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Is the tractor hobby coming to a close?

B

Blueclawz

Member
First and foremost - I strongly believe that regardless of expense this hobby will survive.!!

However this morning I opened my Email to a letter from a less enthusiastic person who sells parts and tractors. We had been in negotiations for a Cub High/Wide kit that was priced well outside of reasonable...to which he responded "It does not eat..so pay my price or leave it". I gotta say I respected his convictions and said I will think about it. It was later in the letter that he assured me "the rising prices in fuel are spelling doom for the tractor business...just you wait and see"
This brings me to my inquiry..how many of you are dumping tractors and equipment now? I personally have it seen it become a BUYERS market over the last few months...but just like most of you I never intend to buy high/sell low. So does anyone else see this exodus from the hobby that my younger associate does? I am thinking it will be more of a thinning similiar to what occurred in muscle cars..where true collectors sucked up everything and those who were sorta in the hobby moved in a different direction....your thoughts?
 
Im here regardless the cost. Im always short on cash but i do what i can and cant think of a better use for that money.
 
I don't follow the guy's logic. He says business is bad yet he's holding out for top dollar on the parts he's selling? Sounds like salesman's scare tactics to me "Buy it now at my price, it won't be there tomorrow!".
 
As the on farm rural population ages and drops. The numbers of those who grew up or spent time on tractors is dropping.
Collectors are middle aged to senior men in their prime earning years. Purchasing something that reminds them of a time when they were 10-30 years old.
That makes for peak interest in 1960"s vintage equipment.
So antique farm shows have taken on cars, trucks, bikes, snowmobiles and the 1st ATV"s to maintain interest and attendance.
 
In strict utility value, it is hard to beat a late 50s early 70s tractor (any color) when reasonable HP is needed. They last, have reparibality, and work well and long. The applications that require 500 HP are not as common with reduced tillage/high draft requirements.
I believe the reality will be quite the opposite. Eating is addictive. Old tractors are both fun and operational. Scrap prices just separate the trash from the gems one more time. JimN
 
Write him back and agree with his doom and gloom theroy. Also mention he might better take your offer before the bottom falls out and scrap isn't even worth anything !
 
I agree with Lanse, I'm 27 and am paying on student loans and a mortgage, yet I bought a tractor off of a fenceline and am slowly but surely going to get it going, once this one is done I will find another. There may be less of us, but that does NOT mean we will go away. In my opinion we are kinda like smokers, there are less of us and even though we have to pay more we just can't stop.
 
"regardless of expense this hobby will survive"

I agree----people will always find/spend $$ for their recreation/hobby---

Your "doom and gloom" vendor may feel this way currently because he makes his living off parts and tractors and is not doing it for the "hobby"

Tim
 
Because everything is spiraling upward, there will be a slowdown simply because we have less disposable income to spend on our hobbies. Hubby and I passed up a tractor show this w/e simply because we didn"t want to spend the $ on gas.

Will we dump our tractors? Absolutely not. While all of our Jd tractors are vintage, 1939-1955, none are "trailer queens". They are all used and well cared for. None were bought with the idea of turning them for more $ and we can do most of the maintenance and some of the repair on the old tractors.

New ones cost big $ and have to go to someone"s shop to be repaired.
 
Our country may have been sold to foreigners,but our tractors are real America. We may be getting older, but we can still remember what being an American was like and agriculture was and will remain America. Use them! Grow something to eat. It doesn't take much ground to grow food and get that great feeling of doing it with your own, paid for tractor.
 
I would still collect and work on them if they were give-aways. And if the price went way up, i'd still keep what i have. I buy and sell some too, selling has been pretty soft lately. It is true that folks don't want to drive far to pick up items anymore. But local buyers are still around.

I never tried to make a living off the hobby, THAT IS THE KEY. Those that do; YES; they are gonna be hurtin right now. Those that do it for the fun and fellowship will not sell the farm. I'm gonna miss some shows because of the high cost this year, so be it. We have this great internet, local shows and plenty of tractors to tinker with that won't get scrapped.

