, more speeds, ease of use, etc..
 
when i was 16 in the early 60's i bought my first Caterpillar tractor for $800 it was a 1939 R2 and bought it from a guy who was an excavating contractor that i worked part time for--I helped him attach a blade and hydraulics on it before i bought it
it was 4 cyl gas and hand crank start
 
After we bought this place in 1989 I needed a snowplow, noticed the John Deere dealer had rotten looking 53 Super C with a plow on it. I gave $700 for it and made them deliver because it had a loose front wheel hub. Then I got to thinking outside of some missing parts and optional things like fenders, precleaner, seat flipper and front wheel weights that it was the same as the one my dad bought new in 53.

I got pretty wrapped up in the junk yard journeys over the next few years and was neglecting my other toy, the Corvette, so I sold that, although I've had second thoughts about that now and then.
cvphoto83189.jpg
 
RRL ..... I remember 1981 well, we were getting 18% on our payroll purchases (optional) of Canada Savings Bonds up here. I forget how many years at that rate it took to double the value but it wasn't all that many, maybe seven or something like that. In July of that year, our mortgage was coming up for renewal at about that same rate. We were ten years into a 30-year mortgage at the time and only owed $10,000 on it so we were able to pay it off. Still living in the same house which cost us $22,000 in 1971. Sounds too good to be true but at the time, things seemed pretty tight financially.
 
Yes sir, I remember it and still have it. 1949 AC WD.. I was in my early teens, I worked all summer and had run it on a baler and pipe trailer off and on all summer.. at the end of the summer when it came time to settle up I was given it for my wages. Boy I was excited.

I need to take a couple of gallons of gas and go down to the shed and crank it over and get it out and get it ready for the summer..


Looking back its a good thing I was in my early teens. Had I been say 16 or older (girl chasing age) Id probably been mad.
But, Allis has been with me longer then any girl!!
 
I was bidding on my Massey loader tractor just for fun, figured I'd back out when the money got serious. Better than just standing around watching the bidding, something to do.

At $1600 I was the last man standing. Coulda knocked me over with a feather. Turned out to be one of the best buys I've ever made. Had recently bought a property with 12 acres, wooded and lots of firewood. Put the tractor right to work.

With tax and auction fee, final price was just shy of $1700.

Gerrit
 

Early 80's a neighbor retired and sold his farm, he wanted me to have his CA Allis that I keep running for him over the years, paid him $325 cash for the tractor with cultivators and 2 bottom plow.
We were still farming with dads Ford 850 and Fordson Dexta only using the CA to cultivate tobacco and pull a hay rake, sold it to a cousin some years later how left it setting out with no rain cap ruining the engine.
After selling the CA I bought a non running Ford 871 diesel but never used it, as soon as I got it running I traded it for the 69 Ford 4000 I still have today
 
I bought a 1948 M Farmall with loader from a retired elderly farmer that used to use it twice a year. I bought it for $750.00 cash. I owned it 9 years. I had it repainted and doubled my money on it. Kow Farmer Kurt
 
Rented 240 acres in summer 63 for 64, working for fertilizer company in SE IA The farm farm was 2miles from my Dads inSW IA. Bought an 880 gas with PB in Se IA at a farm auction for 1800 with hyd cylinder and barowed a truck from the company to haul it home. In August was married in SE IA , 57yrs. What a year !, Barowed 10,000$ from the bank and was in the farming game.
 
When we bought our farm in 1992, I was 36. My Dad had sold out in 1989, and had kept the 300 utility and all its equipment. He had bought a different house and used it there a little at first, and then one of my brothers had used it awhile also. It was not being used much, and had started running bad and they could not get it to run right. Well by now I was going to need a tractor, so I said let me have it and I will get it running, but I need to have it on my farm to figure it out.
Well it took a while, and taking the carb apart 3 times(turned out there was a small passage clogged up that I had a hard time cleaning), but I finally got it running right. A few months passed, and Dad said I'm going to give it to you-just keep it. That 300u, that I grew up on, has served me well here on this farm. Since 2001(?) I have had a CIH485, which has become the main tractor, and the 300u has an easier life. Mark.
 
