Springtime Antique Tractor Shows

Spring time is a wonderful time to take in an antique tractor show around the country. These shows are taking place all over the country at this time of year and are a perfect opportunity to "shake off" the winter dust and boredom for collectors and restorers.

Most of these events will have swap meets running in conjunction with the shows. This usually works out real well for the restorers since they have had all winter (at least in the northern climates) to think about the next move on their projects. If you have ever attended one of these events and looked over the stuff that shows up in the swap meets, you can find anything from a sparkplug to whole units or anywhere between.

I remember attending one of these events a few years back in Jones, Michigan where I had no intention of buying anything while attending the show. As I walked down the isles of parts in the swap meet section, I noticed a pile of old iron farm wagon wheels. Having made several trips down those isles during the course of the day, it was like this pile of old wheels kept "jumping out" at me! I kept thinking to myself, "Carolyn (that's my wife) has been on my case to find something to use as a beauty spot in her rock garden". I thought, "that's it.....this just might fill the bill" so to speak. Needless to say, a vacated twenty dollar bill from my pocket found two of the smaller wheels from that pile in the back of my pickup truck!

You need to know that as it turned out, these two wheels do indeed look pretty nice in her rock garden, buried about a third of the overall height in the ground and her wisteria vines crawling all over the spokes.

There is a tremendous amount of things to look at during any of these shows that you would choose to attend and I have never seen two of them alike. I find something that I have never seen before at almost every one of them that I have attended and in the 15 years that I have been attending these shows, that is a lot of stuff!

You might never have had the opportunity to go to one of these shows......... Cripes! You may not even realize that they exist if you're not an antique tractor or farm equipment hobbyist, but I can tell you for sure that most folks would have to be hard pressed to be bored at one of them.

If the idea of finding one of these shows in your area in any way kind of sparks your interest, go to one of the search engines and type in "Spring Tractor Show" and see what you can find. You may be surprised what shows up in your area. If you are already a collector or restorer you probably already know what’s happening in your area, but if you're not you might want to find one and try it....... You just might like it!

Antique tractor collecting has become one of the fastest growing pastimes in recent years. It might not be your thing but if you do end up checking out one of these shows, don't be surprised if you end up getting hooked!

Dave