When i started in this hobby, you could buy a cheap tractor and have some fun. Might get too many dollars in it to re-sell. So what??? It was for the fun of it, not for the greed of it. I say this may weed out the greedy ones and retain the good folks. It may make folks get by and repair on thier own more, or fabricate more. Kind of like hot rodding used to be, remember that? Guys would restore and modify stuff with thier own two hands that was amazing. Not many catalogues to order complete do-it-yourself kits then. Guys had to love it and sweat over it.

I'm okay, drop whatever tractors you think are to worthless to keep in my tree row and i'll leave the light on. LOLOL.
 
There are two thing they will have to "pry from my cold, dead fingers" My guns and my Farmalls.

A hobby is just that. Some will go, others get in.

Dont let others doom and gloom affect you. Examine your own situation. If you have the money for fuel and parts, then you are still in the game. I dont have my Super H at the Red Power roundup, and I only live 30 minutes away. I didn't have the time to complete it in the fashion I wanted. Maybe I'll have it at the local show next year.


Gene

PS I am heading to Columbia here in a few minutes.

I'll be working at the pedal pull at 3:30 if the rain permits.
 
I'm sure there will be a slowdown simply because we have fewer $ to spend. James and I passed on a tractor show this w/e because we didn't want to spend the $ for gas. Does this mean we will dump our old tractors? Absolutely not. All of our vintage JD's, 1939-1955, are used on our place - no "trailer queens" for us. We do not buy a tractor with the intention of turning it for more $.
 
As the number of people who grow up on farms shrinks, and the complexity of tractors increases, there will be less and less collectors.

Who here would want to fix up a computer controlled 2008 model tractor after it sat for 20 years from breaking down for some unknown reason? Good luck!

From what I've seen the number of tinkerers and mechanically inclined people is falling directly in relation to the number of family farms and the increase in HOA's that ban people from owning things that need tinkering.
 
Yup, the tractor hobby will die, just like the sports car hobby died... oh wait it didn't.

Back in the 80's when computers and fuel injection became common, everyone thought that those cars would be impossible for the average owner to work on or 'tune'. Now 20 years later those cars seem simple by comparison and are becoming popular again because of their simplicity. The difference is the demographic that is collecting them. Keep in mind that the 30-40 year old person who will be collecting that 2008 tractor may not have been born yet. That collector will have a different skill set for tinkering than the collector of a 1948 tractor.

It's just an evolution of interest. Take the Internation 2-Cylinder Club (for John Deere collectors), they are revampting their content to cover the "next generation" of tractors (from the 1960s). This is when the next generation of collections grew up.

Interest will rise and fall in collecting, just as disposable income does. Right now it is falling for that reason. No, it will never be the same, but nothing ever is...
 
Here in my area of Missouri. They have what is called the Radio Sale. Where others call in everyday for one hour in week and two hours on Saturday with what they want to sale.
There has been several tractors for sale lately at what I think have been low prices. Along with other stuff that you don't hear for sale on it hardly ever. This tells me the market demand is slow in some areas and people are saleing. What I call their extra's. .. is to bad right now but believe it will pick back up. But will not occour till after the Elections are over and figure about 1 to 2 years after that point.
What has really ticked me off this year. Was the rebates everyone was to get. But the local goverments decided that anyone who owed some taxes was not getting it.
Way I figure it is .. so you work for your self and had a bad year. You have children and your bills go on and on. Can't even pay no taxes cause you take what food you have for your kids to eat.
So now the goverment takes the food away from the kids by taking your rebate. shesssssss just don't seem right. Seems like someone could get off their ole But$ and looked at what kind of money you made this year. Was it below 20,000 and not take your rebate away!..
Instood like on news yesterday. The school board is bragging about how much more money they got this year cause of the rebates taken away!!! Seems it was like a 1 1/2 million just for them to have as extra money.
You know there use to be a TV Ad. That stated people are hungry over sea's! But have you looked out your own back window lately!" I know several that are verly getting by these days. Working at Mc Donalds won't feed family are pay all the bills. Yet there are no jobs around.
My wife and I have been trying to help some of them with food at times. Their out my window and not over sea's.
Sorry about the rant! Just ticked me off the local goverments collected all that money for themselfs and heck with our people. !
 
