On the search for another of Cliff's dream tractors

You city folks might want to skip this entry; once you've seen one tractor, you've seen them all, right?

As I said in the last entry, Cliff wants an old Oliver tractor. It's rather like he's trying to go back to a certain time in his life, back when my cousin Gerald had a big farm and Cliff helped him get his crops planted. Gerald had an Allis Chalmers D-17 Series IV that Cliff loved, and we eventually bought one of those that was Cliff's main tractor for years. He truly had his dream tractor. Once he bought the new John Deere, though, he hardly ever used it. So he sold it to an acquaintance who still thinks it's the best tractor ever.

So now, Cliff wants an Oliver Diesel tractor of the 55 series, another tractor my cousin farmed with, back in the day. He wasn't seeing many of them offered around here, so I suggested he put a "wanted to buy" ad in the farm and garden section of Craigslist.

A fellow from north Missouri called, saying he had one. Cliff mentioned to him that my relatives are originally from that area, and mentioned my mother's maiden name, Stevens.

The guy said, "I bought this tractor from a guy named Stevens." And he gave Cliff that phone number, so Cliff could ask questions about the tractor's previous history.

Cliff dialed the number and found himself talking to someone with whom he'd talked tractors at my last family reunion, a distant cousin. He learned that this particular Oliver had been "rode hard and put away wet", not taken care of at all.

So yesterday evening we went to see the tractor. Cliff started it up and rode it up and down the driveway; boy, did that thing smoke. While he was doing the test-drive, I learned that the present tractor owner's wife is the daughter of a cousin on my dad's side. Good grief, it's like I'm related to this Oliver!

Cliff really prefers the smaller 1655 to this huge 1855, but he'll take what he can get. We go to Kansas today to check out a whole barn full of Olivers; they'll likely be in better condition than the one we saw yesterday. I certainly hope so: That one would have to have an overhaul, which would cost us $3,000. I know this because Cliff talked to his overhaul man. It isn't a job he'd tackle himself.

If he ends up with a tractor like the one in the picture, I only hope there's room on our 42 acres for him to turn it around. That thing looks HUGE to me.

Cliff and his passion for old tractors

For a couple of weeks, Cliff has been watching a Craigslist ad: "1650 oliver good cond. diesel, $4000".

Now, Cliff doesn't need another tractor, so I'm sure you'd have to be another tractor-lover to understand this.

He's watched the asking price on this tractor go down a couple of times. He's mumbled to himself about it frequently. I've told him time after time, "Call the guy and make him an offer."

I don't want the tractor, but here's the thing: When I was looking at Apple Macs, talking about the expense and all, he said, (not knowing a thing about them except that they're pricey) "If it was me, and I wanted it, I'd get it."

These days we have pretty creative ways of buying things without touching our emergency and vacation funds, and without becoming a slave to credit cards. Where there's a will, there's always a way.

Cliff loves all old tractors, but most especially he loves Olivers. The one he's been drooling over on Craigslist was made around 1970. If he were to buy it, he'd probably play with it for a year or so, then sell it.

Last night, finally, he broke down and called the fellow, who said he only received three calls inquiring about the tractor. So he took it to a tractor auction at Cook Tractors in Clinton, where it will be auctioned off this coming Monday.

Yes, I did say, "I told you to call!"

Silly man.