And watched over half a million dollars in sales in just a few minutes. This was not Barrett-Jackson or Mecham, the auctioneer was named Nixon (out of Nebraska) and the sale was the Paul Armstrong estate out of Hart, Texas. And it was mainly antique tractors and stationary engines.

Hey, it's not exactly automotive, but I figured the gear heads here would enjoy it. The star of the show was the circa 1910 Fairbanks-Morse 15-25. For those not into old tractors, the numbers meant that it produced 25 horsepower at the belt pulley, 15 at the drawbar. It is powered by a single-cylinder motor.



And it probably weighs about 10 tons. It sold for (drum roll, please)....

$375,000

It was bought by a collector in Illinois. The sale was out in the Panhandle, about 70 miles SW of Amarillo. I saw vehicles from New Mexico, Nebraska, Tennessee and even one guy from Massachusetts. There were phone bidders or reps from Argentina and Belgium. Folks close to the sale swore that Jay Leno had a buyer in attendance. It took 3 days and they often had two auctioneers working different areas at the same time.

My daughter's boyfriend was visiting over Spring break, and took a ton of photos, and I've posted them here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/chs_girls_soccer/sets/72157616005356725/

Forget Cancun and Padre Island! Spend Spring Break in a Panhandle Blizzard at a farm sale!

Other links, including the original sale bill (don't know how long that one will stay posted)

http://www.smokstak.com/forum/calendar.php?do=getinfo&day=2009-3-26&e=1326&c=1

http://www.nixonauctioneers.com/listings/armstrong_listing.html

Good stuff...I love that old iron!

Another link, a you tube of a similar tractor driving slowly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dw-GnM4To60

And HOLY CRAP, someone has already posted a video of the sale of the tractor pictured above!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcrCZpWndUs

I keep finding links

http://www.smokstak.com/forum/showthread.php?t=58811&highlight=paul+armstrong

I'll scope these out when I get home this afternoon!

Sitting on Dubs, beeotch!




Those are pretty cool.

25HP, huh? Throw on some NOs stickers and a wing. 10s tractor, man!

And, I'm sure that Leno had someone there. Dude's into ANYTHING motor-related. Lucky bastage!

[This message has been edited by BigRobSA (edited 3/30/2009 10:45a).]

I'll take one of each please!





I LOVE old Deere 2 cylinders!

My grandpa had a Farmall that looked like that first John Deere, it had big metal wheels with spikes on them and it was a tricycle design like that.

It looked a lot like this


Anyhow it got stuck down in the drainage ditch one day and he never took it out, I think he gave it to a collector if he could get it out of his ditch. He also had a funny wooden framed tractor with a 6' in diameter sawblade on the front, it was used to push back the trees around the fields .. you know? I figure that when it came winter time, they needed new wood for the basement (they have 2 huge wood rooms) they'd just push back the trees around the fields that were already cleared.

Also its a pile of trash now, but he had a horse drawn steam powered combine from my great grandpa as well. Too many Minnesota winters and not being taken care of made a pile of trash out of it, but when I was a kid the wooden frame with a little paint was still holding together.

Also in typical farmer fashion, he had spent his life (and all of his 10 childrens' childhood lol) clearing tons of granite from his fields (NW Minnesota sits on a huge granite sheet), one day some material procurer from the Minnesota Dept of Trans comes out and asks if his huge hill of rocks was granite, he says "Likely so hard as anything and thats what we got in the ground round here", he sold it to them for a little money (a lot less than it was worth of course, typical farmer stuff), but it took them 20 18-wheeler loads to get all of his granite that the family had piled up and he was happy that the "damn stones" were gone

Sorry, pictures of old tractors make me think about my grandpa.

[This message has been edited by Randy03 (edited 3/31/2009 4:13a).]

Dad collected antique tractors, and I went to a few shows with him. The best part of the shows were always the memories the old iron generated.

Old men would lean their canes against the tires, grab the flywheels of the old John Deeres and roll them back and forth. (You started the old Deeres by flicking the flywheel just right) Or they slowly and painfully climb up on the metal seat, grab the steering wheel, work the gears, and stare off into the fields of 50 years ago, sometimes with a tear in their eye.

When the kids were little, I took my new tractor with the cab, A/C, radio, 200hp diesel, MFWD, power steering, etc. etc. up to history day at school, and parked it next to a 1944 John Deere "A" from Dad's collection.



I would start the old A occasionally so the kids could hear the "popping Johnny" sound. One the teachers told me, "I could drive that one", pointing to the A. I told her the new one would be a lot easier to drive.

She said no, she used to take mason jars full of ice water out to her daddy and drive the A with him, and she could drive it, not the modern one.

"I almost started to cry when you started the A and I heard that sound...."

[This message has been edited by CanyonAg77 (edited 3/31/2009 8:13a).]

Canyon,

I read on one of the posts at smokestack that the Fairbanks was sold in KY for $8500 in the mid 80's. Traded to another for some equipment, then Paul Armstrong traded an IH for it.

Not a bad investment.

Most of the early tractors that he got were from neighbors who told him he could have it if he hauled it off.

Once upon a time, I was very good friends with one of Mr. Armstrong's grandsons. We went to junior high and high school together in Lubbock and then grew apart.

Mr. Armstrong used to have a great big tractor show out at his place every summer. I was invited once and have likely ridden on every tractor pictured above.

If I remember correctly, he had a steam tractor that was one of only about three in working condition left in the world.

He also had an awesome collection of JD tractors with his prize being an old Waterloo Boy.

I didn't know him well, but what I do know of him is that he was a good Aggie and a fun man to be around. I wish I'd been smarter to make amends with his grandson and their family when I had the opportunity.

Thanks for the memories.