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

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. 

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. 

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

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 levelthey 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)

      The Younger Generation May get interested In Playing Tractor Puller if they can pull a sled at more than 3 1/2 MPH

 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,,,,,,