I just got back from an auction that started at 10:00 this morning. The farmer that was selling out had taken over the family farm when his dad quit farming and the older gent never had a farm sale, so it was two generations worth of stuff to sell. They had three racks of small stuff, plus household stuff and antiques. The auctioneer's name was L.D. Sapp. He took for ever on items and it was mind numbing cold. I sat in the clerks office, which was a converted school bus with a heater in it, for a while to just to warm up. They had close to 300 bidding numbers out, some people were leaving because they thought it would take the rest of the afternoon to get through the sale. I thought that might be a good sign, I might be able to score the F12 parts tractor cheap! Three and a half hours later, they finally start selling the machinery. They had a 1956 Ford 3/4 ton pick that needed alot of work or it could of become scrap metal alot easier, that they couldn't get a bid on of $10. I'm thinking great! No body here wants to buy scap metal or they would have scored it cheap on that piece of junk. The parts F12 was next in line. The auctioneer started his usual chant of looking for $100, nothing doing there, $50 no body bit on that one either, I told him $10 and all of a sudden the race was on. There were two other guys that started out bidding with me, one guy quit shortly afterwards. The second one would place his bid right after mine, like he didn't care what it cost, he was going to get it. My last bid was $160. He got it for $165. The tractor had been stripped of the mag, air cleaner and seat. The valve cover had been removed, but still there, the hood, gas tank, fuel lines, fuel pump and misc parts were in a bucket. The rear tires on the factor spoke wheels were shot, the front spoke wheels had no rubber on them and you could see a couple of pin holes rusted through them. The top of the radiator had been busted where the air cleaner bolts to it. The engine was stuck and I heard later that the rear end was also frozen up. I talked to the gentleman that had the winning bid just afterwards, asked him if he would be willing to sell any of the parts off the tractor. I explained to him that all I wanted was the front wheels to convert my F12 to rubber. He said that he had several other parts tractors that might have better wheels than those available. I left him my number and he told me where is located at, (about 40 miles from me). He said that he was really there for the restored F12 and told him that I wouldn't be bidding against him on that one because I was going home because it was cold and that was all I was interested in. So maybe we will be able to work some thing out between the two of us.But that's why I hate farm auctions, 4 hours later and nothing to show for it. I could have spent those hours in my nice warm shop instead!
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