How does this happen?

Rustyferrious · Oct 26, 2017

I saw an add on CL for an old Sidney Engine lathe. Photo shows it disassembled, but for my purposes (parting out) it seemed interesting and the price was right. Seller is right here in town, so I make an appointment for the following morning. Turns out the family was clearing out the dad's estate and had a barn full of stuff to empty. Needed to be done pretty quick as the kids are not local and the house is for sale. The son is willing to deal on most everything. I see an old tractor in an adjacent shed and inquire about it, just out of curiosity. Son says, "1946 Farmall BN Tractor with a brush-hog dad made, dad modified it with a boom to lift heavy stuff, I need it gone, $1000."

Not sure what I'm going to do with it. I don't have a farm and I already have a Kubota BX plus the Drott crane for heavy lifting, but it's mine now! Thank god some other guy had already bought the Doodlebug.....

To make matters worse. I caught a glimpse of a couple of Ford Model A's in the barn. Restored condition. Son says "I'm taking the sedan, selling the truck if you're interested in antiques, make me an offer..."

Can you imagine the phone call I had to make to the wife??? "hi baby, I just bought a 70 year old farm tractor...... AND an 87 year-old truck.......You want to go out to dinner tonight?"....

tomplum · Oct 27, 2017

It's great that you had stumbled across some new projects. Hopefully you will breath new life into them. I'm sure that given his druthers, the old man that passed would prefer that they were used or at least admired for what they were.

Wagtail · Oct 27, 2017

Great finds and good fortune to you! You may be able to hire that truck out to a weekend farmers market vendor as it's already set up for it.

So... did you get the lathe?

Ken · Oct 27, 2017

After my brother fell and broke his hip and was in therapy . he had a stroke so was placed in Nursing home to recover . while there his family decided to have a auction on contents of his shop.
The auction crew came to the shop and dumped the contents of drawers and from shelves into a dumpster
this included all the stored pieces of black walnut oak pecan plywood any board shorter than eight foot length.
Then same from area where " my loaned Tractor " was placed. all farm type equipment metal pipe and anything a junk yard would accept.
Then in the home basement all the old radio "ham Operator type" of electronic was tossed.
When I learned of the auction was able to get my tractor off the list of items to be added to the sale.
Attended the auction for a short time then had to leave. if it wasn't home type of items it was sold for very little bidding.
Finally recovering from the stroke to where able to return home found his shop clean even the lawn mower was gone.
This treatment to his life time of collection of hobby and how he spent his time has caused me to start to sell and clear the shelves of spare parts and stored items.
So the joy of locating a barn full of old tractors and cars or tools doesn't mean there isn't a personal attachment but the family is only looking at the value of the sale received.
I no longer go to Estate sales or yard sales where there is farm "junk" listed.
ken

Rustyferrious · Oct 27, 2017

Wagtail said:
Great finds and good fortune to you! You may be able to hire that truck out to a weekend farmers market vendor as it's already set up for it.

So... did you get the lathe?

I did get the lathe, plus a nearly new Hobart MIG welder on a cart full of accessories, A 30" HD sheet metal brake. A real nice welding tank cart. A welding table & custom shop crane/engine hoist. A few antique implements and crates of spare parts for the Farmall. Spare parts including fenders, axles, brakes, flywheels, starters, generators, tie rods, engine blocks, etc, etc, etc for the Ford. He's still going through the barn and making a pile of stuff for me to look at this afternoon. I'm filling up a 3 car garage pretty quickly.
The ford is set up to look like a produce stand. He included an antique crate of milk bottles, a hanging scale, wooden produce crates and baskets, plus signage. Even threw in a Red Ryder Lever Action BB gun (70th anniversary model) hung on the rear canopy rail. It starts and runs great, there is a small radiator leak that I will need to fix if I can get to it, but other than that it's good to go. I asked the son for a photo of his dad (hopefully with the truck) and a short bio that I could frame and keep in the truck. I thought it important to keep the history of the restorer with the truck. Last night I pulled out the bench seat to check out the tool compartment. I found a thick folder containing all the receipts and paperwork related to the truck for as long as he owned it.