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Ken in Texas 
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Joined: 11 Sep 2009
Location: Henderson, TX
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 Topic: The Future of Antique Tractors
Posted: 06 Apr 2019 at 12:45pm |
I fear for the future of the Antique Tractor Hobby. Collecting, Restoring, Preserving, Tractor Pulling will be all a thing of the past if my kids and their kids aren't interested in what Grandpa has in his shed or what he does with them old tractors. I went with my CA to the biggest Antique Tractor Swap Meet in NE TX looking for a pair of 28 inch wheels, rims and tires for the CA and Tried to sell 5 #100 suitcase weights. Came home with the weights and found no 28" anything. I had lots of time to do crowd watching. 9 out of 10 passers by were grey headed and old like me. Once in a while a 40 to 50 year walked by but no young couples pushing a stroller When my generation is all gone to heaven and doing their favorite thing to do with the tractor of their dreams the treasures of this life won't be worth a plugged nickel if the Hobby Dies with them. Tell me I'm sadly mistaken in my observations. Thanks Age 79 in May
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CrestonM
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Joined: 08 Sep 2014
Location: Oklahoma
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Posted: 06 Apr 2019 at 1:41pm |
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I just turned 21 if it helps you feel any better! And I know there's a handful of us young'uns on here.
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Dave H
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Location: Central IL
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Posted: 06 Apr 2019 at 2:20pm |
Sigh, I tend to agree with you Ken. Bucking up on 76 here.
The upcoming generations grew up on something else like games down in the basement or two thumming it on a cell phone.
hope I am not 100% correct.
In about a decade ole Creston and his few friends will have their choice of good ole restored scrap iron for a pittance. 
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JC-WI
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Joined: 11 Sep 2009
Location: wisconsin
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Posted: 06 Apr 2019 at 2:39pm |
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Hey Creston, you better make your fortunes quick and get's yurself a big big shed... Many big big sheds cuzz Dave is just about nuts on there... you will be trying to keep the good stuff from the scrappers and have to pay a few bucks more than they do to save the stuff... but for who after you? Dang, your going to have a bunch of fun in the meantime collecting...
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He who says there is no evil has already deceived himself
The truth is the truth, sugar coated or not. Trawler II says, "Remember that."
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Thad in AR.
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Location: Arkansas
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Posted: 06 Apr 2019 at 3:00pm |
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I used to belong to a tractor club. Their motto was to discourage anyone under 68 years old from collecting and restoring antique tractors. If you’ve been to one of their shows you’ve seen them all.
They added a Blacksmith shop to the grounds and it always has a large gathering of young and old alike. I haven’t been there in several years.
I go to a show in Republic MO every year. It gets bigger and bigger. Lots of young folks involved.
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CrestonM
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Posted: 06 Apr 2019 at 3:11pm |
 JC(WI) wrote:
you will be trying to keep the good stuff from the scrappers and have to pay a few bucks more than they do to save the stuff... but for who after you?
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I've honestly wondered that myself. What'll happen in (hopefully) 80 +/- years after I'm gone?
Kinda like with my very small NOS All-Crop parts collection...I think it's important for certain NOS parts to remain NOS, because of their rarity, plus they're not making them anymore. I also think they could be used as a template for making reproduction parts, if need be. But at the same time I think, "If I don't use them, someday someone else will." so I'm left not knowing what to do. Do I get use of them now and have some fun, or do I let the uncertain future handle it for me?
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tadams(OH)
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Joined: 17 Sep 2009
Location: Jeromesville, O
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Posted: 06 Apr 2019 at 3:21pm |
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I have to agree Ken, we are having trouble with our club, there is 4 directors that are younger but they have been president and come to the meetings with no agendas, just can't get them to take ahold. Out treasurer is fighting cancer and have been looking for someone to take his place for 2 years. I am afraid that it is headed down the tube, the younger generation doesn't have time. SAD.
