I'll have to agree with all that! Things are just to pricey for me to buy anymore. Then try to sell and they want to lowball you!

 

Right kenny I have a few restored custom 10s I was asking 350 for with a deck and people didn't want to pay but I see heap of scrap ones with no attachments for 400 or 500 it's crazy

 

I see several things happening at the same time. EPAY/Am. Pickers/Am. Restortations created the illusion that there was a huge value in old tractors. A number of people with no knowledge nor experience have jumped in and want you to give them treasures so that they can sell them at solid gold prices. Like much of our country's economy, its a con job. Very few of the tractors sell for the high prices. There are alot more unemployed and stuggling than the government admitts.

Last year there was a Case 222 for sale without a price. It was damaged and needed work. He wanted $450 because someone told him it was worth that. We had a nice talk but I told him that it wasn't worth that much to me and if he changed his mind to call me. A couple of weeks later he called, told me that he found that it wasn't worth much and that he wanted it out of his garage. I came to look at it. The steering wheel was broken and the seat and its mount were bent badly. He had hit it with his bucket loader. The engine started right up and ran very nice. I offered $200 and he accepted. I bought a steering wheel and brake band from Joe's and stole the seat from one of my other tractors. The bad mower deck turned out to be just the idler pulley. So, $200 into it and I have a great Case 222 with mower deck.

I see prices coming down on the restored tractors. Guys that have restored GTs are having to sell them for the needed money. In many cases they can't fix them themselves and the few shops that are around, don't want to touch them or are very expensive. I still come across cheap GTs. This year I bought a CC105 with plow, wheelweights, and hydraulic lift for $25, a Case 220 with sleeve hitch for $50(it was running), a NOS Wisconsin TRA12D for $275, a WH C160 with like new deck for free and a 4 kw generator for free. I've passed on alot more. The one that got away, because my car was broke down, was a Wheel Horse C160 with FEL for $600.

When life around you is in turmoil, stick with what you know is right. Remember, the majority is usually wrong. Good Luck, Rick

 

I see several things happening at the same time. EPAY/Am. Pickers/Am. Restortations created the illusion that there was a huge value in old tractors. A number of people with no knowledge noe experience have jumped in and want you to give them treasures so that they can sell them at solid gold prices. Like much of our country's economy, its a con job. Very few of the tractors sell for the high prices. There are alot more unemployed and stuggling than the government admitts.Last year there was a Case 222 for sale without a price. It was damaged and needed work. He wanted $450 because someone told him it was worth that. We had a nice talk but I told him that it wasn't worth that much to me and if he changed his mind to call me. A couple of weeks later he called, told me that he found that it wasn't worth much and that he wanted it out of his garage. I came to look at it. The steering wheel was broken and the seat and its mount were bent badly. He had hit it with his bucket loader. The engine started right up and ran very nice. I offered $200 and he accepted. I bought a steering wheel and brake band from Joe's and stole the seat from one of my other tractors. The bad mower deck turned out to be just the idler pulley. So, $200 into it and I have a great Case 222 with mower deck.I see prices coming down on the restored tractors. Guys that have restored GTs are having to sell them for the needed money. In many cases they can't fix them themselves and the few shops that are around, don't want to touch them or are very expensive. I still come across cheap GTs. This year I bought a CC105 with plow, wheelweights, and hydraulic lift for $25, a Case 220 with sleeve hitch for $50(it was running), a NOS Wisconsin TRA12D for $275, a WH C160 with like new deck for free and a 4 kw generator for free. I've passed on alot more. The one that got away, because my car was broke down, was a Wheel Horse C160 with FEL for $600.When life around you is in turmoil, stick with what you know is right. Remember, the majority is usually wrong. Good Luck, Rick

I agree with everything you said 100%. The prices are high because people that don't know anything. "Know what they have". And you are correct they do not sell. I find the best deals not online. I find them when I'm driving around and see a tractor in someone's back yard and stop and ask them if they want to get rid of it.

 

I have seen a lot of that here in Northern Micigan. It doesn't have to be " old, antique or vintage either. Saw a 2008Troybilt pony in the paper the other day for $800.00 ! Sad but it's getting harder and harder to find old machines to fix up to use at the prices people are wanting. Homelite stuff is getting really hard to come by. Saw a rear lift by Homelite the other day listed for $ 200.00, mind you it was just the square (or rectangle) pivot receiver, nothing else and it was rusty. Make the one I have worth about $ 800.00 I guess. I have stopped looking anymore for things to buy. Partly because of the prices and partly because I don't have the time and space for more. Just sad to see that the hobby is wearing down by being priced out of participation. Roger

 

IMO it all came down to years and years of "Whats it worth" posts on these forums ..........

One guy says its worth "X" so the guy sells it for "XX" , snow ball kept rolling .

The professional scrappers in every town buying up tractors dosent help much either.

