King Peter is an acreage owner who bought a brand spankin’ new Kubota tractor years back. It was a beaut with a PTO and three point hitch, front end loader, dual ranges, power steering and some farkles. Earlier in the summertime the hydraulic pressure began to fluctuate and cause problems. It had to go back to the shop in Edmonton - twice - and they had to crack the tractor in two to get at the problem.
By contrast I’ve seen guys like me (with my meagre mechanical talents) haul one of these rusted Fords out of a field somewhere and rebuild them to showroom condition. It used to be a profitable hobby round here for awhile. Acreage yuppies would pay through the nose for them because they need something bigger than a lawn tractor but smaller than your big ag tractors. The little tractors garnered real snob appeal with the yuppies that coveted the quaint tractors as functional lawn ornaments.
Nowadays, these little tractors are no longer bargains. On one hand it is good to see them as cherished antiques… but sad to see the passing of their era.
My Dad's Ford Jubilee tractor is sitting idle at my Mom's house. Dad passed nearly 5 years ago. Everyone that asks about it starts the conversation with "Them 8N Fords ain't wuff much, are you gonna sell it?" and make some low ball offer. She sends them on their way. An honest offer will get it, but she's not going to put up with people trying to buy it cheap.
ReplyDeleteLot's of these old 8-N's got shipped to Africa to improve agriculture there by charitable groups. Easy to repair and easy to operate were the big selling points.
ReplyDeleteSpent more than a few hours in the seat of one of those as a young lad.
ReplyDeleteWhen we moved to our little place in the country, I needed a mid-size tractor. I found a guy on ebay who buys a conex full of used Yanmar tractors from Japan, fixes them up, and sells them. These are "grey market", not illegal, but never intended for sale in the USA. The Japanese government subsidizes their farmers to buy a new tractor every couple of years, so the used ones have no market in Japan. I got a 4x4 Diesel, dual range with PTO and a 3-point hitch with a brand new 4' Howse mower for $4000.
ReplyDeleteI learned on an old 8N Ford tractor over 50 years ago. Perfect size for a small farm.
ReplyDeleteGuy on yootoob out of southern Ontario has a buncha vids on his restoration of one of these. Entertaining stuff. Channel is BILLSTMAX
ReplyDeleteLove it, wish I had one.
ReplyDeleteNearly evvabody around my area has an old 8N. Friend of mine has two. You can still buy a good one any day of the week for 2 or 3 thou.
ReplyDeleteOhio Guy
When I was a kid....50 plus years ago, my dad moved us to a 'hobby farm' on the plains east of the Rockies. He was a VP at IBM so the farm was as much a place to raise 8 kids as it was for anything else and it never turned a profit. He didn't care. And we had one of those little Ford tractors. It was a blast. One of the first vehicles I drove.
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