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JC-WI
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Location: wisconsin
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Posted: 06 Apr 2019 at 4:17pm |
Creston, it is like the power of our ancestors... mules and oxen and horses... hey all have gone to the grave and only drawings paintings and picture captured the essence of that time.along came the harnessing of nature water power, the old dutch windmills ...steam and gas to nukes... and I wonder how long that will last... nujes power lasts only about 80 years they say, dames get old and deteriate and many have already been demolitioned for the sake of nature... and our under powered toys from 1900 to the present will become extinct... and the life style of thousands and thousands of small farms and kids growing up have turned into a handful of big corporate farms that only adult can be employed at... and that has only become a job, not a love fopr what you use and have. So it dies out in the evolution of things... I find fewer people are smart enough to figure things out to make things go... unless it is some computor gizmoe. To few of people want to get sweaty and dirty unless t is to destroy their trucks and toys playing in the mud... Well, it comes down to this, the old combines will disappear as the dinosaurs have and you might as well use the new parts now to make your fun and set the old part up on the shelf to refurbish if you want... or make a short span business of supplying new parts to others because in another 40 years what we see today will be gone into history for the most part.... and what is being used for the major power now will be in the bone yards when you are retiring.
Best is gets yourself a bunch of kids and teach them to love the farming life and teach them the past and instill the love and respect what our ancestors worked with...Maybe even get the neighbor kids and community involved too... the future of the past is now on you. 
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He who says there is no evil has already deceived himself
The truth is the truth, sugar coated or not. Trawler II says, "Remember that."
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CrestonM
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Location: Oklahoma
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Posted: 06 Apr 2019 at 5:14pm |
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JC, you said that very well. Not sure what else to say, other than that last bit may be a bit of a challenge, as the youth are only going to get further and further away from Ag, but I'm hoping there will still be young'uns to teach who will want to learn about all this stuff in the future.
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AllisFreak MN
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Location: Minnesota
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Posted: 06 Apr 2019 at 5:46pm |
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What is happening is hard to watch but is inevitable in the end. I recall my dad thinking back fondly of the days when he was young and they farmed with horses. I never understood why, as I grew up in the 70's tractor era when there were so many "cool" brands of tractors out there, I had no interest in his stories about farming with horses. Now he's gone and I wish I would have listened to more of what he had to say. That was a bygone era that I just couldn't wrap my head around, just like the era I grew up in is virtually a bygone era to the young folk of today. Hold on tight as long as you can gentlemen and I will do the same. Long live the legacy of Allis-Chalmers.
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'49 A-C WD, '51 A-C WD, '63 A-C D17 Series III, 1968 A-C One-Seventy, '82 A-C 6060, '75 A-C 7040, A-C #3 sickle mower, 2 A-C 701 wagons, '78 Gleaner M2
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DiyDave
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Posted: 06 Apr 2019 at 6:50pm |
Kids, today will be collecting, and pulling antique cell phones...
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Ted J
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Location: La Crosse, WI
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Posted: 06 Apr 2019 at 7:35pm |
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There a lot of young'uns on here now Ken. I really notice it when I do the birthdays......which reminds me...
I think these ole tractors will go the way the older cars did. They are still being sold for really good prices and getting worse every day. They are so easy to work on and if you change that nomenclature to fix,,,,,,they don't like WORK of ANY kind... But yeah, it's stuff we grew up on so who knows...
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"Allis-Express"
19?? WC / 1941 C / 1952 CA / 1956 WD45 / 1957 WD45 / 1958 D-17
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Sugarmaker
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Location: Albion PA
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Posted: 06 Apr 2019 at 7:35pm |
A lot of this hinges on the fact that the family farm is just about gone! At least in our area! So the kids in those non farming families are not going to get much if any exposure to spending hours on tractors.
One of the good things I see in the antique tractor industry is that there are replacement parts. Look at a Stiener book for example, thick, has almost enough parts to build a tractor. I just ordered a bunch of parts from Sandy Lake for a tractor built in 1955. This is way better than not being able to find parts and have to look for years for pieces to bring a tractor back to working order even if that means taking it to a few shows, and or Tractor pulls. Try to get young folks involved in the tractor associations. Mentor them and help them learn the things that we know.
About 20 years ago I though the Maple syrup industry was going to be a sunset industry. Since then we have many new suppliers, new products, good support groups and many young folks doing work and having fun making syrup. Many new folks in our neck of the woods getting into the hobby too.
Regards, Chris
Edited by Sugarmaker - 06 Apr 2019 at 7:36pm
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D17 1958 (NFE), WD45 1954 (NFE), WD 1952 (NFE), WD 1950 (WFE), Allis F-40 forklift, Allis CA, Allis D14, Ford Jubilee, Many IH Cub Cadets, 32 Ford Dump, 65 Comet.
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DMiller
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Joined: 14 Sep 2009
Location: Hermann, Mo
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Posted: 07 Apr 2019 at 10:28am |
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Fresh upstart company here in Hermann is restoring old tractors, also a fella I know in Warrenton has a real good income restoring for families and Not DuPont rebuilds.
