Should your classic car collection include a vintage farm tractor?
You see such vehicles offered for sale from time to time at some classic car auctions, but Mecum Auctions has an entire Gone Farmin’ division that focuses on vintage farm equipment. Mecum’s Gone Farmin’ just held its Iowa Premier sale in Davenport, Iowa, where 234 of 287 tractors sold (an impressive 82 percent sell-through) for a total of more than $2 million ($2,073,653 to be precise).
The top-dollar sale was $68,500 (hammer price) for a 1959 John Deere 730 LPG Hi-Crop unit, one of only 28 produced and this one formerly displayed in the John Deere Museum.
A 1974 John Deere 6030 went for $44,000, with a 1983 Deere 4050 bringing $42,500.
The top nine sales in terms of dollars bid were John Deere units. Next — 10th overall at the sale — was an Allis Chalmers D21 Series II that sold for $25,000.
Mecum’s next Gone Farmin’ auction is April 10-11, 2015, also at the Mississippi Valley Fair Center in Davenport.