There is a difference though, not a lot of people tinkering with average computerized car, only high end. With tractors, the rarer the tractor, the harder it will be to collect it.

I know that is similar to now but for example, many manufacturers computer links are proprietary. So you have to be a dealer to have the right computer. Once that model is old, the hardware to maintain that tractor will become unavailable.

Most cars you can slap another FI system on it and go, how are you gonna put a different powershift tranny in? You might get a non computer injection pump on there, but that powershift is a toughy.
 
Well...I may look closer at where I buy and what it takes to get things home, but no...I plan to keep on.
I have seen a couple on here recently...but I just had to let them slide as they are just too far away. By the time I pay for fuel...they are over my self induced budget.
I buy them to work... as for a hobby I am sure it might be different.
 
From what I've seen, those that jerk around with old tractors do so because they love them. That sort of collector never loses interest - and it's not based on market values, the economy, fads, or the interests of others.

To the converse, there are people that get involved only because it's popular, and they want to have something they can bring to shows - and show off - and be part of something they were not part of previously. These types of collectors tend to disappear as soon as it's not a mainstream trend anymore.

I don't mean to say that everyone is either one way or the other . . . but many are.

For myself, I've got over 100 tractors and I don't care if anybody ever sees them - or buys them. If anything, I enjoyed old tractor collecting/using/etc. when tractors often sold for $50 - $150, and tractor shows often meant a dozen or less enthusiests getting together one weekend at someone's home or farm.

I've heard the same concerns with Ford Model T people. Interest - by the numbers has wained since younger people don't care much about a car made around the turn of the 19th century that they were not around when they grew up. So now, some of the meets and shows are getting smaller - kind of like they used to be - and if anything, are more fun now.
 
Coming to a close? I'd say not for some time (I know, vague answer). You folks have really come up with interesting answers, by the way.
The quality & reliability (real or imagined) of the Cubs I've been around are pretty inspiring. Like mine sat for about 8 months this past Winter & Spring, due to deep Wis. snow, etc. & yet started on the FIRST pull of the starting wire.
QUALITY- good word to think about these days. Mark SW Wis.
 
lot of interesting replies here. One point of interest I have seen 1st hand this spring is the price of scrap. I drive past a scrapyard couple days a week to/from work. And let me tell you they are scrouring the fencerows cleaning out stuff been setting for decades.
My last project was a 1937 JD G. And most parts were darn hard to locate. this problem will escalate as donor tractors become scarcer
 
With all the current affairs focused on fuel prices, economy, finances, I think it will smarten people up, I can't claim to know shite about economics, politics and the like, but do know that people will react and adapt, which may include prioritizing, that may sidetrack many hobbyists, but it's good to know that many need and use their tractors for work to make money, to maintain land, and also for the pleasure of owning, collecting and restoration, especially older models, that are from a great era.

This country is ( maybe "was" now) loaded with tractors, track type tractors, trucks and all other kinds of equipment and machinery, think about what it's like in other countries, they don't seem to have fence rows and boneyards chock full of old equipment, I think this tractor community is extremely fortunate in that there is a lot of old equipment left, people have taken an interest, including younger generations, others have saved things from the scrap yard etc. I think it will take a lot more than fuel prices to drive people out, but I'm sure casualties are beginning to mount from people cutting back.


The scrap thing is kind of scary, a lot of old but decent Caterpillar track type tractors are going to be subject to scrutiny for scrap consideration, not hard to figure that scrap value of these heavy tractors pays well. Kind of a shame, U.S. companies mined the ore, engineered the standards for high grade steel, like Cat did for steel they needed, they even engineered standards for oil, yet they'll pile those old tractors into scrap heaps bound for who knows where, sad but true. That is going to eliminate a lot of parts sources and put a hurting on hobbyists, restorers, weekend or non commercial users etc. I don't think you will see ag tractors scrapped as fast as these heavy track type tractors, as they are heavy, hard to work on etc.
 
