By PAUL WALLEM

  The Mecum November Auction advertised 500 tractors during their three-day event. It’s not far from my home.

I drove to East Moline on the final day. It was bitterly cold with a strong wind, yet the weather didn’t keep the crowd away. The bleachers were packed. Two hundred tractors were on the schedule for the last day, and bidders were phoning and texting. Those in the room were signaling from the floor.

Even though a 1913 Hart-Parr stood at the entrance, none of that vintage were on the day’s schedule. The oldest being sold was a 1934 JD GP. Seven others were from the 1930s: A 1935 Farmall F-12, 1935 JD A, 1935 JD B, 1937 Farmall F-20, 1937 Case L, 1937 JD A and a 1938 JD B. The newest on the day’s list was a 1987 JD 2355.

So, every tractor on the day’s auction was manufactured from 1935 and 1987.

The tractors brought to this auction did not come from the back of the shed. They were gorgeous and stunning restorations. The overhead lights in the convention building reflected off the hoods of row after row of machines about to find a new home.

I met with Dan Mecum before the bidding started, and asked him whether values are changing. He indicated that steam tractors are holding their prices, but others 100 years and older are struggling to hold their value because of higher maintenance and trucking costs, as well as operating them safely.

Prices for others continue to be influenced by condition, serial numbers, rarity etc.  He added that some collectors will sell their entire collection on auction, then start buying back.

“Once a collector, always a collector,” he added. He does not see a diminishing number of buyers and sellers. Younger collectors appear to be a larger percentage of buyers.

Mecum Auctions is based in Walworth, Wis Originally only dealing in cars, they have expanded into trucks and tractors. They also provide trucking for sellers and buyers.

Earlier I mentioned the 1913 Hart-Parr 10-18 parked at the auction entrance. Mecum Auctions handled the September sale of one of the nation’s best-know collections from the George Schaaf Museum. The Hart-Parr mentioned above was from that sale, and Dan Mecum calls it the “most significant piece Mecum has ever 

auctioned.”  It was one of 70 rare tractors and trucks on the Schaaf sale.

The Hart-Parr Gasoline Engine Co. was founded in 1897 by two University of Wisconsin engineering students. They built their first tractor in 1901. Historians label that tractor the first production model ever built. Hart-Parr sales manager W.H. Williams claimed to have invented the word “tractor.”

George Schaaf was once asked which of his tractors was the favorite. “All of them” was his answer.

This comment about the oldest tractors was heard at the Schaaf auction: “When they are running it’s like they are breathing fire. They are alive. They shake the ground. They rumble.”

Collections like this are not often sold, but when they are put on the block, buyers come from throughout the country. Other large auction houses conduct auctions every year, never short of buyers. A rare antique at an Aumann auction in April 2022 brought a world’s record price. A 1913 Case 30-60 sold for $1.47 million. That makes it the most expensive antique tractor ever sold. It was one of 500 built, and only five are known to still exist.

Aumann Auctions, located in Nokomis, Ill., auctioned the Mehling Collection in 2021. This Montana Museum sold 60 pristine tractors, including a 1919 Russell 12-24 which is reputedly the only one in existence.

CH Wendel said this in his 1979 Encyclopedia of American tractors: “No other farm machine of this century has had such a profound effect on American agriculture as the farm tractor. In its infancy the farm tractor was little more than a stationary engine adapted to a steam engine chassis. Within 20 years, tractors were available of every description.”

Paul Wallem was raised on an Illinois dairy farm. He spent 13 years with corporate IH in domestic and foreign assignments. He resigned to own and operate two IH dealerships. He is the author of THE BREAKUP of IH and SUCCESSES & INDUSTRY FIRSTS of IH, See all his books on www.PaulWalem.com.