 

i think part of it is where you are at. in the midwest, east it seems there are more gt's than over here in the west.i have found a few good buys here but most are like this https://spokane.craigslist.org/grd/5792386587.html
https://spokane.craigslist.org/bar/5812065254.html

 

just for the hell of it lets see something.

that sears 16 twin in my pic was sold this summer. it was in good shape and ran great. it had a mower deck.i sold it for 700.00, the guy drove 3 hrs to get here and was tickled as a pig in poop to get it.my bolens g-9 same condition with deck, 425.00, the guy was a collector and lived in southern idaho, had to have someone up here pick it up for him.did any of you guys sell the same tractors and what did they bring??

up here people would rather spend their money on something newer that wont outlast the old goodies.there is a reason the old ones are still around, they last forever if you take care of them. i know e-bay and american pickers dont help but maybe a small part it where you are at

 

now this is about right..https://spokane.craigslist.org/grd/5784948568.html

 

Oh don't get me started....

 

just for the hell of it lets see something.
that sears 16 twin in my pic was sold this summer. it was in good shape and ran great. it had a mower deck.i sold it for 700.00, the guy drove 3 hrs to get here and was tickled as a pig in poop to get it.my bolens g-9 same condition with deck, 425.00, the guy was a collector and lived in southern idaho, had to have someone up here pick it up for him.did any of you guys sell the same tractors and what did they bring??
up here people would rather spend their money on something newer that wont outlast the old goodies.there is a reason the old ones are still around, they last forever if you take care of them. i know e-bay and american pickers dont help but maybe a small part it where you are at

Im in Pennsylvania and you can find just about anything you want any day of the week that's the thing. It's still out of hand here .

 

the way i look at it is they can keep the over priced gt's. they will sit and rot into the ground, then they can just haul whats left to the scrap metal yard for 3 dollars. then they can think back and remember they could have sold it for 100.00 sad but what else can you do.

 

greenacres might be the place to be ... but no place to buy a riding mower.lmao

https://spokane.craigslist.org/grd/5830018657.html

 

I haven't been doing this for too long , but we have had many discussions about this very thing .

The consensus is that Antiques Road Show made everyone look into their attic with different eye's .

Don't sell anything until you have looked it up on the internet and know a value.

Then you have the Pickers show - and they give people the idea that everything you buy must have some "Meat on the Bone" (LOL one of our favorite jokes)

"I'm sorry Sir , but I cannot pay the much for it , I have to ship it " So now everyone is a Picker and feel they should only pay half of what it is worth in order to get a good deal and make a profit. Looking for 'The guy at the End of the Rainbow'

A hobbiest wants to find an old forgotten thing and get it a price that allows him to put some time and money into it to see it back in its glory , a seller wants to get the price of something in its glory . How many times have you read in a advert " Would be worth a lot of money if restored" They have no idea how much time and work and $ goes into that .

in short - they are all a bunch of greedy MFers

 

Well, I just started fixing to get the bigger, better tractor that I could not buy new. Was OK working on them, long as could still bring back to workable. Just like in the car hobbie, along comes guys with REAL big money and get all the good ones, make them better than when they were new and sell for big money. They wanted to make money and had abililty to pay others to do much of work and have the big shops and so on. Barret Auction houses selling cars for Thousands and Millions is rediculous to me, but that is how it is anymore on cars. Maybe GT's will be similar or started that way now? Ebay has made things more easily obtained and way to find hard to get items, have set the prices, because people PAY that price, just be cause it is easier than hunting around for long time. Generations make diff too. Steam tractors were the thing awhile, now too old and big for modern homes, then reg tractors were big, and now those are being used up and again one needs room and knowledge to work on them. Hard to get the younger generations to be interested, they like Electronic things, not mechanical. Some work on them, easy to fit in your small house and parts all over if you know how to hack the stuff together. And, throw-away society, buy new, junk the old. Plus making the new in cheapie materials that wear out in few years, not lasting as old stuff does. Each generation has the same line to their younger ones....."They Don't make them Like they used to". Always been that way, always will be.

 

The sad thing is that these will be the "good old days" in ten years. My goal for the past 11 years is to have a set of atleast three tractors that can do all that I need for the yard. I've tried many different models and brands and still can't decide but atleast I'm collecting up all of the attachments. Some days I'll weed out the ones that I don't want. Good Luck, Rick

 

I belong to metal lath forums. For the older, common, consumer, metal lathes. If they come up for sale cheep there are several pepole out there that will buy them and part them out for profit. I suppose tractors will go the same way. Parts ship cheeper. Don

 

Happens with everything. Internet and TV shows have made this artificial swing in the market [perceived value] more exaggerated than in previous times. Craigslist is chock-full of tractors still sitting on trailers, purchased that day for resale and profit, with crazy high prices.

I don't bite. I know its a free market economy but if they didn't want the tractor they should have left it for someone that did.

I have a job to make the money needed to survive/live/play. To me tractors are a hobby.

Take the fun from this hobby and I'll move on to something else.

