your most favorite tractor find

 My 2nd model E was my best barn find. It's not as nice as my 1st E but was found 20 miles from my house and the price was right.

Found a beautiful originial D-12 in a guys garage for $1650 about 16 years ago. Drove by a hobby farm one day and saw a D-17 from the road. Drove in to talk a little. Told him to call if he every wanted to sell. A year later I owned a great originial D-17 iv diesel. On the way to pick up the D-12, I stopped at a salvage yard and spotted a Unstyled Speed Maintainer grader unit on a Farmall H. Bought the whole thing and when I went to pick it up, I walked the yard and found a WC wide front for $175 100 ft from the gate. Traded the Farmall H for a D-14 with power steering. Traded a WF for an unstlyed WC to mount the speed maintiner on. Going to a jobsite about 600 miles from home, I saw a TL-W loader at the road for sale. It was on the next load home. Traded a used snowblower to a dealer for a WD-45 diesel he said didn't run. The injector pump was not installed correctly. A lot more good stories. This a big part of the fun of the hobby and all the characters that I meet along the way!

My uncle called one day and said he found a 45Diesel for sale.  Turns out it came from my Granddad's and Uncle's dealership, of course my uncle knew it, and I got a great running 45D for $1500. I drove it the 2 miles to my uncles shop that day.  When I found my 45 Distillate that was a great day as well.  And then last Thanksgiving, my uncle gave me a WD that my Granddad sold new, and the buyer later brought it back to have my uncle install factory power steering on it. I am thinking of putting the 445 loader with front auxillary pump on it.

A guy told my dad about an orange tractor beside a farmers barn. He thought it might be an older Kubota, couldn't see it very good because of the weeds were so high. Dad called me later that night to tell me that there were 2 6080 fwd sitting at the farm. The farmer had bought both of them on Dec 29 1985. They are very close to the end of production. One had a cab and a rebuilt motor and the other one was an open station with no motor or hood. $!300 for the pair, including trucking to get them home. That deal kind of makes up for the $1750 we paid for the early 35 WC on steel. Also found a D17 black bar grill with a blown motor and a mint 305 Henry loader. When we went pick it up, we bought a Ford pickup, a Chev van and a smashed up 2000 GMC truck from the guy. We made almost enough off of scrap and selling parts to pay for the D17.

Heard about an old orange tractor with a tree growing thru it way down in the woods. Finally tracked it down and went for a look. ED 40 with a broken right rear housing ,kinda leaning over ,with bushes and small trees all over it.  Guy  said his brother in law had hooked chain around axle and tried to use that like a winch to pull stuck tractor out!!!  5+ years ago!!After he showed me a complete RH housing I bought it.Two days ,2 batteries,5 gals diesel and alot of penetrating oil   drove it out to the road.Worked it with a 6foot bushog for years .

Actually my wife found my best one.  I was coming in from Dallas and She was shopping garage sales.  Called me and asked if a D-15 was what I had been looking for?  Next evening we were hauling a D-15II LPG with factory 3 pt and a brush hog to the house.

My WD45 diesel that was setting in a city of over 100,000  population in a industrial area

Well I am hoping that in a few months from now I will be telling y'all it was my 190XT III which I just paid cash for but can't get it home till the snow melts and the steep mountain side dries up. I paid a little more than scrap price!

I've found two AC tractors while bicycling in the area by my house (I'm staying in shape, haha). One is a WC sitting in a fencerow that would need a lot of work. The other is a WC/WD/WD45 (can't tell because it's too far back from the road). I'm going to stop and ask the guy about that tractor next week and see if he wants to sell it. It's amazing how much more stuff you notice when you're on a bike.

The 35 WC A guy gave me to haul away, and that my friends from the AC Jamboree restored for me during the 10th show.  There will be a story in OAN on it eventually.

Eddie(IL) wrote:       I'm not sure what it is about a narrow front D19, that trips my trigger, but I just had to have one. I got lucky and found this one a couple years ago near Louisville, KY.  We've rebuilt the motor, with a few added touches, and I hope it's near 100 hp when it dynos. I hope to get it painted this year...though I doubt I can have it ready for Dale's show.

I think most tractors look best with a narrow front end! And that d19 looks good!

Mine would be the 35 WC that my SIL showed me while we were mushroom hunting his grandpas timber. I got it home a few weeks later and have been tinkering with it ever since.

She was pretty rough everywhere but it was Leroy's first tractor and it was one of the first rubber tired tractors in the area.
Ted, what is the serial number of you WC? I have pictures of Butches boys while I was helping them swap out your tranny.

BTW ,My L 15-25 would #2 ,then # 3  my 20-35 longfender then # 4 my WC Mantainer.