The Oliver 550 arrived today

 Yes, FINALLY Cliff's latest project tractor arrived.

It was delivered by these young ladies, ages three and five years old.  OK, so their Daddy loaded the tractor and brought it here from St. Joseph.  I'll tell you about a little about the tractor.

This weight on the front end of the tractor is original equipment, which makes it very coveted and fairly valuable.  Cliff has seen them sell for over $500 on Ebay.  

 However, he doesn't like the looks of this weight, so he'll probably sell it.  

 This oval-ish thing that says Oliver?  It's cracked.  A replacement will cost almost $200.  If you're going to take a tractor to shows, you can't have imperfections like this.  Cliff said you can buy these in black or red, so he is glad to know that his tractor should have the red lettering.  

Notice the fenders are somewhat dented.  Cliff will have them looking like new.  

There's a leak here that has been welded, but it's leaking again, or still.  Cliff will take the gas tank off, turn it upside-down, find the leak, and solder it.  

The steering wheel needs to be replaced... see the cracks in it?  The last one we bought was about $60.  But this round thing that says "White" is a treasure, and it will be placed in the middle of the new steering wheel.

The actually seat, the part of it you sit on, is fine.  The parts under it that hold it up, not so much.  Cliff will be buying a seat kit.  We don't know how much it will cost, but Cliff is guessing about $150.   

The Oliver 550 was manufactured from 1958 through 1975.  Our new purchase is a 1973 model, so it's very much a late model.  We're excited about it.  I told Cliff, "If you sell this tractor, it will be over my dead body."  

"Don't tempt me, Woman," he answered.