OMAHA (DTN) -- Recently I came across an interesting post on the internet about vintage iron. It was on a message board about old farm machinery and the person stated he/she believed the hobby of restoring/collecting old farm machinery is slowing dying.

It was a very deep thought considering where it was posted. Most comments I have read on these old iron message boards are usually in line with how to repair components or what years a certain model of tractor was produced.

Perhaps this person was just having a bad day.

I ran across this post at about the same time I uploaded a 35-second video of me on X (formerly Twitter) checking the hot-wire fence on our farm with our 1959 John Deere 730 tractor. It was nearly 70 degrees that Sunday and I was driving an open station tractor in mid-February in Nebraska without a coat on, which is why I took the video in the first place. Watch the video here: https://x.com/….

I didn't think much about it after I posted the clip but the next time I checked X, I had 50-some notifications of people commenting, liking and reposting the video. After several days I had a couple hundred reactions to my video, which is a lot for me and my modest X account.

So, is vintage iron dying out or do people still like the hobby, considering the massively positive reaction to seeing a video of a 67-year-old tractor?

As I tell my kids quite often, the world is not black and white in most cases, but many shades of gray. And multiple things can be right at the same time.

I believe the message board post mainly dealt with the decreasing value of his/her vintage iron. The value of older tractors, from the 1950s and earlier, is not as strong as it used to be. The demand for these machines has lessened with many old tractors available and fewer people wanting them.

But then you have to look at the value of vintage iron from the 1960s forward, and you see values holding steady or going considerably higher.

To settle the estate of my late uncle just over a year ago, they had an online auction. On it they sold our 1961 John Deere 4010 tractor (which I wrote about in the past) and his mid-1980s John Deere 4450 tractor with a mechanical front end. I ran the 4010 up to nearly $15,000 before stopping and the 4450 brought $53,000.

Those were very strong prices for decades-old tractors.

I think what this shows is that maybe the most sought-after vintage iron tractors now are the "muscle" tractors of the 1960s through the 1980s. Some might be collectors while others might be farmers wanting to still use these older but reliable tractors.

This doesn't mean those wanting pre-1960s farm machinery are completely gone either. While there might be fewer people keeping these tractors going, there are many people willing to work with this machinery.

I certainly don't get to as many old tractors events as I used to, but I still go to a few local shows, pulls and parades. There are always younger folks bringing their vintage iron to these events.

The number of younger people at these events is good news for those hoping the hobby of restoring and collecting vintage iron continues for many years to come. There are both young men and women stepping up and keeping these tractors going.

I can think of several younger people in our area that are highly involved in vintage iron. They all have the personal connection to this machinery as previous generations of their family acquired and used these great tractors.

Some have vast collections while some just have a single tractor. Regardless, I do think the hobby is in some good hands. There are just fewer of them than in the past.

Here would be my unsolicited advice: The best thing you can do as a vintage iron enthusiast is to just enjoy these old machines.

That's it. And maybe even drive your tractors on warm, sunny February days.

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

Follow him on social platform X @RussQuinnDTN

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