Problem they are having is scrounging enough good used repairable parts where the aftermarket or even dealer supplied stuff is junk. Good enough for the Road Parade but tend to be useless in the field. The local guy here has a supplier of Alternators that appear as Generators so can keep a 'Look' of original.
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DanWi
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Posted: 07 Apr 2019 at 1:12pm |
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Its just a natural progression, You've got guys collecting 100 series and such because that is what they grew up on. Not as many have interest in steam engines and stuff from before the 1950's. Although to go to shows and see that stuff it is really interesting. One thing is if you collect/show if you have a D21 or larger going to a show one tractor on the gooseneck is a load where you could have put 2 or 3 small tractors on a trailer unless you have a semi and trailer to haul a few big ones. Another thing for the younger people antique pulls are slow and if you participate they don't stay stock for long and down that slope you go to hot farm then too hot to farm and so on. The other question becomes in the future how many 7000 and 8000 series come to shows? And what other small tractors are considered show worthy. Can you see alot of guys bringing L and M gleaner combines to shows or how about an N7?
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Ray54
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Location: Paso Robles, Ca
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Posted: 07 Apr 2019 at 6:46pm |
The only thing that is forever is change. 
I could put that in Kens other topic of saying and such.
We may not recognize tractor collecting in a 100 years but some form of it will still around.
Maybe the climate change crowd is right and I am wrong so there will only be none running ones around. Or maybe one internal combustion something on every corner to remind us how dum humans us to be. But farming is food for living and so far everybody eats. Even if kale and tofu. The new grown in a lab meat is still a cow or goat on some level they have to feed it KALE and TOFU all ground up into liquid. From the little I have read anyway they feed it.(maybe not the disgusting vegges,  but something)
Not that the best days of dragging scrap out of the fence row, spraying some Dupont on and making thousands could well be past  . But    good workmanship and engineering will always be appreciated in some places  forever.
So in the here and now stop being grumpy let the little kids climb on your tractor. When one falls and mom&dad show up with a ambulance chaser we all need to help you find a defective wood chipper and toss them in. (that is defective only in no guards  ,and some how adults fall in, it chipps just fine)
Edited by Ray54 - 07 Apr 2019 at 6:48pm
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jiminnd
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Posted: 07 Apr 2019 at 8:26pm |
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I agree with most of what has been said, our tractor club has gone from 50+ members to 25 or so. We keep losing a few every year and no new ones, and we allow about any age tractor you have just to gain members.
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1945 C, 1949 WF and WD, 1981 185, 1982 8030, unknown D14(nonrunner)
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HD6GTOM
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Posted: 07 Apr 2019 at 10:49pm |
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In the 70's and 80's we had a great tractor show along I80 in central Iowa. It has since moved to the Adair County fair grounds. I hadn't been to it in several years. Went last year and not 1 antique tractor showed up. Just a swap meet that didn't have a lot of parts.
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Ken in Texas
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Posted: 08 Apr 2019 at 9:24pm |
I'm older and smarter about some things. Clubs that carry insurance with the Early Day Gas engine and Tractor Association must limit pulling tractors to "GRANDPA" gear with a speed limit of 3 1/2 MPH or loose their EDGETA BRANCH CHARTER. Talk about running off people over how slow a pulling tractor has to go to be SAFE. Until EDGETA rethinks the 3 1/2 MPH speed to at least 5 I'm going to drop my EDGETA Membership and find a club that thinks taking a hour and a half to watch 60 minutes is nuts
. The Younger Generation May get interested In Playing Tractor Puller if they can pull a sled at more than 3 1/2 MPH
Edited by Ken in Texas - 08 Apr 2019 at 9:28pm
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desertjoe
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Posted: 09 Apr 2019 at 9:34am |
Egads,,Ken,,,this almost sounds like the "Do Gooders" that are wanting to stop giving trophies at children's events over worries the "Not Winners" will get their feelings hurT,,,!! One has to wonder,,,How do those Do Gooders think them same children are gonna handle life's problems when faced with them later in life with nobody around to bail em out,,?? Chit,,better stop right here,,,,I'm outa here,,,,,,
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tadams(OH)
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Posted: 10 Apr 2019 at 3:45pm |
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Our club is finding that the gas engine boys that only show up for one day of the show are sheaking in and not paying so they for they are not cover under our insurance policy because they are not members, Lord help them if someone gets hurt around there engines.
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