I'm 31 and just got into collecting with my dad now that he's retired. Our interest tends more to the pre WW2 stuff (and specifically are concentrating on the local Heider and Rock Island), and honestly, if it wasn't for dad, I don't think I would have gotten into it. If I finally had, it would have been much later in life and probably not in this way. I've been going to shows since I was a kid, and our farm wasn't exactly state of the art so antique tractors aren't new to me. Don't get me wrong, I have enjoyed my self a lot getting into it, but for me to have gone out on my own to do it would have been extremely difficult; to actually take the next step and collect, restore and educate was a tough one.
I think that third one is the one everyone forgets, and is why tractor collectors as a group have become their own worst enemies. To many are hoarders, jealousy guarding their prizes in dusty museums. Those shows with active events where old machines are working, watching the memorized faces of the spectators, you have to think there is hope for the future if people would just nurture it. Take the time to talk to spectators, answer questions and explain that an oil pull is not a steam engine.
as for why it seems like there are fewer old steamers and big tractors around, its not because many of them have been scrapped the last few years. More are now sitting in massive collections quietly deteriorating again. Hauling those big tractors is a major undertaking to any show, and many people that have them have more then one, so even if they do attend shows, they are bringing only one or two. Its a shame, because many of these folks are experts and custodians of history, but you are going to see a lot less at shows with one guy owning 10 tractors instead of 7 or 8 people owning those tractors.
Cost as well is a big issue, its not just the tractor but you also need a place to store it and a way to move it. An interesting fact of human nature is, people are interested most in what they think they can obtain. If they don't think they can ever own a 10, 20, 30, $100k tractor, they probably aren't going to be nearly so inclined to do research and become historians of that type of thing.
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