Old Case VAC with a huge snow plow on the front lifted by a battery operated lift of some kind - can't remember how that worked. Leaked transmission fluid pretty good, and had to crack the oil drain plug every time I used it to drain the anti-freeze. $750 I think around 1987. Got my money back I believe, and kept the tire chains that came with it for my next tractor (IH 2424).

Have wished a few times I hung onto it to restore, or at least fix up. But money was much more scarce back then, so it had to go.

Tim
 
1978 bought a 1941 Case SC from a second cousin who had it in a shed. Paid $50 for it. Stopped farming my 7 acres about 1980. Still have the Case. Fast forward to 2017, oldest son and I boought a barnful of equipment, Ford 4000 and 8N. Moved up, farming 10 acres now.
 
In 1977, I had worked for my Dad for 6 years, and my wife and I were planning to buy our own farm. FmHA was selling out some of their poorer risks, and one sale had a JD 3010. I had saved up enough money to pay cash for it. Later in '77, I paid cash for a Farmall M and Allis D-14, both private deals. Those were the 3 tractors we started with, but it took until 1980. Still have the wife, 3010, and M.
 
A local farmer was having his retirement auction and his big tractor was a IH 1086 with cab and duals in good shape. Dad had recently a few years prior bought a new CIH 5230 to use as our big tractor, but it wasn't big enough to pull a 4 row ripper bedder like I wanted to start doing on the corn land. Bought the tractor for 15k. I thought I had done ok considering the comparables on our dealers lot. Was no mention otherwise or different tags about all the weights for it, was under the impression they went with the tractor. Well $ 525 later I had the weights also. Grrrrrrr. Wrote the check and drove it home with dad following me. Thought dad was going to kill me till had a 30 b/A yeild bump across the board that fall picking corn.
 
I still have my dads bill of sale from the IH dealer for a brand NEW M back in 1955 for $2400 the year i was born. He started farming then and wanted a dependable tractor to start farming with.
 
Been so long ago I don't remember. Probably got a loan . It was a Farmall 560 diesel, came with a front end loader, three bottom roll over plow and a hay head, had twelve hundred hours on it.
 
The first tractor I bought was a 1936 JD model A at auction a few weeks after I graduated high school in 1980. I was wanting an old tractor of my own and spent $500. On rubber and ran. Later learned it had a Heisler head and manifold. With a straight pipe exhaust it has a good bark when under load. Still have it and have had many of hours of fun with it at some tractor pulls, plowing contests, grain auger, hay rake, etc. My first big farm tractor was in the fall of 1984 I rented a farm from a retiring uncle so bought most of his equipment on a five year contract. An early 4430, 7000 six row planter, Noble vibra shank cultivator, IH 490 disk, Landoll 9-shank coulter chisel and Versatile grain auger. The tractor is the only piece I still have. It cost $15000. The rest was traded, sold or junked as we upgraded. Still farming that farm now owned by my cousins. Machinery I didnt have I traded labor for machinery from my dad. We farmed together until he passed in 2012.
 
As I recall the first was a cash sale. 8N Ford from a neighbor s auction sale. His son asks me if I still have it everytime he sees me. Still do. Prior to my first tractor I bought a John Deere 168 loader we paired it with my brothers first or second tractor a JD 4440. We still have both.
 
My first tractor was included in the purchase of my dad's farm and equipment in 1981.It's a 1973 JD 2120, he bought new for 6000, and that's what I paid for it. Farm Credit loan on the land was 16 percent, demand loan for the rest was even more. Still have it, bought and sold over a dozen tractors, mostly older ones, the only new one was the JD 2955 bought in 1992 for 40k cash with help from my wife's severance pay from her job. Still have it and the wife, love them both, but the tractor less so!