 

The classic car market is in a similar place, but it's a shrinking market that demands high quality, since there are fewer classics every year, prices go up. It costs $40k to build a clone Z28, real one costs $75k if it's not too rare. Even though us old guys are dying out of the market, the big money, multi car collector is still driving up prices. I bought my first '67 Impala SS for $5500, did some minor body work, fresh red paint, replaced all the wear parts, rechromed some stuff, resealed the 327 and had $12000 in it. Eventually replaced the engine and tranny with an LT1/4l60e combo. Sold the car five years later for $14000, sold the engine and powerglide for another $1500. Probably didn't make any money, but it shows how much the market changed in five years. That same car done that way would have brought $10k or less five years before.
Tractors are doing the same, they're becoming fewer thus more expensive. Too many have been left behind the barn to fix up someday, or whatever.

 

Gtractor, you must be looking at a different CL than I am. The vast majority of the "tractors" are lawn mowers and the later models. Get into the Midwest area of Omaha, Des Moines, Lincoln, Sioux City, St Joe, etc and other listings in the Midwest. Do a search for Bolens and see what turns up. Darn little and those that do are the newer ones. Supply and demand plays a part too. I watch this area about twice a week or more in search for true Bolens. Not very many and some times none shows up so CL is not chock full of tractors. Lawn mowers maybe but depends on what you call chock full. I just searched the whole area I mentioned above and found 3 Bolens. CC has a few more but again, newer stuff that is wore out after the first season and lawn tractors, not GT's. That is why the prices are high in this area. Why they are high out East where they are all over the places I have no idea. There, my rant is over for what ever it is worth.

 

Here in east TN. CL is loaded with late model lawn mowers. They practically give them away in late fall to early Spring then all of them are suddenly worth 400 to 500. Real GTs are frequent and very few know what they are worth. Unless you say "vintage". Then everyone knows it has to be expensive. I have only been in the hobby a couple of years now and I hope I do not have to find another hobby. My wife and I also go to estate sales. I have seen a few of the GTs at auction on Saturday or Friday and then see it again on Monday (still on the trailer) advertised on CL. Another guy bought 5 restored GTs/Riding mowers on Saturday for 500 and Monday advertised them for 500 each or 2000 for all. With so many people trying to get rich off of a hobby I am afraid it will get too expensive for someone who is on limited income. From what I have seen most of the collectors are not rolling in money and like me are trying to have fun and enjoy a hobby. Well I'm done ranting. Who's next?

 

NOT MINE

,but its been for sale a while, those are Canadian pesos!

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Date Listed 31-Aug-16 Price
$5,500.00
Address Rainy Lake, ON P0W1C0

View map For Sale By Owner
1972 simplicity 3415H lawn tractor, 18 hp. Comes with snowblower ,tiller,42" lawnmower and 42" sickle bar. Asking $5500.00 or OBO. Devlin,On
Visits: 351

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Here in east TN. CL is loaded with late model lawn mowers. They practically give them away in late fall to early Spring then all of them are suddenly worth 400 to 500. Real GTs are frequent and very few know what they are worth. Unless you say "vintage". Then everyone knows it has to be expensive. I have only been in the hobby a couple of years now and I hope I do not have to find another hobby. My wife and I also go to estate sales. I have seen a few of the GTs at auction on Saturday or Friday and then see it again on Monday (still on the trailer) advertised on CL. Another guy bought 5 restored GTs/Riding mowers on Saturday for 500 and Monday advertised them for 500 each or 2000 for all. With so many people trying to get rich off of a hobby I am afraid it will get too expensive for someone who is on limited income. From what I have seen most of the collectors are not rolling in money and like me are trying to have fun and enjoy a hobby. Well I'm done ranting. Who's next?

Agree I enjoy this hobby but I am not rich and hope to stay in it awhile. But will see if I am able to

 

Just my .02 cents here, all points till this point are valid, but I also believe anyone that is remotely involved in "vintage" GT$ are included in the price drive as well.

Right now the hobby is hot, and prices are also driven by demand. If you want it, and someone has it, your gonna pay for it, period.

I have made money on them parting out stuff I didn't need sure, but, I do know how many times I have hit the zero button on price when selling.

Now, not to play a double edge sword here, but when I make my purchases, be it too much, or dirt cheap, I personally have made an investment in a hobby that I like. If the market goes to hell before Im done, so be it, if it holds, thats even better. Still ain't a lawnmower.
Chances are, the demand ain't goin anywhere tho!!!

That one day that I am ready to clear out, I know 4 a fact, that I can get my money back on what I own, only because GT's have been a fairly good investment. Plus, add the fact that you can enjoy them most times as they are. Nobody pays for a labor of love.....thats a loss, but try driving a gold bar around the yard!! Just sayin

 

I certainly do not see the hobby diminishing or going away though because people have been saying it will be dead in 10 years since forums started taking off in the 90's and we are all still here, mostly with more members and collectors than 20+ years ago it seems.