Man has over 300 tractors in collection!

   / Man has over 300 tractors in collection! #1  

Von

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This was in today's local paper, enjoy!/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gifA Canandaigua man has more than 300 antique tractors.CANANDAIGUA - Judging by the visitors who stop to see Jim Erdle's tractors, his collection is world-famous.A group of about 50 tourists from the Netherlands and Belgium stopped at Erdle's home in Canandaigua yesterday to see his rare and unusual tractors during a whirlwind tour of the best historical engines and iron in the U.S. and Canada.The 16-day tour also included stops at the Henry Ford Museum in Detroit, agricultural museums, a bicycle museum, the Air Force Museum, a clock and watch museum, sites in Washing-ton, D.C., Amish country in Pennsyl-vania and the Hershey factory and Indian Echo Caverns in Hershey, Pa. Pieter Rooyackers, tour guide with the 3,800-member Historic Engine and Tractor Association, said he visited Erdle's collection last year with a group from England while looking for places to bring the Dutch group the following year. "This is a very big collection," Rooyackers said.Many on the group had worked on a farm at some point in their lives and are interested in tractors and engines, though some have specific interests. One member, Hub Aendekerk, has a collection of between 120 and 130 motorized bicycles. Erdle also coaxed his 1912 Rumely Oil Pull Tractor to start for the visitors. The 13-ton tractor shuddered and spewed some black smoke before popping into an idle.Erdle, who owned the vending company Kwik Kafe of the Finger Lakes before turning it over to his son, said he grew up on a farm on Middle Cheshire Road and moved from there in 1959. He collected his first tractor in 1962 but gave up farming in 1970.Erdle now has more than 300 tractors in various stages of restoration. Some of the restored tractors are taken to different shows and expositions throughout the year."It's a disease," Erdle joked. "We'll get one and then get another."Many of the brands, such as Whitney, Altman-Taylor, Rowley and Hart Parr no longer exist. At one time there were about 300 tractor manufacturers in the United States."We've been collecting (tractors) that are almost non-existent," Erdle said.Erdle said others have visited his collection from Finland, Germany and Australia."Back when we started collecting, we could get many of the tractors dirt cheap," Erdle said.Some of the visitors noted cultural differences, such as the amount of open space they saw while driving around. They said they are used to seeing more fences and gardens and less grass on their properties. They said there is a higher population concentration in Holland, a country of 16 million people that covers nearly 26,000 square miles."We can't see any people around," said a woman who gave her name as Lies. "Driving through the city, nobody is on the streets, and the people we see are in their cars."To arrange a tour of Erdle's collection, contact him at (585) 394-0604. ©Daily MessengerÊ2002
 
   / Man has over 300 tractors in collection! #2  
Over 300 antique tractors /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif's..wonder if he would adopt me. /w3tcompact/icons/eyes.gif
 
   / Man has over 300 tractors in collection! #3  
Kind of an old post, but I was looking through and found this. I used to sand blast Ertle's parts for him. Just after high school, I got a summer job working for a friend of mine. He had a sand blasting buisiness, headstones mostly, but did some steel and machinery. Once every couple of weeks, Ertle would call up and say he had more parts for us. We would go over and blast for hours on these old tractor parts and he would show us his collection. He has so many dang outbuildings at his place! There are a few outbuildings that he has "special" machinery in that he wouldn't allow us to look in. It was a very neat experience seeing all that old machinery and being part of restoring it. He had the old Oil Pull in the main barn that summer, I think just finishing it up. He seemed like a great guy, very happy to show his collection and just shoot the breeze. Just thought I would share.

Dave
 
 
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