Russ' Vintage Iron

OMAHA (DTN) -- One thing that has always fascinated me about those who collect vintage iron are the folks who take it to the extreme. I wrote about my family friends who had a nice International tractor collection of about 50 tractors last year. Seeing all those tractors together in their farmyard was truly impressive.

People who have hundreds of tractors and other old farm machines are another level of collectors entirely. There was an IH museum in western Iowa for many years that I visited. That was the largest collection I had probably ever seen in person. That extensive collection was sold online several years ago.

An upcoming online auction is set to sell some vintage tractors from the Jon and Marica Kinzenbaw collection. The Williamsburg, Iowa, couple will have an online auction on Tuesday, Nov. 4. Sullivan Auctioneers is having the auction. See more about it here: https://www.sullivanauctioneers.com/….

The Kinzenbaw name might be known to you if you are familiar with the farm machinery industry. Jon founded Kinze in the 1960s and the company today manufactures planters, grain carts and tillage implements. According to the company's website, Kinzenbaw started his welding shop in Ladora, Iowa, with $25 in his pocket and a small loan from his hometown bank.

"Everyone knew young Jon Kinzenbaw had a gift for fixing things," the company's website said. "Few would have guessed his welding shop would one day grow into one of the largest specialty manufacturers in North America."

The site said he is still active in the business today and he also still farms. In addition, he enjoys his hobby as an avid antique tractor collector.

The auction will feature 150+ original and restored tractors, according to the auctioneer's website. The majority of the tractors have been stored inside and have been started regularly.

"This is the first time any tractors have been offered for sale from this collection," the website said.

If you go to the auctioneer's website, there are photos of the machinery which will be available on this upcoming online auction. It is kind of interesting to scroll through the list and see all the different manufacturers.

They obviously did not favor just one kind of machinery as all brands are on the auction. This includes John Deere, International, Allis-Chamers, Ford, Case and Massey-Harris/Ferguson. The second tractor listed on the site is a restored 1937 John Deere D, which looks very similar to our 1935 John Deere D.

Then there are some lesser-known manufacturers as well. One of these tractors is a 1950 OTA MK1. This tractor is painted blue with bright red rims.

OTA stands for Oak Tree Appliances and the company was based in Coventry, England, according to a quick internet search. They manufactured tractors in the late 1940s and into the early 1950s.

In 1953, OTA sold their design to another manufacturer, Singer. I'm not sure if this company is the same one as the sewing machine manufacturer or not; but regardless the OTA name no longer appeared on tractors after this.

Another interesting tractor is a 1958 Honeybee Loader tractor. The white, three-wheeled tractor almost looks like it could be an early version of a skid steer loader of today.

I couldn't find much information about the Honeybee company. There were a few sites that referred to as "International Honeybee", but I didn't see anywhere explaining if maybe International bought Honeybee at some point.

One last tractor that caught my eye on the website was a 1972 John Deere 4020 MFWD. But this tractor has more than just a mechanical front end -- it has huge monster truck tires on it. I have never seen anything like this before.

Three vintage combines are also on the auction. They are all John Deere combines -- a 1963 55, a 1976 4400 and a 3300. The last combine did not have a year on it like the other two did.

And perhaps the most fascinating thing about this upcoming auction is this is just PART of their collection.

The dates for open house viewing of the machinery on the auction are Monday Oct. 27 to Thursday Oct. 30 from 9 a.m. CDT to 3 p.m. Only tractors selling will be available for viewing, the website stated.

Can you imagine how many vintage tractors there are in total if this collection if 150 are just a portion of it? Wow, now that is a big-time tractor collection!

I will check in with the auction on Nov. 4 to see how it is going. It will be interesting to see how much money some of these rarer vintage tractors bring.

Russ Quinn can be reached at Russ.Quinn@dtn.com

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