Your seeing the general slowdown in the economy. People need cash so they sell off.

Of cource this hobbie will dim with the economy. It will aslo dim as more and more people get older and do not have the memories of driving these machines as kids.

It will also grow as shows and the tractor tours are fun things to go to.
 
Your seeing the general slowdown in the economy. People need cash so they sell off.

Of cource this hobbie will dim with the economy. It will aslo dim as more and more people get older and do not have the memories of driving these machines as kids.

It will also grow as shows and the tractor tours are fun things to go to.
 
every hobby, business, everything is going to suffer...

But i know there are teens and young kids like, lanse, and my son just turned 14 and he already wants farmall MD, and he is saving his money already to buy himself a truck.

But what he doesnt know is that he will be getting a farmall m that i found in a local town this weekend.

The best part is he thinks i am goin to buy it for myself but when we get there the owner is goin to hand him the keys and not me and tell him that he hopes he take cares of the tractor and puts it to good use. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA it is goin to be great. hahahahahaha
 
I don't worry about the "hardware."

That's only protected by patents, and those expire after 20 years or less. It's pretty easy to develop controller emulators. Heck, within a few years I don't expect I'll work on any "real" servers at work...it'll all be "virtual machines."

It's the software they have you by the short hairs on -- figure that's copyrighted for 100 years or better. If Mama Deere, Boss Cummins, or Dear Allison don't want to release the software to make their stuff go, they don't have to. I wonder if any company buying heavy equipment requires the code even get escrowed in case the company ceases to be.

And I just don't see there being a big draw for computer geeks to reverse engineer the propietary software to control these engines, transmissions, etc.

Most fire apparatus is in the same boat now -- even our 2001 Ladder I'm not so sure we'll have the ability to maintain it through it's planned 30 year life thanks to the electronics. The newer trucks as "fly by wire" and multiplexed electronics become more and more integral, you're going to see the builders start to age trucks off the market at 15 years by not supporting the software to run them anymore. Fire apparatus replacement in many communities like mine has always been driven more by technical obsolence then wearing out...the 'puters will shorten that obsolence even more.
 
Software and computers are the easiest portion of the project to hack and figure out.
Nerds by the 100,000's do this everyday just to prove they can.
 
Heres a thought. With people sending everything in sight to the scrap yard and the states paying bonuses to new tractor buyers to trade in their older "polluters" destined for the crusher, good old tractors have got to become scarcer than hens teeth. So in the capitalistic economy that means the value of the scarce comodity goes up. No?
So ya if you are like me and just a week end user, who's fixed a couple of old girls up to farm with part time, fuel is going to hurt and parts will become harder to get.

For the serious restorer I'll bet that more and more specialty foundaries and sheet metal works will begin to pop up to make new parts for the old machines. Look at what the Cubans have been doing with old American cars for the last 40 years. Buy a rubber windsheild gasket for an old truck from JC Whitney. where was it made? Brazil, Cuba, somewhere in south America. They have been fixin our cast offs for years. The crankshaft for the MF 35 perkins 152 I just rebuilt was cast and machined in India. It cost 2/3 the price of the same spec crank made in UK. After market dozer parts are being made over seas and are probably nearly as good as factory. In a global economy where components are made by subcontractors to spec, making a new part should be as easy as making an old part. Somebodies just got to decide there is enough demand for the thing and it can be made.
 
i think the folks who play with old tractors , either restoring them or just tinkering with them will always be here, there may be a lull in the amount of tractors at some showes that were being hauled huge miles to those shows due to fuel prices, the only problems i can see are the younger generation thats wanting to scrap everything over 10 years old making some stuff hard to find, they seem to live in the moment,with no regard at all for history or family history, also i hope we dont see some bored rich people buying up a bunch of these old things and then re-selling them as 'rare' at 4 or5 times the price in the same condition, like happened in the old car and truck hobby
 
What hobby?My tractors are for work.They spread manure,plow the garden,cut,rake and bale hay.Saw and haul out fire wood and logs for the sawmill.Grade driveways,drill post holes.
 
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