Ben
 

cvphoto83237.jpg


My first farm tractor was bought in Feb 1974 just 4 months before I turned 25 years old...I had saved up my money for 6 years and paid cash for it and some of Dads farm machinery...After I was out of HS I helped Dad farm,worked for lots of neighbors, hauled hay, worked at the MM dealer,worked winters at a grain elevator, and ran a crop sprayer-etc....My first tractor was a 1968 model 856 IH and at a consignment auction I paid about what it sold new for in 1968..Dad retired after the 1974 crop was harvested..

cvphoto83238.jpg


It helped put out Dads last crop in the Spring of 1974 and in early July of 1974 it hit the pulling track as it did for 11 more years..In the fall of 1974 it helped put out my first wheat crop..
 
Bought a Massey at auction. The owner bid one less time than I did. Stopped at my max bid.

Terms were cash or good check. Auctioneer always cautioned that if you didnt settle up, his next auction would be at your place!

Drove the tractor home 70 miles. Made a bit of $$ pulling a potato harvester home for a neighbor.
 
First part owner of a new 1979 420A Belarus...still doing its duty like a good thing,
full owner of a 1962, Mf 25, that owner parked on top a hill so he could bump start it,
on the way down....he took the starter to fix it..and we know the rest of the story.
And it still does it duty and has a starter on it :)
 
I bought a farmall H around 1981 or 1982 from the Kubota dealer that was in Syracuse NY at the time for $500. cash. A year or 2 later I sold it and bought a VAC Case with wide front end with real good tires, tire chains a snow plow and a 2 bottom oliver trailer plow for $1200. Never used the snow plow and kept the trailer plow long after the Case was sold. I often wish I kept the Case , but a fellow who used to keep horses nearby kept stopping and trying to buy it. I became tired of telling him its not for sale so I believe I told him I would need $1800 for it with the snow plow and he came back the next day with $1800.I guess I should have asked for $2000.
 
First of all I would not advise this way of buying anything:
We had bought an acerage in 1995 and I needed a tractor to move snow. I knew a guy from high school had a massey 44 with a Horn loader on it, all chained up and ready. Well I ran into him one night down at the local watering hole and we got talking about it. Well low and behold I bought it. Fortunately it worked out, it was a great tractor. 5 years later we moved to town and I sold it, but a couple weeks back the guy offered it back to me. I am seriously considering it as ugly as it was the thing worked great.
 
My dad bought a brand new Farmall B with a cultivator in 1941 for $650. A new H was $750 and a new M was $900. I still have the B today. It has been overhauled twice in its life, still runs like new.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Brown David
  • Locked
Tractor Sale Gone Sour. What Would You Do?
6 7 8
Replies
144
Views
9K
Crazy Horse
Crazy Horse
casedeereihnmassey
New Farmer
Replies
2
Views
372
SweetFeet
SweetFeet
C
Ford 8N question
Replies
12
Views
566
Fixingfarmer
Fixingfarmer
rustred
Oscar gets first man-a-cure
Replies
14
Views
577
Paul from MI
P
M
Ford 9N governor internal question
Replies
1
Views
148
wore out
wore out
Tractor Parts Tractor Manuals

We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today.

Copyright © 1997-2024 Yesterday's Tractor Co.

All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of any part of this website, including design and content, without written permission is strictly prohibited. Trade Marks and Trade Names contained and used in this Website are those of others, and are used in this Website in a descriptive sense to refer to the products of others. Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy TRADEMARK DISCLAIMER: Tradenames and Trademarks referred to within Yesterday's Tractor Co. products and within the Yesterday's Tractor Co. websites are the property of their respective trademark holders. None of these trademark holders are affiliated with Yesterday's Tractor Co., our products, or our website nor are we sponsored by them. John Deere and its logos are the registered trademarks of the John Deere Corporation. Agco, Agco Allis, White, Massey Ferguson and their logos are the registered trademarks of AGCO Corporation. Case, Case-IH, Farmall, International Harvester, New Holland and their logos are registered trademarks of CNH Global N.V.

Yesterday's Tractors - Antique Tractor Headquarters
Website Accessibility Policy

Back
Top